Looking for Morse & Co. Beaumont Hayden Duet Concertina (or maybe constructions plan ?)

[DuetPlayer]

Hello everyone,

 

 i am playing an italien hayden duet  concertina since 2 years. Now  i would  be veray pleased to get the possibility to upgrade to a well constructed intrument with wider range and good sound.
Does maybe someone knows somebody who wants to sell his Beaumont Hayden duet concertina ?

I do know, that the Morse  & Co.Besumont Hayden duet concertinas are hard to find and Buttonbox regrettably build them no longer
Therefore  i also was thinking about whether it would be  possible to get an construction plan/instructions for this concertina to build one of myself.  May i ask, if someone knows, if it is possible to get/purchase such a constructions plan?

Kind regards


 

Edited June 15 by DuetPlayer

[RAc]

Hi,

 

do you have any experience building musical instruments? If not, it is very likely that your build plans will end up eating up years with several iterations and possibly no success at the end; concertina making is a very intricate and labor intensive process. It is a common fallacy to believe that one can be built "on the fly."

 

If a digital (midi) instrument - at least for practicing and developing finger memory - is an option, you can query this forum for midi concertinas and/or contact me in private, I have built a Midi crane and can give you a few pointers to get started.

 

Thx, Ruediger

[DuetPlayer]

Hi Ruediger,

thank you very much for your hints. I have some experience working with wood and to make construction plans with a  CAD programne. I am also  able to tune my concertina by myself, but in fact i never have built one untll now. I suppose that you are quite right with your guess that it would take a lot of time to make a concertina. Fortunately  I am not in a hurry and I hope  a little bit, that a concertina with accordion reeds (like the Morse Beaumont) might be a littler easier to build than concertinas with concertina reeds. But i am not shure, this hope is  justified.
Thank you also for your hint about midi instruments. Currently, i am not  very intetested in digital concertinas,  the more so as  i can  develop my finger memory acceptably with my italien hayden duet c.

kindly regards

[Ed Nardell]

I had also posted here for a Morse Beaumont without success and bought the Stagi. I was a bit disappointed and knew I would soon want a better instrument, and ordered a Custom Peacock by Concertina Connection. I had no trouble sellng the Stagi. The Custom Peacock has many of the construction details of their (unavailable) top Wakker concertina, but like the Beamont, it is a hybrid, using accordion rather than concertina reeds - and also has a straight (Wiki) key array.  It has only 42 buttons compared to the 46 on the Stagi - the biggest downside.  I am very pleased with the quality and the sound of the Custom Peacock. I had to wait about 5 months, but the wait time for the Wakker concertina is 5-7 years.  They weren't taking orders when last I checked. You might consider a Peacock, regular or Custom model - if you can live with 42 buttons!

[DuetPlayer]

Hi Ed,

thank you for your message and tips. Yes, I feel the same way about the Stagi.
 It does have 46 well-selected keys, and I think the sound is fine, but the response speed, at least on my model, is quite slow, especially in the deep basses, and the slant of the hand rests is very odd.

It's really unfortunate that th are so few manufacturers of Hayden Duet Concertinas. I hadn't even realized that even the Wakkers were no longer available. But they would have been way out of my budget anyway.

 In may of this year, someone in Germany actually listed his Morse Baumont on a used goods classifieds site for €2,000, but unfortunately, I didn't see it until it was already sold.
 

 

 But every now and then, new doors open, and it seems like a new opportunity is opening up for me. Let's see if everything fits and works out. But if, contrary to expectations, all this doesn't work,, iI would actually consider building myself a concertina.

I think the Peacock you mentioned is a really pretty instrument. From what I've heard, it sounds good, and from what you describe, it must be smooth to play. However, I don't think I could choose it because I would be missing a few notes. The 3D-printed Jay conertina, on the other hand, would be too heavy for me.
And then there's Alex Holden, who also builds very beautiful Hayden Duet concertinas. But of course, you'll have to wait many years for them.

Which keys you really need certainly depends on the repertoire you're playing and whether you're playing alone or in an ensemble. With the latter, you can't just quickly change the key for a piece if an important button is missing.

 I'm happy for you, that you, despite the downgrade to 42 keys, which was also difficult for you,  seem to be able to manage the Peacock well enough for your repertoire.
Unfortunately, it would not be sufficient for my intended repertoire (including ensemble Eastern European dance music) in the long term.

 I think we Hayden Duet players should somehow manage to convince more people of the many advantages of this great system, so that over time, more concertina makers will be encouraged to make such instruments.

Best regards


 

Edited July 2 by DuetPlayer