Early Square "wheatstone"?

[Daniel Hersh]

Stumbled across this: http://physics.kenyon.edu/EarlyApparatus/A...concertina.html . Is that concertina really associated with Wheatstone, or is it a mis-match? Looks more like an early German one to me, though with an odd key pattern.

 

Daniel

[Robert Gaskins]

Daniel,

 

This is a Wheatstone "duett" concertina; you can find a description, keyboard chart, pictures inside and out, and Wheatstone's tutor for the instrument at

 

www.concertina.com/duett

 

This 24-button duett was sold at least from the early 1850s, and was the least-expensive Wheatstone concertina. Wheatstone also published a dozen volumes of music for this instrument, all in C and G (of necessity). Its basic key arrangement is the core of what John Hill Maccann later expanded to the chromatic layout which he patented as the Maccann "New Chromatic Duet English Concertina".

 

It does indeed superficially resemble German concertinas of the early 1850s, but the production engineering is extremely sophisticated which enabled it to be sold at very low prices. The best current thinking is that it was a Louis Lachenal design for Wheatstone, intended to go head-to-head with German imports at a competitive price, limited to C and G like the imports, but with English-quality action and with the simpler playing made possible by the duet arrangement (same note for each button on push and pull).

 

Bob Gaskins

Edited February 27, 2006 by Robert Gaskins

[Daniel Hersh]

Thanks, Bob--I'd never heard of these before. I should have known to check your site first!

 

Daniel

 

Daniel,

 

This is a Wheatstone "duett" concertina; you can find a description, keyboard chart, pictures inside and out, and Wheatstone's tutor for the instrument at

 

www.concertina.com/duett

 

This 24-button duett was sold at least from the early 1850s, and was the least-expensive Wheatstone concertina. Wheatstone also published a dozen volumes of music for this instrument, all in C and G (of necessity). Its basic key arrangement is the core of what John Hill Maccann later expanded to the chromatic layout which he patented as the Maccann "New Chromatic Duet English Concertina".

 

It does indeed superficially resemble German concertinas of the early 1850s, but the production engineering is extremely sophisticated which enabled it to be sold at very low prices. The best current thinking is that it was a Louis Lachenal design for Wheatstone, intended to go head-to-head with German imports at a competitive price, limited to C and G like the imports, but with English-quality action and with the simpler playing made possible by the duet arrangement (same note for each button on push and pull).

 

Bob Gaskins