Daniel Hersh Posted April 3, 2006 Share Posted April 3, 2006 It's at http://cgi.ebay.com/83-Button-English-Conc...itemZ7404357706 . Is this an Accordeophone, or what? Daniel Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
malcolm clapp Posted April 3, 2006 Share Posted April 3, 2006 It's at http://cgi.ebay.com/83-Button-English-Conc...itemZ7404357706 . Is this an Accordeophone, or what? Daniel I would suggest a Maccann Duet.... MC Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daniel Hersh Posted April 3, 2006 Author Share Posted April 3, 2006 That occurred to me too, but it looks quite large for a Maccann, both in number of buttons and overall dimensions. On the other hand, I'm not sure I've ever even seen a Maccann except in photos, so I'm certainly not the best judge. dh I would suggest a Maccann Duet.... MC Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
malcolm clapp Posted April 3, 2006 Share Posted April 3, 2006 That occurred to me too, but it looks quite large for a Maccann, both in number of buttons and overall dimensions. On the other hand, I'm not sure I've ever even seen a Maccann except in photos, so I'm certainly not the best judge. dh I would suggest a Maccann Duet.... MC The seller seems to have mis-counted. I make it 81 plus air button, which was the standard size of the largest model Maccann keyboard in the catalogues. Of course, it could be something more obscure....perhaps an English with 2 sets of dummy buttons MC Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dirge Posted April 3, 2006 Share Posted April 3, 2006 Ugly looking brute. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Geoffrey Crabb Posted April 3, 2006 Share Posted April 3, 2006 Hi all. Although there is no indication of the physical size of this instrument, I believe that it may be one of only three, termed 'The 81 Key Professional' made to this design by Lachenal. It covered five octaves. I have handled an example before and if correct it is quite large. I have trawled through my archive and have come up with this picture taken in 1938 of such an instrument . Lachenal did make other Duet and English models using this particular shape but these were smaller in dimension. Geoff. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike Pierceall Posted April 3, 2006 Share Posted April 3, 2006 It's at http://cgi.ebay.com/83-Button-English-Conc...itemZ7404357706 . Is this an Accordeophone, or what?It may be an early McCann duet. The Horniman has one in its collection with metal ends, serial number 1623. Mike Daniel Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul Read Posted April 3, 2006 Share Posted April 3, 2006 Hi all.Although there is no indication of the physical size of this instrument, I believe that it may be one of only three, termed 'The 81 Key Professional' made to this design by Lachenal. It covered five octaves. I have handled an example before and if correct it is quite large. I have trawled through my archive and have come up with this picture taken in 1938 of such an instrument . Lachenal did make other Duet and English models using this particular shape but these were smaller in dimension. Geoff. Geoff, It's 12 1/2" x 10 1/2" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JimLucas Posted April 3, 2006 Share Posted April 3, 2006 It's at http://cgi.ebay.com/83-Button-English-Conc...itemZ7404357706. Ugly looking brute. I disagree. I think it's beautiful! Is this an Accordeophone, or what? Defintiely not an Accordeophone. Accordeophones have English-system keyboards. I would suggest a Maccann Duet.... Good guess. That occurred to me too, but it looks quite large for a Maccann, both in number of buttons and overall dimensions. On the other hand, I'm not sure I've ever even seen a Maccann except in photos, so I'm certainly not the best judge. Maccan's come in many sizes. The Wheatstone tutor by Rutterford has diagrams of keyboards with 46, 57+1 ("+1" is my notation for the air button; Wheatstone included it in the count), 66+1, 71+1, and 80+1. 55+1 was apparently one of Lachenal's standard sizes. The seller seems to have mis-counted. I make it 81 plus air button, ... Agreed. Of course, it could be something more obscure....perhaps an English with 2 sets of dummy buttons Nope. The alignment of the "smarty" buttons would be off. It appears to be a "stretch" New Model. Glass buttons means extra special model. My own biig Maccann is an 80+1 button Æola, 11" across the flats. The keyboard on this looks almost the same, but left hand has the lowest D# under the D, while the Wheatstone has it under the E, and this one has one "extra" button. If it's otherwise a standard Maccann, then I'll guess that the extra (top button, next-to-leftmosts row) is a D above the highest C. Mine -- and presumably this one, except fot the extra button -- has a 3-octave range starting at the bottom on the cello's low C (C below the bass clef), while the right hand has a 3½-octave range starting on the violin's low G (G below middle C), or preciselly the range of a standard 48-button English. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Theo Posted April 3, 2006 Share Posted April 3, 2006 Ugly looking brute. I disagree. I think it's beautiful! I thought Dirge was talking about Malcolm's avatar, I'm please to join the defence! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JimLucas Posted April 3, 2006 Share Posted April 3, 2006 It's at http://cgi.ebay.com/83-Button-English-Conc...itemZ7404357706.It may be an early McCann duet. The Horniman has one in its collection with metal ends, serial number 1623. Mike, do you have a link for that. I haven't yet found it, though I did find this one, which fits your description, other than having a serial number of 1615. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeterT Posted April 4, 2006 Share Posted April 4, 2006 I'm with Jim on the artistic merits of this one. Unless I've missed it in the correspondence above, the number of this Lachenal instrument is 2183. I've just looked at Peter Honri's "Working the Halls". There are two photographs of Percy Honri playing 81 key MacCann Duets. The second (later) photograph clearly shows a metal-ended instrument, however, the earlier photograph, which pictures Percy as a young man, has a wooden-ended instrument. I can't be certain, but the shape of the metal name insert does look to me like Lachenal rather than Wheatstone. Any thoughts from anyone else on this aspect? Regards, Peter. PS - I'd love to hear the bass notes on this box! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
malcolm clapp Posted April 4, 2006 Share Posted April 4, 2006 Ugly looking brute. I disagree. I think it's beautiful! I thought Dirge was talking about Malcolm's avatar, I'm please to join the defence! Hmmmmm! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JimLucas Posted April 4, 2006 Share Posted April 4, 2006 I've just looked at Peter Honri's "Working the Halls". There are two photographs of Percy Honri playing 81 key MacCann Duets. The second (later) photograph clearly shows a metal-ended instrument,... p. 4 - an Æola. Much like mine, but mine's ebony. ...the earlier photograph, which pictures Percy as a young man, has a wooden-ended instrument. I can't be certain, but the shape of the metal name insert does look to me like Lachenal rather than Wheatstone. p. 39 - Everything looks very much like the one on eBay, except the configuration of the buttons at the top and maybe the buttons (metal on Honri's?). The angle on the ends is the same, just like my Lachenal contrabass English. Any of you veteran repairers know whether that was the same or different between Lachenal and Wheatstone, or maybe even varied within each? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike Pierceall Posted April 4, 2006 Share Posted April 4, 2006 Actually, Jim, your example matches the bolt pattern -- I was in error. I agree with you that it is beautiful. Mike Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MichaelB Posted April 4, 2006 Share Posted April 4, 2006 I saw a Wheatstone McMan duet in an auction a few years ago. A nice beast: almost perfect condidtion, and in concert pitch. too expensive for me, though. From what I remember, it was 8-sided, but much smaller than this Lachnal. It was about the same as the "short side" on this. No "power bulge" required. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JimLucas Posted April 4, 2006 Share Posted April 4, 2006 I saw a Wheatstone McMan duet in an auction a few years ago. A nice beast: almost perfect condidtion, and in concert pitch. too expensive for me, though.From what I remember, it was 8-sided, but much smaller than this Lachnal. It was about the same as the "short side" on this. No "power bulge" required. Probably had far fewer than 80 buttons, then. Lots were made with 46, as well as the other sizes I noted earlier. This 81+air button on eBay is the most I've ever encountered for a duet, though I've heard rumors of a couple of Englishes with 84 buttons (that would be 6 octaves), presumably plus an air button. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wes williams Posted April 4, 2006 Share Posted April 4, 2006 I've just looked at Peter Honri's "Working the Halls". There are two photographs of Percy Honri playing 81 key MacCann Duets. The second (later) photograph clearly shows a metal-ended instrument, however, the earlier photograph, which pictures Percy as a young man, has a wooden-ended instrument. I can't be certain, but the shape of the metal name insert does look to me like Lachenal rather than Wheatstone. Any thoughts from anyone else on this aspect? Lachenal either took on, or exclusively licensed, the 1884 Maccann patent. It appears that Wheatstone didn't make any duets until around 1900 or later, either because of that patent, or perhaps because of Edward Chidley's (died 1899) conservative approach to concertina making, or maybe both. Wheatstone never used the word 'Maccann' - its always 'Wheatstone Duet', and differs slightly in layout. Lachenal started using their Edeo shape a few years later, so all larger early Maccanns (and Band instruments) use this stretched hex shape. For a guide as to who was connected with Maccann see his 1888 Guide. Maccann himself seems to have had a lot to do with the other concertina-making branch of Geoff Crabb's family, as their home address is often used by Maccann in later adverts. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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