"i Just Taped Up The Sound Holes With Masking Tape"

[squeezegirl]

James R Woodruff, in connection with his box using too much air, wrote : "I just taped up the sound holes on my Stagi with masking tape...."

 

Could anyone elaborate on this? Seems to be some information we all could use.

 

TX

 

Squeezegirl

[Spectacled Warbler]

The accepted way of sweetening or quietening the sound of a concertina is to use baffles. These are layers of leather/wood/pasteboard fixed inside the ends of the concertina, to cover the soundholes, and they can be removed without leaving any damage to the concertina. There are a couple or recent threads on c.net about these recently - searching the site with the keyword 'baffles' will lead you to them.

 

James writes that he had the problem of the left hand chords drowning out the right hand melody, and instead of spending the money and time needed to make a customised baffle, he put masking tape over the soundholes inside the left hand end. I did the same, after reading the same article, and it works fairly well. To me, the tone's not quite as good afterwards, but that's balanced by the fact that for a few minutes' work, you can at last hear the tune from your right hand if you're playing left hand chords at the same time. I've not noticed any difference in the amount of air that's used, however.

 

Hope this helps

 

Joy

[JackWoehr]

... he put masking tape over the soundholes inside the left hand end. I did the same, after reading the same article, and it works fairly well. To me, the tone's not quite as good afterwards, but that's balanced by the fact that for a few minutes' work, you can at last hear the tune from your right hand if you're playing left hand chords at the same time. I've not noticed any difference in the amount of air that's used, however.

 

It has been suggested by Brian Hayden and others that balance between the left and the right sides is a matter of technique. Brian has made some remarks about a "1/3 duty cycle" of the left side relative to the right side.

[Spectacled Warbler]

a "1/3 duty cycle" of the left side relative to the right side.

 

What be that, then? A new one to me, that one is. My technique hasn't progressed past preventing my fingers slipping off those springy buttons. Yet.

 

Thanks

 

Joy

[Dirge]

It be the way them buttons move about when I beant lookin' that hornswoggles I.

 

ps I live in Zumerzet so I'm allowed to talk like this

[Spectacled Warbler]

Zumerzet, eh? Nice part of the world.

 

I'll be driving through there at about 4 am one morning shortly before Mayday - I'll search out a tuneless 24 verse ballad about hornswoggles and come and sing it to you. Unaccompanied. You'll like that, won't you?!

 

Goggle describes 'duty cycle' as being the length of time for which a device can be run at maximum power. It relates it to the length of time Magnetic Resonance Imaging equipment in hospitals can be used without cooking the patient. Scary.

 

Still trying to relate that to the concertina though. Suppose it might mean only playing 1/3 as much on the left hand as on the right....... but being an awk'd so-and so I sometimes want to play the left side all the time because it sounds good.

 

 

Hmm.

[JimLucas]

Goggle describes 'duty cycle'...

My eyes are bulging at the thought!

 

Still trying to relate that to the concertina though. Suppose it might mean only playing 1/3 as much on the left hand as on the right....... but being an awk'd so-and so I sometimes want to play the left side all the time because it sounds good.

Not quite sure what Brian might have meant, since the term isn't obvious to me, either. But one possibility is to play relatively staccato, i.e., release the left hand buttons quickly after pressing them (1/3 as long as the right?), so that you get the sound of the chord/harmony, but it pulls away to let the melody note be heard alone. The effect won't be heard as "spaces" in the harmony, but mainly as a clearer melody with accompaniment.

[Spectacled Warbler]

release the left hand buttons quickly after pressing them (1/3 as long as the right?),

There's a tip that will be useful - working on the premise that what you don't play is equally as important as what you do play. Thanks for that.

 

Joy

[geoffwright]

At his Spring Workshop, Noel Hill was covering various aspects of how to position the anglo for the best sound. My Jeffries was that bright (shrill?) in the treble, he suggested I play with the RHS pointing down a little, towards my right thigh, just to balance the sound a bit better.

[ragtimer]

All of you have good suggestions. Another one, that was emphasized by master Maccann Duet player David Cornell at the NE Workshop last weekend, is -- Don't play so many notes in the LH. If your melody note is E and the LH plays a C chord, play just C and G and don't double the E on the LH side, etc.

 

I also agree with the "duty cycle" notion, and have recently been refining my LH technique to play boom-chuck accompniments with very staccato "chucks." And let off the "boom" when the first chuck sounds, if not sooner. Really short chuck chords sound snappy, like Cajun or Zydeco to me, almost like a banjo.

 

If you're playing an Anglo, congrats on being able to play it like a Duet (Jody Kruskal style). But if you artificially muffle the LH side of an Anglo, then the melody will suffer when it wanders over to the LH. And many Duet effects require the LH to be the tonal equal of the RH.

 

I too have been tempted to tape over the holes in my Stagi Hayden Duet, but instead I've been working on my technique and my chord voicings. Keep squeezin' -- Mike K.

[Woody]

It be the way them buttons move about when I beant lookin' that hornswoggles I.

 

ps I live in Zumerzet so I'm allowed to talk like this

 

 

Tut - the state of British education today! I believe the correct spelling should be........

 

 

Tizawayum buddonz movezabout when I bainlookun zadornzwogglez I.

 

pz I livezun Zumerzet zoimlowda talk like tiz