Gives Me Inspiration!

[Susanne]

Check this:

Concertina factory

[David Barnert]

This video has been discussed in the forum before. Steve Chambers' avatar is the proto-concertina in the video. I'm intrigued by the line (at about 2:00 in the video) that says: "Only in America, it seems, is it still really regarded as a serious instrument."

[Bruce McCaskey]

I saw this link when it was posted a few weeks back and it raised a question that I failed to ask then. The video is interesting, but it isn't clear to me when it was filmed. It looks old to me, but since it is in color rather than black-and-white I'm guessing it must be from the 1960's. Maybe it's said at some point in the soundtrack and I missed it?

[Stephen Chambers]

... it isn't clear to me when it was filmed. It looks old to me, but since it is in color rather than black-and-white I'm guessing it must be from the 1960's.

Bruce,

 

It was filmed on 3rd April 1961, at Duncan Terrace, Islington, only a few months before Wheatstone's was absorbed into the Boosey & Hawkes factory at Edgware that autumn.

Edited October 7, 2006 by Stephen Chambers

[Bruce McCaskey]

Thanks for the confirmation. I'd have felt very silly had you said it was recently shot. Regardless, it's a brief but fascinating view into how things are/were done.

[Stephen Chambers]

... it's a brief but fascinating view into how things are/were done.

Bruce,

 

Indeed so, in fact the reed-slot router seen in the newsreel is still in use by Steve Dickinson, and we believe that it was probably made by Louis Lachenal in the mid-19th century, before being modified by Wheatstone's about 1934.

[PeterT]

Thanks for the confirmation. I'd have felt very silly had you said it was recently shot. Regardless, it's a brief but fascinating view into how things are/were done.

Hi Bruce,

 

For those of us this side of "the pond", the 50's style of commentary is a dead give-away. Obviously carried over into the early 60's.

 

Regards,

Peter.