An Introduction

[Mattamar Pazzolov]

Hello Concertinists (if that's the proper term),

 

I wanted to take a moment to introduce myself, state my intentions and make it clear from the start that I am both a very serious-minded individual and an absolute fool.

 

I have recently acquired a beautiful, but forgotten, Patek concertina. The case contained a contract and receipt which identfies it as 104 style E. It was purchased at Patek's Music Store in Chicago for $85.00 in 1930 by my step-father's father when he was 15 years old.

 

 

 

I've been a working musician, on and off, for 20 years. Back in the late 80's/ early 90's I was one of those fancy-panced rockers with the gigantic hair and make-up that somehow managed to get gigs without any discernible talent and attract flocks of women dispite looking like a transvestite. A fine situation for any enterprising 14 year old, believe me.

 

After half a decade of posturing with my bass guitar I decided it was high time I actually learned how to play it. I have since had the opportunity to play with many great musicians in a variety of genres.

 

Two factors led me to the concertina (aside from finding one for free in my parents crawl-space):

 

1. While working as a pornographer in Toronto Canada I discovered an underground clown cult. My roommate at the time was developing a slight clown fetish and introduced me to his newest clown girl who, in turn, introduced me to her collective of entertainers at Clown Hall. I eventually found myself in full clown gear tromping around the greater downtown area and causing general mayhem under the guise of "art". I now perform regularly as a clown, studying trickster god mythology, the history of laughter, the evolution of the human smile and various forms of body language theoretics. The addition of the concertina to my act will be historically accurate and insanely aggrevating (for me to learn and for my wife to listen to).

 

Me at my wedding earlier this year.

(My wife is very tolerant and quite possibly mad like a hatter.)

 

2. My musical career as of late revolves around recording commercial music, mostly digital. The base (no pun intended) is usually bass guitar and drum loops accompanied by electronic sounds, samples, slurs and midi instruments of infinite varieties. It's a wonderful job and a great way to explore composition and arrangements, but it is work none-the-less and becomes the thing you rush home from after awhile. I have been in the market for an instrument that baffles me. Something unlike anything I'm familiar with. Something that will allow me to re-experience the whole process of learning from scratch all over again.

Something that doesn't have to be plugged-in and leashed to electricity and magnets and 200 pound boxes of speakers.

 

So here I am, starting fresh, and absolutely clueless and ignorant and happy. Over the last week I've spent a couple hours a day noodling around and trying to get a feel for the instrument. Today I started in on Henry Silberhorn's Book 1 from 1910 and realized, upon playing the proper scales, that 40 years of neglect has not been kind to the Patek's tuning. The box is in great condition and sounds most notes well, but has a few clunkers that whistle like plummeting anvils.

 

I'm assuming there are reeds that need repair or replacement because most of the box sounds great. If anyone has any other theories I'd love to hear them.

 

See you around the boards,

M. P.

[David Barnert]

Welcome to the group, Mattamar. I hope what I'm about to write doesn't scare you away, because we like to think of ourselves as inclusive and supportive of many different kinds of concertina and many different kinds of music, and you're certainly welcome to hang around here.

 

But...

 

I think you'll find that there are very few here that play (or know anything about) the kind of concertina you've got. Although throughout the midwest of the USA it's called a concertina, most of us here would call it a Chemnitzer concertina, and there just aren't many Chemnitzer players in this group. Ted Kloba is here, but I can't think of any others.

 

Have a look at some Chemnitzer-specfic sites, like Ted's at http://www.geocities.com/heytud/ or http://www.concertinamusic.com. I expect you'll feel more at home there.

 

Good luck.

[Mattamar Pazzolov]

As the saying goes, "Beggers can't be . . . . ", you know the rest.

 

From what I've read so far many of this forum's topics are well-thought out conversations that are intelligently worded without rudeness or spite. This is rare on the internet. If anything, I'll stick around for the uniquely engaging thoughtfulness.

 

M. P.

[Samantha]

As the saying goes, "Beggers can't be . . . . ", you know the rest.

 

From what I've read so far many of this forum's topics are well-thought out conversations that are intelligently worded without rudeness or spite. This is rare on the internet. If anything, I'll stick around for the uniquely engaging thoughtfulness.

 

M. P.

 

Welcome to concertina.net. I think Theodore Kloba is your man ... I expect he'll be along shortly.

Meanwhile, enjoy your new instrument.

Samantha

[Missing Song]

To paraphrase (unashamedly)

I wanted to take a moment to introduce myself... I am both a very serious-minded individual and an absolute fool.

 

I've been a working musician, on and off, for 20 years... somehow managed to get gigs without any discernible talent and attract flocks of women dispite looking like a transvestite. A fine situation for any enterprising 14 year old, believe me.

 

1. While working as a pornographer in Toronto Canada I discovered an underground clown cult. ... I eventually found myself in full clown gear tromping around the greater downtown area and causing general mayhem under the guise of "art". I now perform regularly as a clown...

 

Me at my wedding earlier this year.

(My wife is very tolerant and quite possibly mad like a hatter.)

 

See you around the boards,

M. P.

 

 

Somehow things seem more normal now.

Nice to meet you.

[Theodore Kloba]

I wanted to take a moment to introduce myself, state my intentions and make it clear from the start that I am both a very serious-minded individual and an absolute fool.

Hello, Mattamar! I did receive your PM, but I was out of town for a few days. I'll get to your question about repairs in a moment; I think it is worth posting here for anyone who searches the archive in the future.

I have recently acquired a beautiful, but forgotten, Patek concertina.

It is beautiful, and I'm glad you have decided to bring it into good playing condition. It is from the era when Pateks were made by Otto Schlicht. Among vintage American-made Chemnitzers, these (and the Pearl Queens made also by O.S.) are just about the most sought-after of makes. You mentioned 16 Horsepower in your PM; David Edwards plays a Patek of this vintage.

I've been a working musician, on and off, for 20 years. Back in the late 80's/ early 90's I was one of those fancy-panced rockers with the gigantic hair

That was back in my days playing bass guitar in a punk band and then as a post-punk-neo-beatnik-semi-dissheveled-drab-yet-hip alternative rocker.

(My wife is very tolerant and quite possibly mad like a hatter.)

That's two more things we have in common then, although my tolerant wife prefers the phrase "loopy as a loon."

I have been in the market for an instrument that baffles me.

Hallelujah, brother! Ye have found it!

Something that doesn't have to be plugged-in and leashed to electricity and magnets and 200 pound boxes of speakers.

That (and a particular track from a CD of Lithuanian Folklore) was what put a [Chemnitzer] concertina in my hands.

Today I started in on Henry Silberhorn's Book 1 from 1910

It's a shame there aren't better tutorials out there, but if you have a good musical foundation, you can use Silberhorn to learn the keyboard. My first recommendation is to move past the number system that's presented there and learn to read standard sheetmusic (maybe with your own bellows-direction marks), especially bass clef. I know a lot of amateur players who just work from the numbers and it severely limits their playing, especially of the left hand.

40 years of neglect has not been kind to the Patek's tuning. The box is in great condition and sounds most notes well, but has a few clunkers that whistle like plummeting anvils.

From what I know of clowning, I would think that plummeting anvils would be just the ticket! Seriously though, what you described sounds less like tuning than maybe stuck reeds or bad valves which are much less serious issues. Poor tuning on an instrument like this would sound like raging tremolo.

Although throughout the midwest of the USA it's called a concertina, most of us here would call it a Chemnitzer concertina, and there just aren't many Chemnitzer players in this group. Ted Kloba is here, but I can't think of any others.

Daniel Hersh is also a (part-time) Chemnitzer-spieler as is Greg Jowaisas. There may be others I'm not remembering.

 

About repairs: At the time I bought my first two instruments, John Bernhardt was still operating Star Concertina in Cicero (west suburban Chicago). He's now retired and only does work for his own enjoyment or occasionally for friends. After he stopped making new Star Concertinas, he kept the storefront in Cicero open for the repair business; excellent repairs and tuning were done there by Lucio Lorenzetti, but he passed away of an unexpected and swift illness in 2003. The storefront in Cicero now houses a Karate school if memory serves.

 

Pompilio Rosciani (sp?), one of Star's former owners now works for Italo-American Accordion in Oak Lawn (south suburban Chicago). He did decent work on one of my instruments, but I would urge caution taking your instrument there. He owned Star at a time when they made instruments that were more accordion-like in internal construction (like the one I brought there), and mostly works on accordions now. I have not seen or heard an example of his work on long-plate reeds like those in your Patek. I also had a not-entirely-positive experience with customer service there.

 

There is one Minnesota-based dealer and technician who is apparently respected, and seemed a decent guy when I met him, but I heard the results of his tuning on a friend's old Sitek (made by International, which was a precursor company to Star) and I would have to rate it as "ruined." This particular friend seemed happy enough, but I liked the "before picture" far better.

 

There are a few other tuners/technicians advertising on the web (in Illinois, Minnesota and Wisconsin), but I do not have first- or even second-hand knowledge to share.

 

I (like Daniel Hersh) have taken the tack of learning repair on my own. If I didn't have to work to pay the bills, I might take in outside work, but as it stands I don't have time to finish the restoration projects I've started.

Edited November 20, 2006 by Theodore Kloba

[Rhomylly]

Welcome aboard, Mattamar! You sound just as crazy as the rest of us.

 

And thanks for your kind words about our little corner of the 'net. We like it very much

 

And I think you'll find many of us interested in more collusion between us concertina-types and you concertina-types. Keep us updated on your progress!

[Chris Timson]

Something that doesn't have to be plugged-in and leashed to electricity and magnets and 200 pound boxes of speakers.

Oddly enough, with my MIDI anglo concertina I seem to be heading in the opposite direction!

 

(Actually not true, my accoustic anglos will always be my first love, but the electric anglo can be a lot of fun!).

 

May I be the fith or sixth or whatever it is to welcome you to the group. I once had a fruitful exchange of recordings with Steve Litwin, the polka editor of the Polish American Journal, during which we established to our own satisfaction at any rate that Chemnitzer concertina musicas played in the Midwest and English dance music has a surprising amount in common in terms of feel and approach.

 

Chris

[stuart estell]

Somehow things seem more normal now.

Nice to meet you.

 

Yes, that's what I was thinking.

 

Plus, I think that "while working as a pornographer in Toronto Canada I discovered an underground clown cult" is one of the most disarmingly engaging lines I've ever read in an introductory post to a messageboard! Welcome indeed.

[Daniel Hersh]

So here I am, starting fresh, and absolutely clueless and ignorant and happy. Over the last week I've spent a couple hours a day noodling around and trying to get a feel for the instrument. Today I started in on Henry Silberhorn's Book 1 from 1910 and realized, upon playing the proper scales, that 40 years of neglect has not been kind to the Patek's tuning. The box is in great condition and sounds most notes well, but has a few clunkers that whistle like plummeting anvils.

 

I'm assuming there are reeds that need repair or replacement because most of the box sounds great. If anyone has any other theories I'd love to hear them.

 

See you around the boards,

M. P.

 

It's hard to know what's wrong with the reeds from that colorful description. You may find that regular playing itself helps with some of them. Another possibility is tiny pieces of dust have lodged between the reeds and the reed plate. Those can be cleared by running a thin piece of paper between the reed and the plate--but just identifying and getting access to the offending reed can be a challenge on a Chemnitzer. It's also possible that the reeds may be cracked, and I don't know what you'll be able to do about that in the absence of good Chemnitzer technicians.

 

If it's really tuning that you need, the folks at the Button Box in Massachusetts do have a little experience with Chemnitzer tuning, though I don't know if they've dealt with long-plate reeds.

 

Ted Kloba said that I was learning Chemnitzer repair on my own. I did look into that, and got lots of good information from Ted and from Theo Gibb...but I decided in the end to try to find an instrument in better repair than my first Chemnitzer rather than try to find the time to fix the multiple problems on that one. I did find a better one (again with help from Ted) and after that I put the repair idea aside so I could concentrate on learning to play.

 

Daniel