Rolling Edeophones

[Chris Drinkwater]

Because Lachenal Edeophones are 12 sided, like the old brass English threepeny bit, they are nearly round and are prone to rolling off slightly sloping surfaces and even flat ones, if knocked, sometimes resulting in serious damage to the concertina in question, necessitating an expensive repair. If you own one, apart from always being careful with it when not playing it, i.e. putting it back in its case, how do you stop its tendency to roll? Any serious or humorous answers welcome.

 

Chris

[Chris Timson]

From the Concertina FAQ:- "Other good makers include Jones, Crabb and also Lachenal, who made instruments ranging from the cheap-and-cheerful to the excellent. Their Edeophone range (distinctive for having 12 sides and rolling off tables if you aren't careful) matched the very best Wheatstone Aeolas."

 

So don't say I didn't warn you ...

 

Chris

[Jake Middleton-Metcalfe]

Now this is something ive always wondered, why did they have 12 sides? (this may seem a childish question) but i genuinely dont know. Was it to improve the acoustics? It certanly makes the concertina much harder to make but does it improve the concertina or was it just fashion or lachenal trying to out-do wheatstone's 8 sided moddle by haveing more sides?

 

certainly they have a reputation for quality from what i have heard

[Jake Middleton-Metcalfe]

Now this is something ive always wondered, why did they have 12 sides? (this may seem a childish question) but i genuinely dont know. Was it to improve the acoustics? It certanly makes the concertina much harder to make but does it improve the concertina or was it just fashion or lachenal trying to out-do wheatstone's 8 sided moddle by haveing more sides?

 

certainly they have a reputation for quality from what i have heard

[PeterT]

If you own one, apart from always being careful with it when not playing it, i.e. putting it back in its case, how do you stop its tendency to roll? Any serious or humorous answers welcome.

 

(1) Sell it to an unsuspecting new player, and invest in an Aeola.

(2) Buy an old-fashioned "wedge of cheese" shaped door stop, and park it under the correct side of the concertina.

(3) Slopes seldom run in two directions, so put the concertina down across the slope, rather than with it.

 

I'll leave you to work out which was the serious suggestion.

 

Regards,

Peter.

[Pete Dunk]

(1) Sell it to an unsuspecting new player, and invest in an Aeola.

(2) Buy an old-fashioned "wedge of cheese" shaped door stop, and park it under the correct side of the concertina.

(3) Slopes seldom run in two directions, so put the concertina down across the slope, rather than with it.

 

I'll leave you to work out which was the serious suggestion.

 

Regards,

Peter.

 

After recently playing an Edeophone for the first time I think the serious suggestion was no.1

[ben]

I have recently placed an order for a (12 sided) Edeophone 40 button Anglo concertina from a fellow in South Africa. The builder, Koot Brits, prefers to make 10 sided concertinas as well as 8 sided anglos.

 

My question with regards to these instrument: Does an Edeophone concertina have more bellows volume than the 10 sided Anglo or the Aeola?? Should I change my order to a 10 sided Anglo or wait for the Anglo Edeophone? Any advice would be appreciated?

Edited July 31, 2007 by Ben Otto

[Alan Day]

In the original Wheatstone literature it states that during experimentation Charles Wheatstone found that the best sound results came from a round concertina and tried to make the concertina as near to circular as possible.

After getting a pint of beer in the end of my Jeffries at Sidmouth many years ago I always try and keep my concertina boxed when I am not playing it with the lid shut.

Al

[MichaelB]

If you own one, apart from always being careful with it when not playing it, i.e. putting it back in its case, how do you stop its tendency to roll? Any serious or humorous answers welcome.

 

(1) Sell it to an unsuspecting new player, and invest in an Aeola.

(2) Buy an old-fashioned "wedge of cheese" shaped door stop, and park it under the correct side of the concertina.

(3) Slopes seldom run in two directions, so put the concertina down across the slope, rather than with it.

 

I'll leave you to work out which was the serious suggestion.

 

Regards,

Peter.

 

Wouldn't you need 2 door-stops, to stop it rolling in either direction?

 

MichaelB

[asdormire]

Wouldn't you need 2 door-stops, to stop it rolling in either direction?

 

MichaelB

 

ya only need it fer the downhil side

 

Alan

[Dirge]

You could bang some big upholstery studs (the brass headed things) into the sides of the ends. They'd chock it and add an attractive flash of brass.

 

I've been told that edeophone bellows collapse under less provocation; the argument being that the sharper corners of the 6 and 8 siders brace them against strain better, but I also suspect that if it was really a problem for any other than the most brutal players they wouldn't have made them for long.

[michael stutesman]

I think the twelve sides was to allow for better balancing of the reed chambers.

[JimLucas]

...I always try and keep my concertina boxed when I am not playing it with the lid shut.

And when you

are

playing it with the lid shut?

[JimLucas]

Yet another old question revisited.

 

Because Lachenal Edeophones are 12 sided, like the old brass English threepeny bit, they are nearly round and are prone to rolling off slightly sloping surfaces and even flat ones, if knocked, sometimes resulting in serious damage to the concertina in question, necessitating an expensive repair. If you own one, apart from always being careful with it when not playing it, i.e. putting it back in its case, how do you stop its tendency to roll? Any serious or humorous answers welcome.

Now this is something ive always wondered, why did they have 12 sides?

Now that's two old questions revisited in the same thread.

Well, they weren't necessarily kept in separate threads in the past, either.

 

In the original Wheatstone literature it states that during experimentation Charles Wheatstone found that the best sound results came from a round concertina and tried to make the concertina as near to circular as possible.

Though the 8- and 12-sided designs are somewhat closer to circular than the 6-sided, I don't know that the difference is enought to give significantly better sound or balance. It is known that on the same day that Lachenal registered the 12-sided Edeophone design, they also registered a circular design, and they even made a few of those. ... Very few.

 

...was it just fashion or lachenal trying to out-do wheatstone's 8 sided moddle by haveing more sides?

That's definitely not the reason, as the Edeophone design was registered a good ten years before Wheatstone started making 8-sided Æolas.

 

(1) Sell it to an unsuspecting new player, and invest in an Aeola.

(2) Buy an old-fashioned "wedge of cheese" shaped door stop, and park it under the correct side of the concertina.

(3) Slopes seldom run in two directions, so put the concertina down across the slope, rather than with it.

Wouldn't you need 2 door-stops, to stop it rolling in either direction?

ya only need it fer the downhil side

With a tilted flat surface, one can always find a direction such that there is no slope in the crosswise direction, so that there is only one "downhill", and so only one door stop would be necessary. Warped surfaces -- hills, valleys, "saddles", and more complex contours -- are another matter altogether.

 

But note that standard door stops tend to be far narrower than the concertina, so that an incidental bump might cause damage by bending the instrument across the door stop. I think that a block for chocking the wheel of an automobile would be more secure, though it might not leave room on the table for your pint.

 

...I always try and keep my concertina boxed when I am not playing it with the lid shut.

As Alan suggests, putting it back in the case and closing the case is the only truly safe thing to do. I would add that the case should be sitting on the floor, so that it can't fall. And the case should be under a table or the like, so that things can't be dropped on it.

 

Too much trouble, you think? Well, it only takes a few seconds. For the sake of calculated argument, I'll assume that it takes 9 seconds to secure your concertina into its case, but that its being knocked off the table causes $250 worth of damage (a reasonable "average"?). That makes your time worth $100 thousand per hour! If you can convince yourself that the time it would take to put your concertina in the case while you're not playing is worth that much, why not try convincing your employer that your time on the job is worth the same?

 

But in the spirit of the other suggestions above, here's another:

In order to prevent your concertina rolling off a surface, no matter the direction of tilt or extent of warpage, you need to surround it with an uphill slope in every direction from where it sits. So you need to place it in a bowl or box (did I hear someone say, "a case"?), or into the center of a deep but soft pillow.

I'll stick with putting it back in the case.

[Dave Prebble]

An industrial ratchet strap should do the trick provided someone will help by holding the box still as you crank up the lever.

 

On the question of 12 sided bellows for an anglo, the words chocolate tea pot come to mind.

The more sides you have to a set of bellows, the weaker and less stable they come. Certainly for any energetic playing in the English chordal style, stick to six sides. If I played a 12 sided Anglo with my usual gusto, the bellows would implode in about five minutes. The only real excuse for 12 sides on an Anglo would be to make it look fancy.... there is no practical advantage.

 

Regards

 

Dave

[Chris Timson]

Various reasons have been given for the Aeola's 8 sides or the Edeophone's 12, but the real reason, I suspect, was simply to establish a Unique Selling Point. You can tell an Aeola or Edeophone from across the room (or indeed the concert hall). As for 12 sided anglos having imploding bellows, maybe this is why there are no Edeophone anglos.

 

Chris

[Chris Timson]

After recently playing an Edeophone for the first time I think the serious suggestion was no.1

Being a bit humourless for a moment Edeophones are good instruments, we shouldn't knock them. Anne had one for many years, she changed it for an Aeola but only because the Ede had 56 buttons and the Aeola 48; she didn't want the extra weight. Also (my trump card) the Sage of Heytesbury prefers them - he told Anne off for changing!

 

Chris

[malcolm clapp]

Rolling edeophones???

 

Hmmm.

 

You'd need a pretty big packet of Rizlas....

 

MC