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Morse C/g Anglo


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I would point out though that it is ironic that a concertina that is named the Ceili isn't particularly optimized for ITM Rich :).
Perhaps why they spell it Ceili, rather than the more "traditional" Ceilidh? :unsure: ;)
Actually - we focused our first model toward the ITM market as that's where the pressure for reasonably priced decent boxes was/is. We went with the Ceili spelling rather that the more traditional Ceilidh as the former seemed quite common and acceptable - and easier to pronounce (by looking at the word). As it is, we still get a lot of people calling us up wanting a "Selly".

 

Certainly we could have optimized it more for ITM, but then it would have been more expensive and not as acceptable for other styles of music. We talked about this thread at the shop to see if it would make sense for us to offer an ITM Ceili upgrade model.... It turns out that there are some tweaks that we can do fairly easily while other adjustments/changes would be quite onerous.

 

We decided to make the adjustments that will make the higher notes more responsive (yet not overly bright) - and do this for ALL of our new Ceilis and Albions. The good news (as if the former was bad?) is that we'll not have to charge any more for the boxes as we've recently changed some of our production methods/techniques which have brought our costs down a bit.

 

Please keep in mind that it isn't our goal to make Jeffries-quality boxes with our hybrid line! We need to leave some betterments for our vintage-quality line.... :)

 

-- Rich --

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[Please keep in mind that it isn't our goal to make Jeffries-quality boxes with our hybrid line! We need to leave some betterments for our vintage-quality line]

 

 

hmmm....this bit of input is not applied solely to the morse....but i must say that mulling over that comment, my general thought would be that, both superb button action AND superb reed responsiveness (hey, and bellows), could, and should be desirable, and available in a hybrid concertina. such an instrument would still be half the price of a concertina-reeded instrument and many of us would happily buy one. there is no earthly reason why superb action & superb reed response should be reserved for concertina-reeded instruments.

 

the "betterments" in a concertina-reeded instrument would then be the reeds, if you prefer that sound and feel like paying for it. you shouldn't have to buy one in order to get great action & great reponse in one box. again, i'm making the point as a general proposition, not talking specifically about the morse.

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Perhaps why they spell it Ceili, rather than the more "traditional" Ceilidh? :unsure: ;)
If you Google both spellings (in the same search), you'll find several web sites stating that Ceili is the Irish spelling while Ceilidh is the Scottish spelling.

The fact that it can be found on several web sites doesn't necessarily make it true, especially when it's so easy -- and common -- for one web site to copy from another without doing independent research. E.g., I've recently run across numerous mentions of the song "Wee Pot Stove" being by Eric Bogle, when in fact it was composed by Harry Robertson. And I'll bet googling "concertina" could find plenty of examples to stand your hair on end. Nevertheless...

 

It's my understanding that Irish spelling was "simplified" within the last century (no time right now to Google when, by whom, etc.), so that there are both "old" spellings and "new" spellings for many Irish words. And various folks for their various reasons still prefer the old spellings. Thus my use -- tongue only partly in cheek -- of the word "traditional" to describe the "ceilidh" spelling, which was for many years the only spelling I encountered in use among my Irish friends.

 

In fact, my Irish-English dictionary -- dated 1927 and in its 6th printing in 1953 -- has neither spelling, but "ceilidhe" (and the "dh" is actually a "d" with a dot over it, similar to the equivalence between "ö" and "oe" in German). It's translated as "an evening visit", "a friendly entertainment", or "an evening musical entertainment".

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Perhaps why they spell it Ceili, rather than the more "traditional" Ceilidh? :unsure: ;)
If you Google both spellings (in the same search), you'll find several web sites stating that Ceili is the Irish spelling while Ceilidh is the Scottish spelling.

The fact that it can be found on several web sites doesn't necessarily make it true, especially when it's so easy -- and common -- for one web site to copy from another without doing independent research. E.g., I've recently run across numerous mentions of the song "Wee Pot Stove" being by Eric Bogle, when in fact it was composed by Harry Robertson. And I'll bet googling "concertina" could find plenty of examples to stand your hair on end. Nevertheless...

 

It's my understanding that Irish spelling was "simplified" within the last century (no time right now to Google when, by whom, etc.), so that there are both "old" spellings and "new" spellings for many Irish words. And various folks for their various reasons still prefer the old spellings. Thus my use -- tongue only partly in cheek -- of the word "traditional" to describe the "ceilidh" spelling, which was for many years the only spelling I encountered in use among my Irish friends.

 

In fact, my Irish-English dictionary -- dated 1927 and in its 6th printing in 1953 -- has neither spelling, but "ceilidhe" (and the "dh" is actually a "d" with a dot over it, similar to the equivalence between "ö" and "oe" in German). It's translated as "an evening visit", "a friendly entertainment", or "an evening musical entertainment".

 

I think we need to keep in mind here that Irish Gaelic is not a monolithic language, rather there are several distinct dialects of it. I wouldn't be surprised if they spelled words like ceili/ceilidh/ceilidhe differently in different parts of the country. It wasn't until the establishment of the Irish Free State in the 1920s that anything like a standard version of Gaelic was adopted. My parents had to learn it in school, but I distinctly remember my Dad saying that the version of Gaelic he learned was not the same as the version his parents spoke and that in fact, when they spoke Gaelic, my Dad was not able to understand them.

 

In any case, with respect to Ceili, for most of my youth that is the spelling I encountered most in the Irish American Community around Baltimore, its only with in the last 10-15 years that I have seen the ceilidh spelling and that is usually in cases where a group is trying to be more formal.

 

--

Bill

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I've recently run across numerous mentions of the song "Wee Pot Stove" being by Eric Bogle, when in fact it was composed by Harry Robertson.
And I'm surprised that so many people think that "Goodnight Irene" is an Irish song.

 

-- Rich --

Its a Leadbelly song, of course, but it does sound great on the Anglo concertina. I play it in A.

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A late response ... but I bought a Stagi at Richard Morse's Button Box back in January. And then joined the queue for a Ceili C/G. I drove out to pick up the Ceili in May. As one would expect, there is no comparison between a Stagi and a Morse. Playing speed doubles nearly instantaneously and triples trip off one's fingertips.

 

re: reed resistance. I know nearly everyone here has more experience than I do, but I would say from a newcomer's perspective ease of play is related to 3 matters.

 

1) action. button action. the Ceili is light and fast.

 

2) bellows. sounds silly. no one comments on bellows. but if you have played a stagi, you will know that stiff bellows equate to a lot of isometric pectoral exercises.

 

3) reed responsiveness. I only have two points of comparison. The Ceili was and is magic by comparison.

 

I do love the tone of the Edgley concertinas ... but would say that the Ceili has a lovely sound. It was the first thing my friends commented on, how much more enjoyable the sound was compared to a Stagi.

 

Last point, the customer service at the Button Box can't be beat. Doug is a pet.

 

 

Lucy

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Thank you Lucy. You may not have much experience, but it sounds like you have just a hair more than I do.

 

I got Dave Elliot's book a week or two ago. It was the first time I've seen the insides of anything resembling a real concertina. I was shocked. It quickly explained why my Hohner and my Stagi both get sticking crooked buttons.

 

A couple months ago I had a chance to hold someone's Lachenal for about 30 seconds, and again it was a revalatory experience. The action and reed response was so much better! The bellows were so much more stable!

 

I've been trying to keep up playing square and contra dances (mostly for six year olds and their parents). On a slow night we have me on the Stagi, a guitar, a fiddle, and either a piano or a piano accordion. And two squares of dancers and a caller. Then I can barely hear myself play. On a full night we have me, two guitars, two fiddles, banjo, mandolin, piano, cello, piano accordion, and a flute. And the caller and about 40 couples dancing. I can't hear a thing I do with the Stagi. There are some band members who are very friendly and encouraging. There are a couple who think they are but who are actually patronizing instead. Because I only have A/D on the Stagi, and we never play in A, I can only play about half the repetoir, and I nearly blew a gasket when one of the patronizing ones told me to sing instead a few weeks back. I had been just playing a drum until he badgered me into knocking that off and working harder on the concertina. At least I was getting competent to keep simple rythm on the drum. On songs I don't have too much trouble with (for instance Red River Valley) I find myself clutching the (unused for that song)whole left side of the box, playing with my right, trying to force enough air through the thing to get it loud enough that I can hear it. Somehow I didn't think that I was supposed to develop calouses, or dimples, on my fingertips from playing a concertina.

 

I'm really looking forward to my Ceili.

 

In the last couple weeks I've been learning things about the Ceili's construction, history, and competition here on C.net. I guess I still don't fully understand the difference between concertina and accordion reeds, beyond the way they're mounted.

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i have had the chance to play several morses. they were all very good concertinas. out of all the hybrids i have played, the sound of the reeds and the feel of them were the closest the traditional concertinas.

 

that being said, i prefer my edgley, which does not detract from the quality of the morse ceili concertinas.

 

since you've been offered the concertina, i would say that a concertina in hand is worth two in the bush!

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