House-shaped Concertina On Ebay

[Daniel Hersh]

I haven't seen one of these in a while. This one seems to be in unusually nice condition.

 

Daniel

[Ironframe]

It's likely to be a complex beastie to master, reading the description...

"THIS HAS 10 KEYS ON ONE SIDE AND 110 KEYS ON THE OTHER WITH ONE KEY MISSING. ALSO HAS AN AIR BY PASS BUTTON."

Intriguing huh?

Foxy

I haven't seen one of these in a while. This one seems to be in unusually nice condition.

 

Daniel

[Dirge]

The flat's not where you'd expect it is it? Wouldn't you think it would be at right angles to the rows to fit on your knee?

 

Or is it designed to circumnavigate a Teutonic beer gut?

[Leo]

or perhaps not roll off the table or bar

 

Thanks

Leo

[asdormire]

It's likely to be a complex beastie to master, reading the description...

"THIS HAS 10 KEYS ON ONE SIDE AND 110 KEYS ON THE OTHER WITH ONE KEY MISSING. ALSO HAS AN AIR BY PASS BUTTON."

Intriguing huh?

Foxy

I haven't seen one of these in a while. This one seems to be in unusually nice condition.

 

Daniel

 

bt the pictures show tn buttons on a side, so I suspect we just have a typo.

 

I remember seeing one like this with a chimney as well last year at NESI, I think it may have belonged to Rich.

 

Alan

[Richard Morse]

Yes, we've got a "house" concertina amongst our top-shelf oddities. Comes complete with door, windows and entry columns with pineapple capitals (but no chimney). I've also heard this type referred to as a "double concertina" as you can play it plays in different key pairs depending on which way you hold it. Unfortunately ours is in such poor shape I've never bothered to figure out which keys it was made in. Another I've seen like ours but in much better shape (and house-like) came up at eBay a few years ago and I saved the photo of it I'll display here too.

 

-- Rich --

 

[Robin Harrison]

re.the "house "concertina

 

The flat's not where you'd expect it is it?

 

We call them apartments over here

[Pete Dunk]

The flat's not where you'd expect it is it?

 

We call them apartments over here

 

Crikey! Someone from t'other side of the pond (if a little to the north) that understands proper English, whatever next.

[Ironframe]

Crikey! Someone from t'other side of the pond (if a little to the north) that understands proper English, whatever next.

I just wish some people would turn on their s-o-h when reading posts and not be so poker-faced..(referring to my noticing the advert said '110 keys on one side') seeing this following my post.

"bt the pictures show tn buttons on a side, so I suspect we just have a typo."

 

Foxy

[Musical Sore]

Another very odd one:

 

http://cgi.liveauctions.ebay.com/ws/eBayIS...em=120183872814

 

The system looks sort of pidgin English at first, but I think the red keys are the ones that have lost their caps, rather than Cs.

Edited November 14, 2007 by Musical Sore

[m3838]

Another very odd one:

 

<a href="http://cgi.liveauctions.ebay.com/ws/eBayIS...em=120183872814" target="_blank">http://cgi.liveauctions.ebay.com/ws/eBayIS...em=120183872814</a>

 

The system looks sort of pidgin English at first, but I think the red keys are the ones that have lost their caps, rather than Cs.

 

Baritone? Bass? The seller states: "Some minor losses to case, a few of the key caps are missing."

But why in the world a Bass concertina, which is clearly rectangular, still has remnants of that

6-sided shape? Is it clever marketing to distinguish it from Chemnitzer/Bandonion, or an indication that majority of people's brain capacity is average?

[JimLucas]

Another very odd one:

http://cgi.liveauctions.ebay.com/ws/eBayIS...em=120183872814

The system looks sort of pidgin English at first, but I think the red keys are the ones that have lost their caps, rather than Cs.

Possibly, though I wonder why they're evenly spaced. Is that really coincidence? If that were showing one end of a Wheatstone "Double", those red buttons would be properly spaced to be C's, though the fact that they're smaller does make them look like center pegs that are missing their caps. Also, if it were a Double, I think the rows should be proper diagonals, not the two-by-two arrangement shown, which is correct for an English. (Note that the Double is held with the same thumb-and-little-finger design as the English.)

 

I wonder some other things, too. Why is only one end of the full instrument shown, and only in its box? The ad says, "Bellows in good working order," but there's no picture. And what is that thing that looks like a crude single valve on the outside of a rough board? Is it possible that this concertina only has a keyboard on one end, with the other end having been replaced by a board stuck into the end of the bellows and an "air valve" attached?

 

That latter speculation leads me to the following wild and unlikely -- though perhaps not impossible -- scenario:

• The instrument was originally a single-action English.
  
• The one end and bellows were damaged, lost, or otherwise deemed unserviceable.
  
• The missing end was blocked off with a plank cut to fit into a bellows end.
  
• If the instrument was single-action, the bellows should have had "gills". So either the bellows was replaced with a gill-less one, or the gills themselves were rendered unserviceable, thus necessitating the addition of an air lever to the plank end.
  
• To get a full chromatic scale using a single end (or maybe just because someone wanted the Double's layout), the notes were arranged under the English button layout in the Double pattern. This, by the way, would almost certainly have required some reshaping of the slots and chambers on the remaining reed pan.
  
• Red (but not black) buttons were then placed accordingly.
  

Note also that the action is not visible, apparently covered by a cut-to-fit piece of paper, which isn't mounted properly to be a "dust guard", and which doesn't appear yellowed with age. Curiouser and curiouser.

:unsure:

:unsure:

Baritone? Bass?

...

But why in the world a Bass concertina, which is clearly rectangular, still has remnants of that

6-sided shape?

A "squashed" or "stretched" hexagon shape was a common one, especially for single-action instruments made for marching bands. My experience with my big bass/contrabass suggests that it may improve the balance for holding the instrument while standing. The particular profile of this instrument seems halfway between the squashed hexagon shape and a plain rectangle. Considering the work implied by the grooved border on the end, I suspect that the particular shape was considered artistic, an aesthetic plus.

 

From the size (compare the size of the entire end to the size of the array of buttons), I'd guess the original range was tenor, not baritone or bass. The elongated hexagon shape was used for some tenors, as well as for many deeper instruments.

[David Barnert]

The flat's not where you'd expect it is it?

We call them apartments over here

Crikey! Someone from t'other side of the pond (if a little to the north) that understands proper English, whatever next.

Yeah, but none of us over here (with the possible exception of Paul Read) can figure out what Robin's saying.

[chris]

Hi Jim

'That 'air key' looks an awful lot like a knot in the bottom of the case

chris

[Daniel Hersh]

The seller has helpfully posted more pictures here. Do they help explain what this is?

 

Daniel

 

Another very odd one:

http://cgi.liveauctions.ebay.com/ws/eBayIS...em=120183872814

The system looks sort of pidgin English at first, but I think the red keys are the ones that have lost their caps, rather than Cs.

Possibly, though I wonder why they're evenly spaced. Is that really coincidence? If that were showing one end of a Wheatstone "Double", those red buttons would be properly spaced to be C's, though the fact that they're smaller does make them look like center pegs that are missing their caps. Also, if it were a Double, I think the rows should be proper diagonals, not the two-by-two arrangement shown, which is correct for an English. (Note that the Double is held with the same thumb-and-little-finger design as the English.)

 

I wonder some other things, too. Why is only one end of the full instrument shown, and only in its box? The ad says, "Bellows in good working order," but there's no picture. And what is that thing that looks like a crude single valve on the outside of a rough board? Is it possible that this concertina only has a keyboard on one end, with the other end having been replaced by a board stuck into the end of the bellows and an "air valve" attached?

 

That latter speculation leads me to the following wild and unlikely -- though perhaps not impossible -- scenario:

• The instrument was originally a single-action English.
  
• The one end and bellows were damaged, lost, or otherwise deemed unserviceable.
  
• The missing end was blocked off with a plank cut to fit into a bellows end.
  
• If the instrument was single-action, the bellows should have had "gills". So either the bellows was replaced with a gill-less one, or the gills themselves were rendered unserviceable, thus necessitating the addition of an air lever to the plank end.
  
• To get a full chromatic scale using a single end (or maybe just because someone wanted the Double's layout), the notes were arranged under the English button layout in the Double pattern. This, by the way, would almost certainly have required some reshaping of the slots and chambers on the remaining reed pan.
  
• Red (but not black) buttons were then placed accordingly.
  

Note also that the action is not visible, apparently covered by a cut-to-fit piece of paper, which isn't mounted properly to be a "dust guard", and which doesn't appear yellowed with age. Curiouser and curiouser.

Baritone? Bass?

...

But why in the world a Bass concertina, which is clearly rectangular, still has remnants of that

6-sided shape?

A "squashed" or "stretched" hexagon shape was a common one, especially for single-action instruments made for marching bands. My experience with my big bass/contrabass suggests that it may improve the balance for holding the instrument while standing. The particular profile of this instrument seems halfway between the squashed hexagon shape and a plain rectangle. Considering the work implied by the grooved border on the end, I suspect that the particular shape was considered artistic, an aesthetic plus.

 

From the size (compare the size of the entire end to the size of the array of buttons), I'd guess the original range was tenor, not baritone or bass. The elongated hexagon shape was used for some tenors, as well as for many deeper instruments.

[JimLucas]

'That 'air key' looks an awful lot like a knot in the bottom of the case

But what's that thing that looks like a lever leading to it?

 

The seller has helpfully posted more pictures here. Do they help explain what this is?

Well, they put the kibosh on my wildest speculations.

 

It definitely appears to be an English, with bellows apparently in decent condition and both ends mostly intact. No photos yet showing internals -- action and reeds, -- but if they're decent, then it should definitely be worth restoring if it goes for a reasonable price. The buttons look to me like bone or ivory, which don't have "caps". So the red ones must be some sort of ill-fitting replacements, rather than originals which have lost caps.

[Boney]

'That 'air key' looks an awful lot like a knot in the bottom of the case

But what's that thing that looks like a lever leading to it?

Looks like a bit of covering from the case that's come loose and is twisted. You can see it sticking out from the bottom of the case in the pictures on the auction web site:

 

http://www.twconroy.com/gallery/product.cf...p=photosp112307