Colin Dipper Website? Or Contact Details?

[Alan Day]

I have played many concertinas and if someone turns up at a session I always have a play of their concertina.The best Anglo I have ever played was a metal ended Linota, I tuned for a player in the West Country.I have tried out a number of Dipper's and never a bad one,but some vary in playing speed I think due to the reed setting,The best Dipper I have played is Peter Trimming's one.I would not exchange my three Jeffries (CG, GD. BpF ),they are comfortable to play.They do not have the small diameter buttons that hurt my finger tips within minutes of playing and causing bruising if I play for any length of time.They exactly suit my requirements and I have slightly altered some of the reeds to the layout I prefer.I am happy with my lot.

Al

[ben]

I have played a Bb/F Carroll (#16 or 17) that belongs to Paul Read. The Carroll instrument is lovely! The sound and workmanship is superb. The concertina does have that "Linota" sound!

[ben]

Comments removed...

Edited November 15, 2007 by Ben Otto

[spindizzy]

Comments removed......

Edited November 14, 2007 by spindizzy

[Robin Harrison]

Thank you

Edited November 14, 2007 by Robin Harrison

[Geraghty]

I rang Colin today to check on the status of my order, and asked about his waiting lists. He said the "specials" like baritone Englishes and Duets are currently about 7 years, and Anglos are usually about 2.5 years but he's gotten a large number of orders in lately so it's looking to be about 3 years now.

[Fred Smitherley]

have you played any carrolls?

 

David,

 

sorry my experience is all in the UK, except I am in Australia for six months for work and I have seen instruments by three Australian makers at music festivals here. One was an Evans, a very basic concertina, another a Hooft which was very competent looking but was quiet and used colossal amounts of air, and the last one close or equal to a Suttner. The maker of the last one who I met at the festival asked me not to use his name as he didn't want publicity because he doesn't want the pressure of a waiting list. I would like to try a Carroll and a Kensington. My experience is that there is much more variation in the real reeded concertinas compared with the accordion reeded types which seem very similar to play but with slightly different build methods, quality and weights. Sadly it is impossible to get a real appreciation for a maker without owning one of their concertinas. There is no reporting of accurate impressions of concertinas, and no reviews like you would get for a guitar. The community is too small and the concertinas cost too much. When experienced people buy a concertina that does not measure up they don't say this, they sell it on to recoup their money. Almost any bespoke concertina will be better than the Lachhenal people often start with so many of the less experienced don't realise the new one is not quite perfect. Another complication is that a quick play on a concertina only tells you how it is different for th e one you usually play, and this can comeout as dislikes. If the buttons are in slightly differently spaced for eaxample, people will say it is hard to play, or if the spring pressure is different. More important is response volume and tone. Tone is so hard to describe people use like/don't like rather than qualitative terms.

 

My wife wrote to me (hullo darling) after seeing my post telling me I have tried another Dickenson, one that belongs to the wife of an old friend who we don't see much of anymore. It is a long time since I saw it but as I now recall it was an excellent concertna that I coveted at the time, always a good sign.

 

Fred

[david_boveri]

have you played any carrolls?

Another complication is that a quick play on a concertina only tells you how it is different for th e one you usually play, and this can comeout as dislikes. If the buttons are in slightly differently spaced for eaxample, people will say it is hard to play, or if the spring pressure is different. More important is response volume and tone. Tone is so hard to describe people use like/don't like rather than qualitative terms.

 

when i try out concertinas i pay attention to the feel of the reeds and how they react to different pressures. it's so easy to get miffed about lateral movement on keys, tightness of bellows and how quickly the valves seal... but when you get down to it, the reeds are the most important part!

 

that being said, of all the concertinas i have played, my favorite bellows were dipper, my favorite keys were also dipper (brass keys, that were tarnished with tight bushings... even though the keys were really hard to get moving, the reeds reacted when you barely pushed down the keys at all), and then there's a tie for favorite reeds between a jeffries and a carroll. i loved the feel and response of a good jeffries reed, but the range of tones and volume you can get out of a carroll (as they're modeled after wheatstone) is really expansive, so i cant say i like one more than the other.

 

unfortunately i didnt have to play a suttner last year when i was at noel hill's camp, so i cant say what i really think of them. i remember them being fantastic, but i didnt like the feel of them. when i had played them before, i wasnt really at the point in my playing where i cared about reeds too much, so i didnt pay attention to how they reacted.

[Chris Timson]

I am happy with my lot.

Happy the man who can say that.

 

I have a Dipper baritone C/G anglo. It is a little slow, but was designed to be very mellow so there's a trade off. It is the most mellow and beautiful sounding steel-reeded instrument I have ever heard. That's where the Dippers excel, for me. Their special orders may take longer, but who else can make them at all? Maybe Steve Dickinson, but I agree with the person who noted that it's been a long time since anyone reported receiving a new Wheatstone.

 

My other pride and joy is a Jeffries G/D renovated by the Dippers and with some customisation recently done for me by them. I have endless respect for Colin and Rosalie. Like Al, I am happy with my lot.

 

Chris

[Daniel Hersh]

Some photos of Dippers were posted on this thread at one point but later had to be removed. If anyone's interested, here are some links to photos of Dippers on public sites (including the non-forum part of this one!):

 

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/lester_of_wendover/226128617" target="_blank">http://www.flickr.com/photos/lester_of_wendover/226128617</a>

 

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photo_zoom.gne?id=802365814&size=l" target="_blank">http://www.flickr.com/photo_zoom.gne?id=802365814&size=l</a>

 

<a href="http://www.concertina.net/images_gs_adventures/dipper_left_sm.jpg" target="_blank">http://www.concertina.net/images_gs_advent...per_left_sm.jpg</a>

 

<a href="http://www.concertina.info/images/dipper/dipper.htm" target="_blank">http://www.concertina.info/images/dipper/dipper.htm</a> (this one is a photo essay with internal and external pics)

 

<a href="http://concertina.free.fr/concertin2005-14.jpg" target="_blank">http://concertina.free.fr/concertin2005-14.jpg</a> (the one on the left is the Dipper, from the page <a href="http://concertina.free.fr/english.html" target="_blank">http://concertina.free.fr/english.html</a>

 

<a href="http://www.concertina.net/dipper_cots_rev_bd.html" target="_blank">http://www.concertina.net/dipper_cots_rev_bd.html</a> (another photo essay)

 

<a href="http://www.concertina.net/images_photos1/dipper_01.jpg" target="_blank">http://www.concertina.net/images_photos1/dipper_01.jpg</a>

 

7/09: edited to remove a dead link. dh

Edited July 10, 2009 by Daniel Hersh

[Luciano]

Hi Aogan,

 

To answer your query, no Colin does not have a website, nor catalogue as such. He views most concertina orders as "one-off", although he has produced the "Clare" and "Cotswold" models in the past.

 

I have his contact details (including email) should you need them. Colin favours a call to discuss requirements, which should not be a problem as I'm certain that you'll know exactly what you require.

 

Regards,

Peter.

 

Hi Peter, I will be brief. I'm not a Concertina player but a Bandoneon player. Nowadays I am about to make some new reeds for an old bandoneon and people tells me that Colin has a great lore about that. I'd like to contact him by e-mail (my spoken english is a disaster ) to ask him some little details before starting to work on them.

Could you please ask him perrmission to give me his e-mail?

 

Thanks,

Luciano

Edited September 28, 2008 by Luciano

[PeterT]

Could you please ask him perrmission to give me his e-mail?

Hi Luciano,

 

I've just spoken to Colin, and I'll PM you.

 

Regards,

Peter.