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Descriptive Analogies


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In another thread, Morgana said, "I do agree with the "start with a sedan" thinking; my first concertina was a Stagi LN15 - a good workhorse and an excellent first "car" "

 

This is funny, because I've been trying to find analogies for the different models of concertina that my non-musical spouse can understand. It started when I brought my Noel Hill CD home for husband to listen to and he said, "you don't sound like that at all."

 

So instead of punching him in the face (a fleeting but true thought), I explained that I play a "Geo" (read: Hohner 20-button) and Noel Hill plays a "Bentley" (A Jeffries, isn't it?)

 

Anyone else do the car analogy thing?

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Anyone else do the car analogy thing?

I own two concertinas, both 46-key Hayden Duets. My first (starter, etc...) is a Bastari (proto-Stagi). The bellows are liberally patched with duct tape, the wood veneer is peeling off the sides of the ends, and all the buttons stick out through their holes at different angles. My other instrument is a Wheatstone, handmade by Steve Dickinson for Brian Hayden, himself.

 

I often refer to the Bastari as "the old clunker," which (until just now) I never consciously realized is indeed an automotive analogy.

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Never mind the type of car, what about the driver?

 

Noel Hill is a Jim Clark or a Stirling Moss of the concertina world.

 

That must make me one of the late teenage boys up the street constantly leaving big black skid marks going up the road. <_<

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So, if the Hohner is a Geo, and the Jeffries is a Bentley, then my Herrington must be a Dodge Caravan. . . nice, drivable, roomy, moderately priced. What do you suppose your new instrument will be Rhomylly? Someday when I order a Dipper it may be a Jaguar :P

 

Does that also mean that an older Lachenal is like a 57 Chevy?

 

My husband always plays it safe when listening to my concertina. He rarely comments and is always out of arms reach when he does!

Edited by Lisa Wirth
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Does that also mean that an older Lachenal is like a 57 Chevy?

Or a Chevette? Lachenal made several different models, as did Chevrolet.

 

My husband ... is always out of arms reach when he does!

Same as "out of 'arms reach"?

 

I think my Dipper County Clare might qualify as a Corvette. :)

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I'm still working on the fact that Rhomylly didn't punch him.

 

Helen

 

Does he have hobbies? that you could malign?

 

Oh well, you are too nice. Or then again maybe you were one of the ones who was going to trade their spouse in on a new concertina. Sooo, maybe you are just keeping him in good trade-in condition.

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It started when I brought my Noel Hill CD home for husband to listen to and he said, "you don't sound like that at all."

Rhomylly

 

Look at it from the other side:

As long a you drive your GEO, you can blame the GEO, but when you drive your Bentley, there is no one else to blame than the driver.

 

Although I have been for a long time a lousy driver in a terrible GEO (a Hohner 20 button) my wife never made remarks like your husband did. She just likes to see me driving.

 

Henk

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Would Lachenal's Accordeophone be an Edsel?

Speaking as the only Accordeaphone owner on the forum (well, it's my girlfriend's, actually, but I have visiting rights) I'm trying to remember anything about the Edsel - a car that was never sold in the UK.

 

The Accordeaphone is beautifully engineered and does what it sets out to do, which is sound like an accordion. The trouble with it is that all that beautiful engineering lofted the price out of the range of the target audience; whereas if they'd cut corners and used Stagi-style technology they'd probably still be in business.

 

So I guess that would be like Rolls Royce trying to build a competitor to the Ford Escort without any design compromises. Does that sound like an Edsel?

 

Chris

 

PS I used to own a Dickinson 40-button C/G, and I frequently described it as being like a British sports car, viz, small, black and very fast.

 

Chris

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...Rolls Royce trying to build a competitor to the Ford Escort without any design compromises. Does that sound like an Edsel?

Depends on who you ask.

 

Named after an otherwise unheralded brother of the Ford family, it was a radical departure visually from other cars of the day... in a day when the different makes of American cars were far more distinguished and distinguishable in external lines than today. I think it was also intended to be a bit posh, but I honestly don't remember the advertising or construction details.

 

Adored by the few, it was laughed at by others, and it never caught on. I believe it saw only 3 model years. I don't know about total production, but I don't think it came close to the standard Ford models.

 

Does that sound like the Accordeophone?

post-4-1075901055.jpg

Edited by JimLucas
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The Edsel was the product of the largest market research project the automotive industry had ever undertaken. The study indicated that Americans were looking for a very large, posh machine.

 

Unfortunatley, the study took sop long to complete and analyze that the market had changed in the interim -- toward a preference for smaller cars.

 

Oops.

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So, if the Hohner is a Geo, and the Jeffries is a Bentley, then my Herrington must be a Dodge Caravan. . . nice, drivable, roomy, moderately priced. What do you suppose your new instrument will be Rhomylly? Someday when I order a Dipper it may be a Jaguar :P

 

Does that also mean that an older Lachenal is like a 57 Chevy?

 

My husband always plays it safe when listening to my concertina. He rarely comments and is always out of arms reach when he does!

He...ducked quickly. next time I'll bean him with the Geo! (which is what I drive, I'm ashamed to admit...)

 

I'm hoping for at least a BMW or a Mercedes with the new one. well made good price, lasting quality, not over the top of the line, though.

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I'm still working on the fact that Rhomylly didn't punch him.

 

Helen

 

Does he have hobbies? that you could malign?

 

Oh well, you are too nice. Or then again maybe you were one of the ones who was going to trade their spouse in on a new concertina. Sooo, maybe you are just keeping him in good trade-in condition.

He's a gardener, primarily of heirloom tomatoes. Which unfortunately, for the sake of reciprocal bashing, I happen to love. But I do give him a hard time about the people on his heirloom tomato list. They post pictures of their *sandwiches* on the list, sometimes with a couple bites already taken...seriously wierd.

 

Aaand we just started a west coast swing class. He's had swing before, and I'm already better than he is. hahahahaha.

 

Yeah, I was one of the ones wondering what he'd be worth per pound on a trade-in. He used to play football in high school, so there's lots of pounds...good trade-in condition...yeah...

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I was a proud owner of a '59 Edsel, a station wagon!! (I didn't own it in '59, more like '72-73). What an automobile!! Huge engine, and the station wagon model was more like a bus than a car. Bought it for $50, sold it two years later for $65. (You can never go broke turning a profit:-)

 

The raised metal ended Wheatstones (6-sided) were once described to me by Chris Algar as Wheatstones's 'sportscar' model.

 

Jim, if your Dipper's performance (another automotive term) is similar to John Williams' Dipper (which I'm lucky enough to hear several times a month) I'd say it's more like a Lamborghini than a Corvette.

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