Is this the only Concertina Stephen Chambers doesn't have?

[Leo]

Since eS'tefn Çamberis is well know throughout the universe

as the preeminent concertina dealer in all of Q'onoS he is no doubt familiar with such instruments.

His research says it was made in Klingonthal about 150 yars ago http://www.concertina.net/forums/index.php...ost&p=10673

 

Thanks

Leo

[Hooves]

Klingon Koncertina - thats great! Though I think Klingons would be more into percussion.

 

Now that guy and Spock need to perform a duet with his Vulcan Lyre-

 

 

http://homepage.mac.com/m5comp/trekbits/tr...n_color_fix.jpg

[Leo]

They sing good too:

 

But you have to use Klingon Google to search: http://www.google.com/intl/xx-klingon/

 

Maybe Stephen bought it, and is on his way to Klingonthal to pick it up: http://www.startrekpropcollector.com/treka...items/P025-0606

 

Recently sold for $3250. Now how much is that in Latinum?

 

Thanks

Leo

Edited November 26, 2008 by Leo

[LDT]

They sing good too:

 

But you have to use Klingon Google to search: http://www.google.com/intl/xx-klingon/

 

Maybe Stephen bought it, and is on his way to Klingonthal to pick it up: http://www.startrekpropcollector.com/treka...items/P025-0606

 

Recently sold for $3250. Now how much is that in Latinum?

 

Thanks

Leo

I hear the latinum exchange rate is pretty good.

[Chris Timson]

Is this the only Concertina Stephen Chambers doesn't have?

Well, he's certainly not got mine!

 

Chris

[DavidFR]

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Is this the only Concertina Stephen Chambers doesn't have?

 

 

 

That is just SO wrong.

[Ptarmigan]

.

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Is this the only Concertina Stephen Chambers doesn't have?

 

 

 

That is just SO wrong.

 

Aye David you are quite right, it should read ... the only Concertina model ..... cause of course he doesn't need more than one of each.

[OldDog]

I am familiar with these things (it's a long story). They are made using Romulon accordeon reeds, NOT the real paw-filed Klingon reeds. I's a hybrid Klingon Koncertina, I'm afraid.

[Anglo-Irishman]

This thread has set me thinking ...

 

Charles Wheatstone was, as we all know, a physics professor. Could it be that, when he wasn't working on acoustics, he was into Time Travel? Contact with extra-terrestrial beings?

 

Just look at the English concertina. Like no musical instrument that had ever been made up to that time. Take a closer look: a thumb-strap, a pinkie-rest, and four rows of buttons. But humans only have 3 fingers left over when the thumb is in the strap and the pinkie is in the rest!

Perhaps he got the idea from an alien race that has 6 fingers?

 

Or is that all nonsense, and was it really the Klingons who gave us our instrument? Could it be that a band of Klingons - probably pirates - came through a worm-hole and camped in a valley in the east of Germany, which was thereupon named Klingonenthal by the locals (Klingonen is the German for Klingons. The placename got shortened later.) I must admit that the word "Konzertina" looks more Klingonian than our anglicised "concertina".

 

The autoharp, which is also unlike any instrument previously known to Earthlings, and which also originated in eastern Germany, would tend to bear out the latter theory.

 

These are, of course, only theories ... at the moment ...

 

Cheers,

John

[Robin Madge]

I'm just trying to think what alien race came up with Irish pipes.

 

Robin Madge

[LDT]

I'm just trying to think what alien race came up with Irish pipes.

 

Robin Madge

 

The Daleks?

[Rod Thompson]

Just an observation on the bellows of this concertina.

They seem to be folded in the way photographic bellows are - making a square with chamfered edges.

I've always wondered why squeezeboxes don't use this method. it seems simpler.

 

Any ideas why? - is it just that klingons smarter than humans.

Edited November 28, 2008 by Rod Thompson

[Anglo-Irishman]

Just an observation on the bellows of this concertina.

They seem to be folded in the way photographic bellows are - making a square with chamfered edges.

I've always wondered why squeezeboxes don't use this method. it seems simpler.

 

Any ideas why? - is it just that klingons smarter than humans.

 

Well,

One of the differences between my Lachenal Crane and my Zeiss Super Ikonta is that the bellows of the concertina have to withstand a difference between internal pressure and atmospheric pressure. Another difference is that the camera bellows have to pack together as thin as possible, because it's a folding camera.

 

Concertina and accordion bellows have to be reinforced to withstand the pressure differential, and the corners of camera bellows would be difficult to reinforce.

 

Cheers,

John

[Chris Drinkwater]

This thread has set me thinking ...

 

Charles Wheatstone was, as we all know, a physics professor. Could it be that, when he wasn't working on acoustics, he was into Time Travel? Contact with extra-terrestrial beings?

 

Just look at the English concertina. Like no musical instrument that had ever been made up to that time. Take a closer look: a thumb-strap, a pinkie-rest, and four rows of buttons. But humans only have 3 fingers left over when the thumb is in the strap and the pinkie is in the rest!

Perhaps he got the idea from an alien race that has 6 fingers?

 

Or is that all nonsense, and was it really the Klingons who gave us our instrument? Could it be that a band of Klingons - probably pirates - came through a worm-hole and camped in a valley in the east of Germany, which was thereupon named Klingonenthal by the locals (Klingonen is the German for Klingons. The placename got shortened later.) I must admit that the word "Konzertina" looks more Klingonian than our anglicised "concertina".

 

The autoharp, which is also unlike any instrument previously known to Earthlings, and which also originated in eastern Germany, would tend to bear out the latter theory.

 

These are, of course, only theories ... at the moment ...

 

Cheers,

John

 

I think you could be onto something there, John. This concertina certainly looks out of this world to me!

 

Chris

[Chris Drinkwater]

Just an observation on the bellows of this concertina.

They seem to be folded in the way photographic bellows are - making a square with chamfered edges.

I've always wondered why squeezeboxes don't use this method. it seems simpler.

 

Any ideas why? - is it just that klingons smarter than humans.

 

Which came first? The concertina or the camera with folding bellows? And, further more, how are traditional blacksmith's bellows constructed? One for the historians amongst you.

 

Chris

[Bill N]

Which came first? The concertina or the camera with folding bellows? And, further more, how are traditional blacksmith's bellows constructed? One for the historians amongst you.

 

Chris

 

Blacksmith's bellows are usually pretty simple. Two paddle shaped boards are hinged at the narrow end where the nozzle is. A long strip of leather, tapered towards each end, is tacked around the open edges of each board. Natural "pleats" are created by the opening and closing, without any engineered peaks and valleys or gussets. Does the trick for the intended use, but it would be pretty hard to play a fast reel or hornpipe!

[Anglo-Irishman]

Which came first? The concertina or the camera with folding bellows? And, further more, how are traditional blacksmith's bellows constructed? One for the historians amongst you.

 

Chris

 

Blacksmith's bellows are usually pretty simple. Two paddle shaped boards are hinged at the narrow end where the nozzle is. A long strip of leather, tapered towards each end, is tacked around the open edges of each board. Natural "pleats" are created by the opening and closing, without any engineered peaks and valleys or gussets. Does the trick for the intended use, but it would be pretty hard to play a fast reel or hornpipe!

 

I don't know about that! The bellows of the uillean pipes are the same configuration as the blacksmith's bellows, only smaller, and pipers can play pretty fast.

But both pipers and smiths only exert over-pressure, whereas the squeezebox bellows have to withstand both over- and under-pressure!

 

Cheers,

John

[Richard Morse]

Just an observation on the bellows of this concertina. They seem to be folded in the way photographic bellows are - making a square with chamfered edges. I've always wondered why squeezeboxes don't use this method. it seems simpler.

Well, that method *is* simpler but the concertina method is *vastly* more durable.

 

The main issue is how it expands. Camera bellows (and many industrial bellows like expanding containers, hydraulic connectors, ducting, thermal coverings, etc.) typically expand to a rectangular tube which is 1/2 the dimension of the outer and inner folds. These type of bellows are also made from a single piece of material which means that the manner of pleating to enable it to compress fully is such that there are many points of "reverse-bends". I'm not sure what the technical term for that is... but it's the place where and in-fold meets and out-fold. You can see it in this closeup in which you can see 6 reverse-bend points.

 

 

Now once you start to expand a camera bellows the RBPs start to "travel" outwards toward the final endpoint of the square tube. This flexure puts incredible strain on these areas. So much so that in just a few cycles most materials break down to become light- and air- untight.

 

Cheaper camera (and type) bellows were/are made of a thin canvas type cloth which is covered by a flexible and light-proof material (originally natural rubber and synthetic materials in more modern times) and kept from overextension by stops (camera bellows are constrained by their rail guides). Still, pinholing was/is a common problem after a few scores of cycling (a few score is just a couple of tunes for concertinas!). Better bellows were made (and still are) of thin leather backed by fine linen with strips of card in the pleated area to encourage the bellows to remember where to fold - and in such a way to ensure that it could never be completely straightened. Leather - being a vastly more durable material would ensure that were bellows air- and light-tighter longer.

 

But it's not just the materials... but the "how" it expands which is key. Concertina bellows expand to a hexagonal tube which is the same dimension as the outer folds (well, essentially - in reality they fold to be about 1/8" less due to the clipped stiffener corners - but that's a discussion for another time). And concertina bellows are constrained from full extension into a hexagonal tube by the gussets... and these gussets need not flex anywhere near as much as camera bellows corners which makes a concertina's bellows vastly more durable.

 

Different strokes for different folks (so to speak!).

 

-- Rich --