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Is this a concertina?


Karen cc

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Hi, I found your forum thru an internet search. I have this concertina that has been in my family for at least 100 years but I don't know anything about it.

 

Is it a concertina? what is the age? etc.

 

there are no marks or names on it.

 

Attached is a photo.

No, it's a rather basic old melodion or accordion. Definitely not a concertina. Sorry!

No need to be sorry, Dirge.

 

While it's not a concertina, there are a few folks on concertina.net who know those instruments, too. They might help you, Karen, though they may not respond immediately. (Soimetimes they may not log in for many days.)

 

But you could also ask on melodeon.net, where many more members are likely to show an interest in your instrument. Good luck.

P.S.
Posting a photo as pat of a Microsoft Word document is very inefficient, and there are even folks who don't use Microsoft software, who wouldn't be able to view it. Far better to post the original photo (most likely a .JPG file?) without inserting it into a Word document.

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Hi, I found your forum thru an internet search. I have this concertina that has been in my family for at least 100 years but I don't know anything about it.

 

Is it a concertina? what is the age? etc.

 

there are no marks or names on it.

 

Attached is a photo.

 

thanks for any information, Kare

 

It looks like a German melodeon. The older types only had one row on de melody side, some also had 2 rows and later even 3, but then they will be younger and have bass buttons in stead of the spoons or bass buttons like this one.

 

Yours may be 130 to 90 years old. Most of the German boxes that old have fallen apart in the past, rarely you may find one in good shape, playing well and clean.

 

Most of the times these boxes do not really play well, the technical standards for production of these boxes were not as high as they are today, and they may always have been "leaky" and "falsely tuned" to modern standards, and reeds and screws may have become very rusty. If that is the case, it will stay a nice curiosity to look at, but its value will be limited.

 

There were many brands, such as Hohner, Concertone, Triumph, Viceroy and many more. Sometimes it just says "made in saxony". They often have a plate with the text "broad steel reeds" on them.

 

They were especially made for export to the states, that is why you find them more in USA then in Germany, I think that this type of box introduced the basic idea for the Cajun accordion, having one row only, and one main tuning, and a number of stops to activate some more reeds for the same note.

 

Other forum members may know more about this kind of accordeon than me...

 

Marien

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  • 3 weeks later...

>>>>>It looks like a German melodeon. The older types only had one row on de melody side, some also had 2 rows and later even 3, but then they will be younger and have bass buttons in stead of the spoons or bass buttons like this one. <<<

 

I too have one of those German melodeon's that a Great Uncle brought one to my Great Grandmother fromwhen he was over seas during WWI. It is in pretty good shape and my accordian player friends says it was mainly for export to the US. They said that they were not a real serious instrument ( low end model ) I am just proud to have it.

 

Pam Howrd

Brasstown, NC

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  • 4 months later...

Hello all,

 

I'm not 100% sure about anything of the instrument; this is just what I've heard about the history of the concertina.

 

 

I have this info somewhere (I can't find it at the moment:) The first design of the concertina, was by Germans, and they were the shape of a square. (I'd just love to own one, but it's probably beyond luck, since they were first built in the late 19th century, I think) But soon after the first German concertinas came out, some other country took the design of the concertina, but changed it into the very common shape of today's concertinas, hexagonal.

 

But due that info which I just wrote, I don't think the instrument discussed in this forum would be a concertina. I can't agree with anyone, because I've never seen a melodeon.

 

 

Best Wishes for all,

Patrick

 

P.S. Does anyone like my picture of my concertina used as my profile picture? My original picture was much better but it was too big, so I decreased the size of the picture. Attached is the original enlargened picture of my 31-key C/G Morse. :)

Edited by Patrick King
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But soon after the first German concertinas came out, some other country took the design of the concertina, but changed it into the very common shape of today's concertinas, hexagonal.

That "other country" would be England, in the person of Charles Wheatstone. Hence the "Anglo-German" concertina, now referred to as "Anglo" and illustrated in your picture.

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But soon after the first German concertinas came out, some other country took the design of the concertina, but changed it into the very common shape of today's concertinas, hexagonal.

That "other country" would be England, in the person of Charles Wheatstone. Hence the "Anglo-German" concertina, now referred to as "Anglo" and illustrated in your picture.

 

Cool, thanks! Always wanted to try and remember who changed the design of the first German concertinas.

 

Just one question: Because of the mechanism of the push/pull (1 button- 2 notes) on the Anglo; would that make the English concertinas cheaper in price, or are both English and Anglo both worth as much as each other?

 

Thanks and Best Wishes,

Patrick

 

BTW- Here's something to think on if you don't know the answer to it: I wonder where Charles Wheatstone found the German concertina designs? :huh: :lol: :D

Edited by Patrick King
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BTW- Here's something to think on if you don't know the answer to it: I wonder where Charles Wheatstone found the German concertina designs? :huh: :lol: :D

 

To my poor knowledge, it seems that were the german lads who copied the hexagonal shape from Wheatstone. It seems also, that anglo-german concertinas began to be made in England after the popularity among "lower class" people of the first cheap-made instruments imported from Germany. So, for to say, first proper concertinas were english system and pretty much a posh instrument - nowadays, with the boom of ITM the posh prices are the ones of the anglos <_< -.

 

Cheers,

 

Fer

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BTW- Here's something to think on if you don't know the answer to it: I wonder where Charles Wheatstone found the German concertina designs? :huh: :lol: :D

 

To my poor knowledge, it seems that were the german lads who copied the hexagonal shape from Wheatstone. It seems also, that anglo-german concertinas began to be made in England after the popularity among "lower class" people of the first cheap-made instruments imported from Germany. So, for to say, first proper concertinas were english system and pretty much a posh instrument - nowadays, with the boom of ITM the posh prices are the ones of the anglos <_< -.

 

Cheers,

 

Fer

 

Yes, I guess that anglos are the more dearer concertina make. That's a shame; the concertina I know how to play is a 31-key Anglo. What I would just love to do is once I'm a bit older, take a course run by Malcolm Clapp or other concertina repairer/maker, then refurbish certain concertinas that I'm familiar with repairing. (But it's not something that I would make a living of. I'd have a part-time job at the same time and do concertinas as a hobby thing; a twice a week thing.) But until I'm older, it's just getting better at playing my favourite concertina.

 

 

Best Wishes for All,

Patrick

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