Current makes of concertina

[Ken_Coles]

Chris, I looked at Harry Geuns's website a few weeks ago and he was offering his own concertina (hybrid/acc. reeds, IIRC), so he might belong on your faq list in his own listing.

 

Ken

[Chris Timson]

Fair comment. I will attend to that. To avoid this pinned thread getting too long that after all started with Daniel's list of makers (sorry about that), if anyone else spots an eror or omission, please PM me.

 

Cheers,

 

Chris

[david fabre]

Good idea to have such a list on top of the forum.

One suggestion : it would be useful to list briefly the main models

proposed by each maker

(Anglo/English/Duet, how many buttons, special models, etc...)

 

David

[Chris Timson]

One suggestion : it would be useful to list briefly the main models

proposed by each maker

(Anglo/English/Duet, how many buttons, special models, etc...)

Take it from me (and believe me I really do know) that would be an absolute bugger to maintain. To quote Shrek: really really.

 

Chris

[Steve_freereeder]

One suggestion : it would be useful to list briefly the main models

proposed by each maker

(Anglo/English/Duet, how many buttons, special models, etc...)

Take it from me (and believe me I really do know) that would be an absolute bugger to maintain. To quote Shrek: really really.

 

Chris

We've started doing that over at Melodeon.net. A couple of members have developed and maintain a Wiki type of database of different types of melodeon. It's visible to anyone who is registered with melodeon.net but you need to request additional privileges to edit/add items to the database. The idea is that it is self-maintaining, and the work doesn't just fall on one or two admins.

 

http://wiki.melodeon.net/wiki/Main_page

[Daniel Hersh]

Hmmm....

 

I might add the Anglo/English/Duet piece (but only that one) since that's likely to be relatively stable. I'd probably start with the makers who have web sites and later include the offline makers if reliable info about them comes my way.

 

Admin Ken Coles and I briefly e-discussed the wiki possibility. The problem is that almost all c.net activity these days is inside the forums and I don't know of a way to place a wiki in here. The advantage of the pinned thread is that it's readily accessible for even a new forum user. I suppose that we could try an outside wiki with a link to it from inside the initial post of the thread, but the post is already pretty link-heavy with the links to Leo's "sounds" thread and links to the makers' sites, and I'll already be adding another link that points to the Makers page of the FAQ now that Chris has updated it.

 

Daniel

 

One suggestion : it would be useful to list briefly the main models

proposed by each maker

(Anglo/English/Duet, how many buttons, special models, etc...)

Take it from me (and believe me I really do know) that would be an absolute bugger to maintain. To quote Shrek: really really.

 

Chris

We've started doing that over at Melodeon.net. A couple of members have developed and maintain a Wiki type of database of different types of melodeon. It's visible to anyone who is registered with melodeon.net but you need to request additional privileges to edit/add items to the database. The idea is that it is self-maintaining, and the work doesn't just fall on one or two admins.

 

http://wiki.melodeon.net/wiki/Main_page

[Chris Timson]

Admin Ken Coles and I briefly e-discussed the wiki possibility. The problem is that almost all c.net activity these days is inside the forums and I don't know of a way to place a wiki in here.

Some years back I set up a wiki for the concertina called Wikitina. That attracted some interest at first (Rich Morse, in particular, spent time editing in it) but interest died away with time. Eventually an upgrade to PHP broke the software and when nobody noticed I decided to pull the plug on it. I've watched a few other wikis go through the same cycle, and I've concluded that to succeed a wiki has to have a sufficiently broad area of interest to attract a critical mass of users and editors. Concertinas as a topic isn't large enough. As well, a wiki would overlap with existing sites. You already have the FAQ for frequently asked questions, the Concertina Library for the researcher and here for socialising and new questions. There's not much left for a wiki to do.

 

Chris

[OldDog]

Dan,

 

Are you aware of what Sean Garvey is selling in Ireland?

 

Go here: http://www.allaboutaccordions.com/concertina.htm

 

He's got a thiry button German-made concertina and a Chinese made AIDI and others as well. I imagine that the German one is made by Shaumanufaktur, but I don't know for sure. I wish it was sold over here.

 

Regards,

Paul N.

Tonawanda, NY

[Daniel Hersh]

Thanks, Paul. I hadn't been aware of these. I'll start a separate thread to ask if anyone has seen or played one or has any more info about them.

 

Daniel

 

Dan,

 

Are you aware of what Sean Garvey is selling in Ireland?

 

Go here: http://www.allaboutaccordions.com/concertina.htm

 

He's got a thiry button German-made concertina and a Chinese made AIDI and others as well. I imagine that the German one is made by Shaumanufaktur, but I don't know for sure. I wish it was sold over here.

 

Regards,

Paul N.

Tonawanda, NY

[Daniel Hersh]

I have just updated the list at the top of this thread to add the Garvey (but see this), a link to the updated Makers and Repairers page on Chris Timson's FAQ, and a general disclaimer.

 

Daniel

[Chris Timson]

Many thanks for the prominent link to the FAQ, especially since your work was so very helpful to me when I revised the Makers and Repairers page.

 

I have decided not to include Garvey in the FAQ until the situation is clarified.

 

Chris

Edited February 26, 2009 by Chris Timson

[Daniel Hersh]

I managed to find a good page that shows a variety of "Cheap Chinese" concertinas, so I have linked to it on the list.

 

Daniel

[Daniel Hersh]

After exchanging some correspondence with a leading maker I have made a few changes to the list, expanding the disclaimer and making some modifications to the category names.

 

Daniel

[Pamela]

After exchanging some correspondence with a leading maker I have made a few changes to the list, expanding the disclaimer and making some modifications to the category names.

 

Daniel

 

 

Daniel

 

Thanks for all your hard work with the list of Concertinia makers. I had no idea there were so many different kinds made.

This information is why I like coming to to this site. I have learned a lot. Thank you!

 

Pam

 

Brasstown, NC

[Mark Taylor]

Daniel,

 

I know Frank Edgley offers angled reed pans on his Professional models. Is this

a help or hindrance to your list?

 

Best regards,

 

Mark Taylor

[Daniel Hersh]

Thanks, Mark. I hadn't known that. I can't quite visualize an angled reed pan. Is it an accordion style reed block or a reed-pan-style tray with an unusual mounting? I looked on the Edgley web site but didn't spot any photos of angled reed pans and couldn't tell from the written description.

 

But this part of my descriptive matter is a bit problematic anyway. I wrote that the student/basic models generally use accordion-style angled reedblocks while the intermediate/midrange ones generally use flat mounting, which looks more like the reed pans used in vintage/traditional designs. This is true, but the problem is that it's not clear that flat mounting is actually better, though it's been cited in the past by some (including me) as an advantage. I may need to add something about this issue to the list.

 

Daniel

 

Daniel,

 

I know Frank Edgley offers angled reed pans on his Professional models. Is this

a help or hindrance to your list?

 

Best regards,

 

Mark Taylor

[Woody]

But this part of my descriptive matter is a bit problematic anyway. I wrote that the student/basic models generally use accordion-style angled reedblocks while the intermediate/midrange ones generally use flat mounting, which looks more like the reed pans used in vintage/traditional designs. This is true, but the problem is that it's not clear that flat mounting is actually better, though it's been cited in the past by some (including me) as an advantage. I may need to add something about this issue to the list.

I think you're doing an excellent job, but if I were you I'd be wary of falling into the trap of trying to answer every single question somebody might ask. Otherwise you'll be spending all your time in discussion about different technicalities and opinions and leave no time for playing!

[Frank Edgley]

Thanks, Mark. I hadn't known that. I can't quite visualize an angled reed pan. Is it an accordion style reed block or a reed-pan-style tray with an unusual mounting? I looked on the Edgley web site but didn't spot any photos of angled reed pans and couldn't tell from the written description.

 

But this part of my descriptive matter is a bit problematic anyway. I wrote that the student/basic models generally use accordion-style angled reedblocks while the intermediate/midrange ones generally use flat mounting, which looks more like the reed pans used in vintage/traditional designs. This is true, but the problem is that it's not clear that flat mounting is actually better, though it's been cited in the past by some (including me) as an advantage. I may need to add something about this issue to the list.

 

Daniel

 

Daniel,

 

I know Frank Edgley offers angled reed pans on his Professional models. Is this

a help or hindrance to your list?

 

Best regards,

 

Mark Taylor

 

Response: I do use Italian-style hand-made reeds, although they have been modified by the reed maker to respond more like traditional concertina reeds. The reeds are mounted flat against the reedpan, and sealed to their chambers using leather gaskets and truss-head screws. The angle part is within each chamber, and contributes to what I believe to be its refined tone characteristics.

Edited April 1, 2009 by Frank Edgley