Advice on buying

[tzirtzi]

Well, yes - it could be worse than a 3 hour journey. But I don't own a car, so my options are either borrowing one or getting the train, which would be £30 at least...

 

But I am coming around to the view that longer journeys may be worthwhile, considering the magnitude of the purchase.

[tzirtzi]

So, I went and tried it out - and haven't bought it. The gauze was missing from one end, it looked to me like there was a small crack in the fretboard where someone had drilled one of those holes, and the lower notes weren't very responsive. Shame, but there you go - not worth what they were charging for it, I think.

[m3838]

So, I went and tried it out - and haven't bought it. The gauze was missing from one end, it looked to me like there was a small crack in the fretboard where someone had drilled one of those holes, and the lower notes weren't very responsive. Shame, but there you go - not worth what they were charging for it, I think.

 

The picture wasn't all that assuring. The holes and chapped-up corners are a bit holey and chapped-up. Annoyance of concertina doesn't depend on loudness that much. It's the sound itself, with it's brazen and "right into your face" feel. It's like horn too. It's very penetrating and best advice would be to find practice place.

We have gone through this before and it looks like the cheapest way around is to buy heavy curtains and put it all around the walls in your room. It will absorb and diffuse the sound, cut off echo and make life of your ...mates easier. But curtains must be heavy or double pleated or something like that. In addition, if you open windows or turn on TV, to let out ambient sound, like a background noise, it will help to mask piercing sound of concertina.

I don't believe you'll gain anything from switching to brass reeded cheap entry level Lacheals.

I don't think any large volume seller can spend enough time to fix their instruments, and if the instrument is on commission, seller is not even allowed to touch it, it is sold "as-is".

Another thing is to watch for nicks that can be easily fixed, even by yourself: missing gause from one side is not even worth talking. Bushings around the buttons, buttons replacement, small cracks, missing springs - all easlly remedied.

Tuning can be fixed too, although not that cheap. Reeds can be replaced, bellows exchanged or patched. Etc.

I guess you need to look for sound that you like, overall feeling - things like that.

Another guess is it's probably safer to buy from small sellers or players.

Yet another guess is to buy more expensive concertinas, hoping that their DYNAMIC RANGE is wider, so they can be played quieter at will. Or ask seller to retouch the reeds' setting so they speak at lower volume. The risk is that at higher volumes they may choke, but it's all compromise.

But I'm really curious by your remark

the lack of the top of the range means many violin pieces are awkward, and I'm spending a lot of effort learning fingering for difficult keys that would be comparatively easy with the extra accidentals

You only need to fiddle with 2 accidentals, the rest are there. The really big bummer sometimes is lack of high C#. That's the only one real problem with Jackie's range.

What music do you play and what music would you like to play? Treble tends to get squeaky above the stave, and high C is really high already. I kind of see the problem with short range if you work harmonies, jazz, improvisation in many keys. Is that what you do? Because yes, working with 4 inversions is impossible. Other than that, "Easy flute duets" by Bach or "Easy violin duets" by Mozart have plenty of work in Jackie's range. Jackie is a bit slow, but not slower than brass reed entry level Lachenal, if not faster.

What do you play?

Edited June 17, 2009 by m3838

[tzirtzi]

The picture wasn't all that assuring. The holes and chapped-up corners are a bit holey and chapped-up. Annoyance of concertina doesn't depend on loudness that much. It's the sound itself, with it's brazen and "right into your face" feel. It's like horn too. It's very penetrating and best advice would be to find practice place.

We have gone through this before and it looks like the cheapest way around is to buy heavy curtains and put it all around the walls in your room. It will absorb and diffuse the sound, cut off echo and make life of your ...mates easier. But curtains must be heavy or double pleated or something like that. In addition, if you open windows or turn on TV, to let out ambient sound, like a background noise, it will help to mask piercing sound of concertina.

 

Well, part of the reason for my looking into this now is that in the autumn I'll be spending a term as an exchange student at uni in Hong Kong, and thus back in dormitory-type accommodation. I don't know what it'll be like or what spaces will be available, so I was hoping to minimise the problem as much as possible in advance - I'll certainly be looking for practice rooms etc. once I get there...

 

Another guess is it's probably safer to buy from small sellers or players.

 

I've actually been contacted by a few people since posting this thread, so am hoping to find something there .

 

But I'm really curious by your remark

the lack of the top of the range means many violin pieces are awkward, and I'm spending a lot of effort learning fingering for difficult keys that would be comparatively easy with the extra accidentals

You only need to fiddle with 2 accidentals, the rest are there. The really big bummer sometimes is lack of high C#. That's the only one real problem with Jackie's range.

 

'Strue - I'm just very aware of it on one tune and a couple of classical pieces that I play quite a lot. For some reason I find the lack of a D# (as opposed to Eb) key very confusing . The high C# I have certainly come across quite a lot...

 

 

What music do you play and what music would you like to play? Treble tends to get squeaky above the stave, and high C is really high already. I kind of see the problem with short range if you work harmonies, jazz, improvisation in many keys. Is that what you do? Because yes, working with 4 inversions is impossible. Other than that, "Easy flute duets" by Bach or "Easy violin duets" by Mozart have plenty of work in Jackie's range. Jackie is a bit slow, but not slower than brass reed entry level Lachenal, if not faster.

What do you play?

 

I split my playing time between folk tunes (mostly English, a few Scottish and Irish) and classical music. I've been playing Bach's cello suites arranged for guitar recently (the problem there is with the low range), the same pieces arranged for violin, and some of Bach's violin solo works (which is where I've found the problem with the top of the range most often). I've looked at some classical flute music but always found that it used a lot of that top range as well, thus never really done much with it. I've also been playing a Vivaldi solo violin piece, a Handel solo violin piece, a Bridge "Country Dance" for violin, and a Joplin rag arranged for violin. That's about it.

 

On the squeakiness of the top of the treble range, one thing I noticed on the Lachenal today was that that range sounded much nicer and less piercing than on my Jackie. I tried a couple of their other instruments that were a bit out my price range, and noticed the same thing. So I was hoping that that's another thing that a more expensive instrument would achieve - a nicer sounding high range.

[saguaro_squeezer]

Button Box has a Lachenal 48 key treble for a (what seems) a reasonable price. I know that Britt will send it on perusal (sp?) if you pay the freight.

 

Sorry for the plug ... not connected but they're really helpful on the phone.

 

Rod

[tzirtzi]

Button Box has a Lachenal 48 key treble for a (what seems) a reasonable price. I know that Britt will send it on perusal (sp?) if you pay the freight.

 

Thanks for pointing it out However, I'd prefer to buy within the UK - and thus be able to try in advance and avoid paying import tax.

[saguaro_squeezer]

Button Box has a Lachenal 48 key treble for a (what seems) a reasonable price. I know that Britt will send it on perusal (sp?) if you pay the freight.

 

Thanks for pointing it out However, I'd prefer to buy within the UK - and thus be able to try in advance and avoid paying import tax.

 

I'm sorry tzirtzi ... I keep forgetting that you're across the pond.