Thomas Concertinas

[Azalin]

I had a great time last week at the East Durham/Catskills irish music festival and had the chance to spend some time with Jeff Thomas, concertina maker. I've seen him at the festival before, but never had the time to sit down and try his instruments and play a few tunes with him. Also, having a Dipper now, I'm in a better position to judge the quality of his instruments.

 

Anyhow, I tried his concertina, which is Thomas #1, the first one he's made. He's very fond of it. He's built a couple more since then, but that's his baby and will never part with it. Now, I am in no way some kind of expert who can judge the subtleties of different concertinas, but all I can say is that I was quite impressed with his concertina. The sound is simply amazing, it is very similar in sound to my Dipper. The action is great. I noticed the reeds, on his #1 anyway, required a bit more air than my Dipper, but it didn't change much in the way I played it.

 

So, we were in front of his cabin with a few friends of his, and I suggested I record a clip of him playing and post it here. I haven't seen much about him on the web, and it's a shame. I remember when I was desperate to get a concertina-reeded instrument, and I know his instrument would have surpassed my expectations. He says his waiting list is around 6-9 months. There's nothing official in what I'm saying, though, can't totally trust everything that's being understood or said when you're holding your third Budweiser, but that's pretty much what I heard :-)

 

Here's the clip.

 

He's also a great player, and he knows what it takes to play good irish music. He's playing an anglo C/G 30 buttons. He says there's been some improvements made since his #1. Jeff is bit of a 'mad scientist', totally obsessed with making good concertinas, and have this 'obsession flicker' in his eyes when he talks about concertinas.

 

All I can say now is here's your chance to get a great concertina quickly, before his waiting list explodes, like we've seen happen before with other makers. Just to be clear, he's never asked me anything about posting anything anywhere, I came up with the suggestion with no other motive than promoting a good relatively unknown product.

Edited July 23, 2009 by Azalin

[m3838]

Here's the clip.

 

He's also a great player

 

Very nice playing, I agree. Notice how he doesn't honk away, how delicately he deals with the sound.

I also notices that the sound is a bit close to accordion sound, with fair amount of overtones that give it character.

[Azalin]

Ah, interesting, I can't really detect similarities to the accordion sound, but it's all very subjective anyway. The sound would be closer to my Dipper than my (previously owned) Edgley.

[DavidFR]

All I can say now is here's your chance to get a great concertina quickly, before his waiting list explodes, like we've seen happen before with other makers. Just to be clear, he's never asked me anything about posting anything anywhere, I came up with the suggestion with no other motive than promoting a good relatively unknown product.

 

Nice clip. Now if he only made a 38-button G/D.....

 

-David

[TomB-R]

Errr, is this the Jeff Thomas who is a sponsor of concertina.net .......

 

http://www.thomasconcertinas.com/

[Azalin]

Yup, that's him.

[david_boveri]

i have played instrument number five when it was fresh off the presses, as well as number one. they are great instruments, and i would recommend a thomas concertina fully. the action is quick and the reeds are very responsive--i particularly liked the feel of the buttons, and i was pleasantly surprised at how easily it could chirp out cranns and cuts. i did not find that the reeds needed any extra air compared to other instruments. i also did not think that it sounded like an accordion. i have also spent several hours listening to someone else play #5 and so i can attest to the quality of sound from both a player's perspective and a listeners.

 

jeff is a great player, and a really cool guy to share some tunes with. he has a lot of experience in the instrument making trade, and spends a lot of time carefully considering every aspect of both construction and the production process.