Advice Re This Concertina

[Daniel Hersh]

Hi, David--

 

Any chance of a picture of the reeds, given my discussion with Stephen above? They would be a series of small metal tongues, set into some kind of metal frame or frames.

 

If you're going to meet up with some players in person soon you'll probably learn the basics a lot more quickly from them than we can offer online.

 

Daniel

 

Hi again

 

Heres a few shots of my new concertina if it helps identify it further, I dont know the model no. or what it's tuned for. I'm hoping to go to the Yorkshire Concertina meeting on Sunday where I'm sure I'll get some more info, but in the meantime if you guys can advise further, most grateful

 

Cheers

 

David

[Stephen Chambers]

I bought the "Galotta" (a single-reed D/A) from someone in England, so it was likely built for the British market. ... My Scholer might have been one of the more expensive models that you mention below -- it's got a combination of double and triple reeds and I believe that it plays significantly better than most Scholers. It's got red pearloid [aka MOTS] ends.

Daniel,

 

The Scholers we got in England were almost always the cheap red or yellow wood-grained ones, looking just like David's Galotta, and I don't recall ever seeing a red pearloid one there. However, your Galotta is of a different, later model that I remember being introduced by Hohner London in the second half of the 1970s, when I bought several from them - in fact you might even have got yours off me! They were indeed a significant improvement on what had come before them.

 

minor point re long-plate reeds: I know that at least some of the German Chemnitzer/Bandoneon/Carlsfelder builders were using aluminum rather than zinc plates for their steel reeds by the 1930's. I've got a Chemnitzer (possibly made by ELA) that's got them.

They did (as did Hohner with their accordions in the '30s too), but amongst Bandoneon players the older Alfred Arnold instruments with zinc longplates are still the most sought-after ones, whilst aluminium longplates (and even more so, accordion reeds) are considered inferior. (For that matter, I much prefer my early 1930s Hohner button accordion, with zinc reedplates, to later models with aluminium plates.)

Edited April 17, 2008 by Stephen Chambers

[Daniel Hersh]

Stephen-

 

So do you think that my later Galotta was made by Scholer, or did Hohner perhaps make it themselves or contract with someone else? I bought it used a couple of years ago from the eBay seller razzacars (real name Ray), but I suppose that he could have bought it from you.

 

I may post some inside and outside pics of my Scholer at some point since you haven't seen that model.

 

And Chemnitzer players like those zinc plates too, though I've got no complaints at all about my aluminum-plate one.

 

Daniel

 

I bought the "Galotta" (a single-reed D/A) from someone in England, so it was likely built for the British market. ... My Scholer might have been one of the more expensive models that you mention below -- it's got a combination of double and triple reeds and I believe that it plays significantly better than most Scholers. It's got red pearloid [aka MOTS] ends.

Daniel,

 

The Scholers we got in England were almost always the cheap red or yellow wood-grained ones, looking just like David's Galotta, and I don't recall ever seeing a red pearloid one there. However, your Galotta is of a different, later model that I remember being introduced by Hohner London in the second half of the 1970s, when I bought several from them - in fact you might even have got yours off me! They were indeed a significant improvement on what had come before them.

 

minor point re long-plate reeds: I know that at least some of the German Chemnitzer/Bandoneon/Carlsfelder builders were using aluminum rather than zinc plates for their steel reeds by the 1930's. I've got a Chemnitzer (possibly made by ELA) that's got them.

They did (as did Hohner with their accordions in the '30s too), but amongst Bandoneon players the older Alfred Arnold instruments with zinc longplates are still the most sought-after ones, whilst aluminium longplates (and even more so, accordion reeds) are considered inferior. (For that matter, I much prefer my early 1930s Hohner button accordion, with zinc reedplates, to later models with aluminium plates.)

[Stephen Chambers]

Stephen-

 

So do you think that my later Galotta was made by Scholer, or did Hohner perhaps make it themselves or contract with someone else? I bought it used a couple of years ago from the eBay seller razzacars (real name Ray), but I suppose that he could have bought it from you.

Daniel,

 

I didn't realise that you had bought your Galotta so recently, they haven't been on the market for a long time now and I'd wondered if you might have got it from me around the time you bought the Crabb - but it seems not...

 

Maybe I should have made it clearer that Galotta is an old Klingenthal brand, in fact the name of the firm was still to be seen on their former factory (now derelict) the last time I visited the town, but the brand-name has been used on accordions produced by the Weltmeister/Harmona factory in the last few decades. It is my understanding (from what I've been told in Klingenthal) that Scholer were the only concertina makers there in post-war years, but that they supplied various other firms.

 

Also, though Hohner London sold a lot of products from Hohner Germany, they also sourced things independently, so it would not be advisable to jump to any conclusions based on what they were selling.

[Stephen Chambers]

... I don't know where my Scholer was originally sold -- I bought that one here in the US from another c.netter and I'm not sure where he got it. But it's my impression (not based on hard data though) that the German builders didn't make much of an effort to sell to the US in the postwar period, leaving the market such as it was to Bastari. My Scholer might have been one of the more expensive models that you mention below -- it's got a combination of double and triple reeds and I believe that it plays significantly better than most Scholers. It's got red pearloid [aka MOTS] ends.

Daniel,

 

I was reminded of your comment whilst browsing eBay just now, and found that the listings there don't seem to support it - in that two-thirds (6 out of 9) of the post-war Klingenthal-made concertinas for sale at the moment (worldwide) appear to be in the United States.

 

They are:

 

In U.S.A. -

VINTAGE GERMAN MADE SCHOLER ACCORDION

;

Vintage Scholer Concertina Accordion Accordian Germany

;

KLINGENTHAL ACCORDIAN CONCERTINA BUTTON BOX-502

;

Scholer German Concertina wBox Very Fine Condition

;

Galotta 20 Keys Concertina in Original Box No. 8221/90

;

Scholer Concertina,Good condition

;

 

 

In England -

Klingenthal Concertina

;

Concertina in oricinal box

;

 

 

In Germany -

Scholer Concertina DDR deutsche Griffweise

 

So it looks to me that, on the contrary, the US market was the main one for post-war German concertina production...

[Daniel Hersh]

I noticed that on eBay too, but wasn't sure that it was a big enough sample for me to post a correction to what I said before. It's my impression (only an impression -- no hard data yet) that over time I've seen a much higher proportion of Italian to German concertinas on US eBay than on UK eBay. But both statements could be true: more German concertinas sold in the US than in other countries, but more Italian concertinas sold in the US than German ones. The current eBay listings don't support what I just wrote, since there are only 3 used Italian ones listed on US eBay at the moment, but it's my impression that the current number of 6 German-made ones on US eBay is higher than usual.

 

Still, I have to acknowledge that you're offering real data and I'm offering unsupported assertions. Perhaps we can check periodically and see if the current moment's listings are typical.

 

Daniel

 

... I don't know where my Scholer was originally sold -- I bought that one here in the US from another c.netter and I'm not sure where he got it. But it's my impression (not based on hard data though) that the German builders didn't make much of an effort to sell to the US in the postwar period, leaving the market such as it was to Bastari. My Scholer might have been one of the more expensive models that you mention below -- it's got a combination of double and triple reeds and I believe that it plays significantly better than most Scholers. It's got red pearloid [aka MOTS] ends.

Daniel,

 

I was reminded of your comment whilst browsing eBay just now, and found that the listings there don't seem to support it - in that two-thirds (6 out of 9) of the post-war Klingenthal-made concertinas for sale at the moment (worldwide) appear to be in the United States.

 

They are:

 

In U.S.A. -

VINTAGE GERMAN MADE SCHOLER ACCORDION

;

Vintage Scholer Concertina Accordion Accordian Germany

;

KLINGENTHAL ACCORDIAN CONCERTINA BUTTON BOX-502

;

Scholer German Concertina wBox Very Fine Condition

;

Galotta 20 Keys Concertina in Original Box No. 8221/90

;

Scholer Concertina,Good condition

;

 

 

In England -

Klingenthal Concertina

;

Concertina in oricinal box

;

 

 

In Germany -

Scholer Concertina DDR deutsche Griffweise

 

So it looks to me that, on the contrary, the US market was the main one for post-war German concertina production...

[Stephen Chambers]

... It's my impression (only an impression -- no hard data yet) that over time I've seen a much higher proportion of Italian to German concertinas on US eBay than on UK eBay.

Daniel,

 

As far as I know, we didn't start getting Italian concertinas in the U.K. until Neil Wayne started to sell Bastari Englishes in 1974 - I remember seeing them advertised at the time (though I didn't buy one, as I already had an Edeophone by then) and can look it up in my old copies of Free Reed when I get home. But the Anglo/German models didn't become available until later.

 

Mind you, 2 of the Wizard Anglos (early 30-keys made by Bastari) have turned up in the U.K. in the last couple of years (one of which I bought myself, to check it out), but I don't know if they were sold there new, or if they were originally sold in South Africa. They certainly aren't common.

 

But cheap German concertinas were readily available "when I were a lad"...