I agree - I was (am) thinking of getting one (hydn duet). I don't play c. anymore, in lieu of boxes, but I was thinking it would be nice, for what I do - audiences are always interested in them. I might just get a CC hydn for a few songs..
I agree - I was (am) thinking of getting one (hydn duet). I don't play c. anymore, in lieu of boxes, but I was thinking it would be nice, for what I do - audiences are always interested in them. I might just get a CC hydn for a few songs..
I've been toying with the idea of learning clawhammer banjo, but I fear my wife do terrible things to me in retribution.
aka: Spencer
Silverangel Econo A #429
Soliver #001 Hand Crafted Pancake
Soliver Hand Crafted Mandolins and Mandolin Armrests
Armrests Here -- Mandolins Here
"You can never cross the ocean unless you have the courage
to lose sight of the shore, ...and also a boat with no holes in it.” -anonymous
Like take up the piccolo?
Speaking of concertina, I mess around with harmonica a lot. Diatonic, sure, but mostly chromatic. If you're looking for a brain exercise, sit down in front of a realbook with a chromatic.
I carry a harmonica pretty much every where I go, great way to pass the time. Once I was wandering through a parking lot playing harmonica when an older gentlemen pulled up and stopped me and gave me a free copy of a Little Walter CD.
I've got extra c. laying about here - I'd happily donate/send round to any among us to have a go, see what it's like before spending money on one. (If okay with Scott .. like the travelling pick sampler maybe?) It's just a little 20-b - not what youd want for a session (30-b) - but adequate to get the feel of a bisonoric squeezy for the cost of shipping..
Mike, Scott?
*although I haven't looked at the pick sampler thread...so don't know what they're actually doing, but I would imagine just sending along a rambling box for cost of postage ..?
Last edited by catmandu2; Feb-27-2018 at 3:10pm.
Scott says he has no problem with this. Good luck with it. The world needs more squeezebox players as far as I'm concerned.
"It's comparable to playing a cheese slicer."
--M. Stillion
"Bargain instruments are no bargains if you can't play them"
--J. Garber
- - - Updated - - -
So I should look for an uptick in mandolins in the classifieds as folks deaccession from their collection to purchase squeeze boxes? Keeping my eyes peeled.
Hey great, thanks Well I'll send it in a hardshell case, insured. What, probably $25 or whatever it is - receiver pre-pays postage - sends it along after 2/3 weeks..? I can film a clip demo..
*Well here ya go...if anyone wants to have a go feel free to PM
https://youtu.be/cPnouCndQrg
Last edited by catmandu2; Feb-27-2018 at 4:13pm.
I first started playing Uke in 1955
Clarinet 1957-1960.. not my thing
Mandolin in 1961 again in 1978 again in 1989 (classical) And re-entering over the past couple years( no bluegrass)
Guitar 1961 to present
5 String Banjo (bluegrass) 1972-1979
Banjo 1987-89. Bluegrass got old
Banjo again in 1993.. open back classic and classical.. gave it up due to serious injury
Resophonic guitar for a few years
Back to guitar..
In 1995 I messed about with Concertina.. English made sense so I got a top of the line ebony ended Wheatstone.. not my thing at the time
Moved on to Anglo ( Jeffries 38 button Eb/Bb) Then a G/C 38 button Jeffries.. poverty forced sale
On to Button accordeon.. I have owned over 50 to include Hohners, ( light fast fun cheap and I still own 3 one rows)
14 Castagnaris.. just sold one of my three one row melodeons...and looking for a box with a properly located bass button..
2 Serenellinis, on and on...
I have played and owned fine English made concertinas with fine original reeds, I prefer the playability and sound of the Accordeon reeded Morse concertinas
I also recently sold a very nice C/G upper end 30 button Lachenal
I have also owned custom made made mitered cornered Cajun Accordeons.( Cajun accordeons are accordeons made by a Cajun.. that full discussion another time)
Also custom made Quebec one rows ( far superior build to Cajun boxes in my opinion)
I prefer bisonoric, diatonic aerophones over concertinas.. the Morse boxes being my favorite were I to get another.
A few years back I decided to play clawhammer banjo, bought two fully fretted no scoop Bart Reiters, Grand Concert like my original from 1993, and a Regent ( I strongly prefer the Regent.)
I like the instrument, the music usually played on these is not to my liking. I sold them both.
And have recently returned to guitar following serious surgeries to my left wrist and thumb ( serious, not tunnel carpal) reconstruction.
I still have two Matin guitars, a Carlos Pina flamenco, Stromberg Vosinet 12 fretter from 1929, 2003 Hiway 1 Telecaster
For anyone who has not played a bisonoic, diatonic accordeon.. these are not in the realm of the piano accordeons.. ( Stomach Steinways) And there is a world of music out there for them.. not just IRTRAD or Cajun or Tex Mex.
Go to you tube and look up Accordion Samurai or ToraderM, Naragonia, etc.
What's next..
I am making cavaquinhos. And seriously considering making mandolins strictly for classical. High quality, affordable. But time is the major consideration.
I am seriously considering toning down guitar and getting a full on G/C acc Castagnari three row.. Maris, Handry??
If I could physically play violin, I would but cannot. owning to inability to hold same. my wife is a violinist so we have a few around.
Wow Jeff! You're the Allen H of boxes. That's some list of goods there.
Did I mention I have owned exactly 54 mandolins ? What , me obsessed ? I am down to one, my great aunt's bowl back from the early teens (20th century) and that's it. Oh, and one on loan to my daughter in in UTAH.
As to my accordeon affair..
7 Corona IIs.. one mint pre Corona, 2 IIIRs, 2 Ericas, 5 Pokerworks, One Presswood, about 10 single row HA models, One 1040, one of the 2 row three reed Corso in C/F roughly 1960s, possibly a couple more.
The 2 Serenellinis were the 233 models .. 2 row 3 reed, one in D/G ( first one in the US, and a C#/D. Far superior to Saltarelle.
Castagnaris included 4 Melodeons, Cortina 12 bass in G/C, Tommy in G/C , 2 Morys, 2 Lillys, 2 Hascys one in G/C the other in D/G
and a couple I've forgotten, been a long time.
2 Giulettis, one in B/C one in A/D,
No Name Italian 3 row,
Briefly owned a Saltarelle, shoddily built though played ok.
2 Melodie, 1 Clement Breton, 2 Jude Moreau, .. and a mess of other one rows. I started on a no name German 1915 one row in a sharped Bb..cost me $25 and I played it for a year before moving on to others.
Yes, good Italian accordeons are expensive and worth the money... but for fun, nothing beats a simple Hohner HA114 single row ( if made in Germany) and preferably from the 50s or 60s, 70s are ok, 80s so so and it went downhill form there.
My choice is Castagnari for quality of construction, playability, tone, aesthetics and reliability.
Concertinas are more money for the same quality as a button accordeon, just the way it is. Morse from the Button Box being an excellent choice to grossly overpriced units form yesteryear and more durable. , and the Button Box is the best shop in the US based on my 20 plus years experience.
Just because the first thing I do when I arise (5:00 AM) is to check The Button Box for new stuff, melodeon.net, then the fenderforum, then Mandolin Café then you tube.. does not mean I am whacked. Or does it ?
I have been on concertina.net and melodeon.net for years, both excellent resources.
Harmonicas, I have owned dozens, down to about 20, my favorites are Chromatics.. I have a couple that are Gardenerized, the best.
"Well, I don't know much about bands but I do know you can't make a living selling big trombones, no sir. Mandolin picks, perhaps..."
Ha Jeff!
Me, I adopted clubs. My strategy was to find the one most versatile box. These days I go with two boxes - a club and a PA.
I alredy play way too many instruments (flute, guitar, whistles, mandolin and bodhran)and would like to get better with them, or at least good enough to feel i can take them down my local session without screwing up from nerves.
But in a purfect, what if world id love to learn to play the fiddle (which im very slowly having a go at), bazouki , and guzheng (which ive loved for years but dont really have the space or budget for sadly)
Since we're on an accordion detour, I have to mention how fantastic Martin Tourish was at an Altan concert we saw last night in Seattle, first stop on their new USA tour. Martin is a phenomenal player (he'd have to be, in that band), with a great sense of rhythm and pulse. I think of button accordion as the more common type for ITM, mainly for the quick response with ornaments, but this guy rocks the keys.
For mando content: Ciarán Curran did a great job on bouzouki, with delicate accompaniment for the songs, and powerhouse strumming on the fast tunes. And it's always great to hear Dáithí Sproule on guitar and Mairéad Ní Mhaonaigh's fiddle and singing. They're playing in Portland tonight; here's the rest of the their tour schedule. Go see them if you can, and if you want to hear some terrific accordion playing in a tight trad band. I've followed them from the start, and it's amazing that the core of the band is still out there performing at this level.
Instruments I play well:
Upright bass - started playing in 4th grade in the school orchestra
Guitar - started around 6th grade I think
Mandolin - got my first one in high school but didn't dedicate myself too it until the past 3 years or so, now its my primary instrument
Instruments I can kinda play:
Drums - I can keep time in 4/4, 2/4, or 3/4 any others and I'd throw the rest of the group off
Tin whistle/Penny whistle - The sound when you don't play a note right, oof.
Banjo - Lets keep the jams in G please!
Instruments I wish I could play:
Piano
Accordion (Hey its relevant to the accordion detour this thread took that I didn't bother to read all of. Yay!)
Hang on, let me look that up a sec.....much googling later...The intro definetly sounds like you could just substitute a gizheng for the guitar. Man that song has some killer flute playing
Concur; I went from a Wheatstone to a Morse (both trebles). Only drawback is fewer notes; the Morse has 36 buttons to the Wheatstone's 48 (leaving out the air releases). I almost never used the super-high range anyway, and it's a good tradeoff for the fuller sound of the accordion reeds, but it is a tradeoff.
Allen Hopkins
Gibsn: '54 F5 3pt F2 A-N Custm K1 m'cello
Natl Triolian Dobro mando
Victoria b-back Merrill alumnm b-back
H-O mandolinetto
Stradolin Vega banjolin
Sobell'dola Washburn b-back'dola
Eastmn: 615'dola 805 m'cello
Flatiron 3K OM
Well not just substituting, but an arrangement for zheng. That's a direction modern players are often taking, btw - especially young players (and audiences) informed by Western/'pop' sensibility. The advent of now standard 21-str 'modern' zheng was impelled by an expanding repertoire - largely through Western harmonic sensibility (as with everything else, the trad forms are not as popular as newer approaches).
My own interest goes the other way - old-style, wire strung, trad Han - although I enjoy much of the modern repertoire too.
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