Lachenal Accordeaphone - we've just got one!
Chris Timson
For the connoisseurs of rare amd unusual instruments among you, we have
just acquired a doozy! The Accordeaphone was the instrument that
bankrupted Lachenal. An amazing square beast, there may be as many as 8
in the world today, but we only know the whereabouts of 3. If you are
interested in this strange concertina/accordion hybrid we have pictures
and a detailed description at
www.harbour.demon.co.uk/tina.faq/images/accphone.htm
Cheers,
Chris
--
Chris Timson Have concertinas, will travel
and Phone (UK) 01225 863762
Anne Gregson For our home pages and for the Concertina FAQ:
http://www.harbour.demon.co.uk/
DoN. Nichols
Chris Timson <ch...@harbour.demon.co.uk> wrote:
>Hi,
>
>For the connoisseurs of rare amd unusual instruments among you, we have
>just acquired a doozy! The Accordeaphone was the instrument that
>bankrupted Lachenal. An amazing square beast, there may be as many as 8
>in the world today, but we only know the whereabouts of 3. If you are
>interested in this strange concertina/accordion hybrid we have pictures
>and a detailed description at
>
> www.harbour.demon.co.uk/tina.faq/images/accphone.htm
Congratulations on your acquisition. I've visited the website, and
would love to have my hands on it personally to examine it in more detail.
Squeeze On,
DoN.
--
NOTE: spamblocking on against servers which harbor spammers.
Email: <dnic...@d-and-d.com> | Donald Nichols (DoN.)|Voice (703) 938-4564
My Concertina web page: | http://www.d-and-d.com/dnichols/DoN.html
--- Black Holes are where God is dividing by zero ---
Steve Simpson
Great instrument. So don't keep us in suspense.... Where did you get it?
Please tell all.
Regards
Steve Simpson
Chris Timson
>Great instrument. So don't keep us in suspense.... Where did you get it?
>Please tell all.
No great secret or surprise, I'm afraid. We bought it from Chris Algar
(Barleycorn Concertinas) at Witney. He'd had it a couple of years,
waiting for some fool^H^H^H^H connoisseur to buy it. He charged UKP 750,
which seems amazingly reasonable for instrument in such good condition
(and modern pitch, I'm glad to say, with all those reeds).
The woodwork and reedwork is fine and the instrument is playable. The
only serious problem is that the corners of the bellows are shot. Seems
that most people seeing this beast on his stand didn't know what they
were looking at and passed by on the other side. Whereas Anne has
already played an accordeaphone (Colin Dipper's) so we leapt upon it
with glee.
Sadly, over the course of the years, he has lost the phone number of the
woman he bought it from, so as yet I am unable to find anything out
about the accordeaphone or its original owner, Sid Ive. But we shall
continue to dig.
unca-...@sff.net
looks like a LOT of close buttons for my fat fingers though....
Unca
In article <6uu6rp$2...@izalco.d-and-d.com>,
dnic...@d-and-d.com (Donald Nichols) wrote:
> In article <ZV7WbDAU...@harbour.demon.co.uk>,
> Chris Timson <ch...@harbour.demon.co.uk> wrote:
> >Hi,
> >
> >For the connoisseurs of rare amd unusual instruments among you, we have
> >just acquired a doozy! The Accordeaphone was the instrument that
> >bankrupted Lachenal.
-----------== Posted via Deja News, The Discussion Network ==----------
http://www.dejanews.com/ Search, Read, Discuss, or Start Your Own
DoN. Nichols
>Congratulations folks!
>
[ ... Chris and Anne's Accordeophone ... ]
>looks like a LOT of close buttons for my fat fingers though....
It is no worse than a normal English. It just looks worse, because
the rest of the box is so much bigger.
Chris Timson
>looks like a LOT of close buttons for my fat fingers though....
Nope, buttons are not close together. You are probably unconsciously
scaling it to the size of a normal concertina. This thing is quite big!
B4BRU
Chris & Anne,
So, how does it sound? I'd love a report on its playability and how it might
be used. Does it have a fast response? Would you be able to use it in pretty
much every situation where you might use a "normal" English? Do you think
you'll use it regularly, or will it be more of a novelty instrument that you
might just use for one song?
bruce
boysen
L. McDaniel
make it more fun overall....
one of 8 TOTAL.... my...
enjoy.
Unca
Chris Timson
Bit difficult to say how it plays until we get the bellows properly
patched up and the whole thing re-valved, but provisionally, let's say a
bit slow, like a baritone. Anywhere, then, that you'd use a baritone you
could use this. You couldn't use it for playing fast tunes in a session,
but it might be great for playing chords in said session.
Sound is accordion-like, but the purity of the concertina reeds means
that it has a slight fairground organ quality. We've done a bit of
experimenting, and we find that the tone doesn't go all that well with
me playing a normal concertina, but it blends beautifully with my new
square G/D Herrington (uses accordion reeds). So we intend to work out
something for the 2 concertinas together, and introduce it with a line
about how one thing you can be sure of is that a concertina always has 6
or more sides, and then bring out the Accordeaphone and the Herrington.
Also, it sounds really nice on blues, and it just so happens that Anne
has recently developed a strong hankering for playing blues on the
concertina (boosted by an excellent workshop Vic Gammon did at Witney on
the subject) so it's certainly going to be used for that.
I would say definitely *not* a novelty instrument, but a whole different
sound with the same fingering, and real historical interest.
L. McDaniel
any chance to post a wav file someplace when you get 'er patched up???
thanks,
LLoyd
j...@bcs.org.uk
Chris Timson <ch...@harbour.demon.co.uk> wrote:
> Steve Simpson <st...@alba.co.uk> writes
> >Great instrument. So don't keep us in suspense.... Where did you get it?
> >Please tell all.
>
> No great secret or surprise, I'm afraid. We bought it from Chris Algar
> (Barleycorn Concertinas) at Witney. He'd had it a couple of years,
> waiting for some fool^H^H^H^H connoisseur to buy it. He charged UKP 750,
> which seems amazingly reasonable for instrument in such good condition
> (and modern pitch, I'm glad to say, with all those reeds).
Congratulations - I'm consumed with envy!
I'm sure I've checked out Chris's stalls at various places over the last
couple of years without seeing it - lucky for you as I would have snapped
it up on sight even if it meant pawning my trousers!
Steve Simpson
Tahnks for sharing this info. And I might say a very reasonable price!! I
would certainly have given Chris A that had I seen him on his stand over
the summer. Guess I was pipped at the post.
Good luck and enjoy your instrument.
Steve
Chris Timson <ch...@harbour.demon.co.uk> wrote in article
<I2k9oDAr...@harbour.demon.co.uk>...
> Steve Simpson <st...@alba.co.uk> writes
> >Great instrument. So don't keep us in suspense.... Where did you get
it?
> >Please tell all.
>
> No great secret or surprise, I'm afraid. We bought it from Chris Algar
> (Barleycorn Concertinas) at Witney. He'd had it a couple of years,
> waiting for some fool^H^H^H^H connoisseur to buy it. He charged UKP 750,
> which seems amazingly reasonable for instrument in such good condition
> (and modern pitch, I'm glad to say, with all those reeds).
>
> The woodwork and reedwork is fine and the instrument is playable. The
> only serious problem is that the corners of the bellows are shot. Seems
> that most people seeing this beast on his stand didn't know what they
> were looking at and passed by on the other side. Whereas Anne has
> already played an accordeaphone (Colin Dipper's) so we leapt upon it
> with glee.
>
> Sadly, over the course of the years, he has lost the phone number of the
> woman he bought it from, so as yet I am unable to find anything out
> about the accordeaphone or its original owner, Sid Ive. But we shall
> continue to dig.
>
SmiPad
In article <$DXgVPAj...@harbour.demon.co.uk>, Chris Timson
<ch...@harbour.demon.co.uk> writes:
>We've done a bit of
>experimenting, and we find that the tone doesn't go all that well with
>me playing a normal concertina, but it blends beautifully with my new
>square G/D Herrington (uses accordion reeds).
Chris how about further comment on your square Herrington?
Size,sound,playability?
La Lugh!
Chris Timson
>any chance to post a wav file someplace when you get 'er patched up???
>
I'll see what I can do.