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Author Topic: Older v new  (Read 13763 times)

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Michael Driscoll

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Re: Older v new
« Reply #20 on: April 20, 2017, 05:41:48 AM »

My newest box these days is a 50-year-old, 3-voice, Paolo Soprani - it has a fantastic action and a superlative sound that sometimes make you do things you didn't know you could...  ;D

I'm not looking for a new one.
I know you are right………..!
« Last Edit: April 20, 2017, 05:57:55 AM by Michael Driscoll »
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richard.fleming

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Re: Older v new
« Reply #21 on: April 20, 2017, 09:32:00 AM »

My best box is a Paolo Soprani from about 1953. I'm not looking for a new box either.
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Old Paolo Sopranis in C#/D and D/D#

Michael Driscoll

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Re: Older v new
« Reply #22 on: April 20, 2017, 09:38:06 AM »

you also are right! - I have one too.
« Last Edit: April 20, 2017, 09:54:37 AM by Michael Driscoll »
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Thrupenny Bit

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Re: Older v new
« Reply #23 on: April 20, 2017, 10:10:34 AM »

Airtime has touched on something that has been discussed before and to my mind is significant.
The Castagnaris and modern continentally made boxes have a different set up of bass and chords. I cannot remember exactly how this is different, but it's along the line of the chords 'overlap' the chords you can make on the low end of the treble end. This means, as Airtime mentions, interplay between bass and treble. This suits the style and way continental people play.
The Hohners have a defined bass - chord - treble where there's 'space' between them so the bass/chords accompanies the treble/melody as opposed to intertwine with it.
Others here have a more precise way of explaining, but essentially that's the way I understand it!

The difference in sound is personal and in reality there's nothing right or wrong, just whatever you like the sound of!
Q
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Thrupenny Bit

I think I'm starting to get most of the notes in roughly the right order...... sometimes!

Michael Driscoll

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Re: Older v new
« Reply #24 on: April 20, 2017, 10:43:00 AM »

There is an awful lot to learn here.
« Last Edit: April 20, 2017, 11:03:56 AM by Michael Driscoll »
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playandteach

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Re: Older v new
« Reply #25 on: April 20, 2017, 11:56:31 AM »

Just before this becomes a Castagnari v Hohner battle of the boxes, there are several I'd go for before thinking of a Castagnari. It looks like Serafini isn't making at the moment, but Clement Guais certainly is, and I'd prefer to deal with an individual than a brand.
My Serafini was selling for around £1500 new, and I'd prefer that over the basic Castagnari models.
For me I prefer the mechanics to be spot on, which means new (not necessarily 1st hand though).
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baz parkes

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Re: Older v new
« Reply #26 on: April 20, 2017, 12:13:50 PM »

thanks, thrupenny bit, you are now turning out to be a pound coin!
He's not bad for a morris dancing, concertina playing barman.... :|glug
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george garside

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Re: Older v new
« Reply #27 on: April 20, 2017, 01:05:35 PM »

My best box is a Paolo Soprani from about 1953. I'm not looking for a new box either.

I wish I'd kept mine!
george :'(
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Dazbo

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Re: Older v new
« Reply #28 on: April 20, 2017, 01:05:50 PM »

What I don't think anyone has mentioned is that like anything new a brand new box needs to be bedded in.  New bellows can be very stiff and take a lot of breaking in, new reeds can need time to settle in and probably need a slight retune after a short while etc etc.  All this can make it 'interesting' to play a brand new box especially if you are used to a lovely old box

For another reason to play an old box I've tried lots of Salterelles over the years in music shops and music fairs at festivals and not one has ever made me want to take it home.  But if I could get my hands on Squeezy's or Brian Peters's that would be another matter...

My newest box was bought direct from Eric Martin in 2011.  A lovely box, with a lovely sound, but it took me a number of years to become my first choice box to pick up and play.  Before that there was nothing to compare with my Tommy, bought from Steve Dumpleton in 2005, made in the early 1990s I believe.
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Ciao Bellow

Darren

Dazbo

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Re: Older v new
« Reply #29 on: April 20, 2017, 01:11:11 PM »

...but it's along the line of the chords 'overlap' the chords you can make on the low end of the treble end. This means, as Airtime mentions, interplay between bass and treble. This suits the style and way continental people play

Does it?  From what I've seen from our continental cousins they touch the bottom end of the keyboard even less than most morris musicians use the top end of a DG box's and you'd need a low octave reed on the treble end too.
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Ciao Bellow

Darren

Thrupenny Bit

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Re: Older v new
« Reply #30 on: April 20, 2017, 01:26:38 PM »

Baz.....you smooth talking devil you  8)

Dazbo.... I think the word I was searching for earlier was 'integrated'. I'm sure I've seen in a previous thread that the way the chords are inverted/constructed in newer Italian boxes means they overlap more.
I can't explain it more than that......
Q
hoping whoever was in that previous thread could hep me!
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Thrupenny Bit

I think I'm starting to get most of the notes in roughly the right order...... sometimes!

Theo

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Re: Older v new
« Reply #31 on: April 20, 2017, 01:31:14 PM »

There are/were loads and loads of old boxes that are absolutely terrible to play, and were probably just as bad when new. Thankfully most of them have been disposed of over the years. So on average the old boxes that survive are the better ones.
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Michael Driscoll

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Re: Older v new
« Reply #32 on: April 20, 2017, 02:27:25 PM »

thanks, thrupenny bit, you are now turning out to be a pound coin!
He's not bad for a morris dancing, concertina playing barman.... :|glug

nobody is perfect
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Michael Driscoll

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Re: Older v new
« Reply #33 on: April 21, 2017, 12:09:05 AM »

There are/were loads and loads of old boxes that are absolutely terrible to play, and were probably just as bad when new. Thankfully most of them have been disposed of over the years. So on average the old boxes that survive are the better ones.

Theo,

I have probably got them all now.  I shall probably have to talk to you about them at some point.
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Michael Driscoll

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Re: Older v new
« Reply #34 on: April 21, 2017, 01:28:33 AM »

My best box is a Paolo Soprani from about 1953. I'm not looking for a new box either.

I wish I'd kept mine!
george :'(
[/quote

yes, George
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Michael Driscoll

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Re: Older v new
« Reply #35 on: April 21, 2017, 01:40:51 AM »

My best box is a Paolo Soprani from about 1953. I'm not looking for a new box either.

i think mine also, strange to say!
michael
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triskel

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Re: Older v new
« Reply #36 on: April 21, 2017, 03:31:45 AM »

My best box is a Paolo Soprani from about 1953. I'm not looking for a new box either.

i think mine also, strange to say!
michael

I've got two from 1953/4, a red one and a black one, both with the "pepperpot" perforated aluminium grilles (otherwise boxes from those years are usually the silver-grey models), and there's a lovely timbre to them. I'm not at all surprised that Anne Conroy's favourite box (for sound) is a "pepperpot":



Though I also understand why she usually performs with Joe Burke on an early '70's model - because they (and the late '60's ones) have the best keyboard actions and the fullest sound.

Michael Driscoll

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Re: Older v new
« Reply #37 on: April 21, 2017, 06:05:41 AM »

My best box is a Paolo Soprani from about 1953. I'm not looking for a new box either.

i think mine also, strange to say!
michael

I've got two from 1953/4, a red one and a black one, both with the "pepperpot" perforated aluminium grilles (otherwise boxes from those years are usually the silver-grey models), and there's a lovely timbre to them. I'm not at all surprised that Anne Conroy's favourite box (for sound) is a "pepperpot":



Though I also understand why she usually performs with Joe Burke on an early '70's model - because they (and the late '60's ones) have the best keyboard actions and the fullest sound.

i shall try to send you a picture of it, if I can figure out the technology.
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Michael Driscoll

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Re: Older v new
« Reply #38 on: April 21, 2017, 06:50:09 AM »

My best box is a Paolo Soprani from about 1953. I'm not looking for a new box either.

i think mine also, strange to say!
michael

I've got two from 1953/4, a red one and a black one, both with the "pepperpot" perforated aluminium grilles (otherwise boxes from those years are usually the silver-grey models), and there's a lovely timbre to them. I'm not at all surprised that Anne Conroy's favourite box (for sound) is a "pepperpot":



Though I also understand why she usually performs with Joe Burke on an early '70's model - because they (and the late '60's ones) have the best keyboard actions and the fullest sound.
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Michael Driscoll

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Re: Older v new
« Reply #39 on: April 21, 2017, 06:56:43 AM »

triskel, it sounds like Driscoll,

anyway, when I spoke to Bobby Gardiner he said he was glad to get rid of it, it was unplayable. I hope it is not the same box that I have got!

michael

I am not too worried about it, it is all in a lifetime - maybe!
« Last Edit: April 21, 2017, 09:46:14 AM by Michael Driscoll »
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