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[John MacKenzie (Cugiok)]

I seem to see a lot of C/F boxes around lately, and just wondered if they were becoming popular.  Who plays one, and what are they best for?
I have 2 here.


Sir John

[Tone Dumb Greg]

They're popular with me. 
Great for playing in Dm, but you can play anything you can play on a DG box.
Trouble is, I'm in a minority of one down in these parts.

[Graham Spencer]

I have a couple; one is a very "Hohnery" 2915 which I tend to use mainly for the odd gigs I do with a Scottish outfit because it's got SO much tremolo, and I have another much drier-tuned one that I use a) because it's a bit more mellow than my usual D/G and b) because F is a more voice-friendly key for me than G.

[Jeremy Burnett]

They're popular with me. 
Great for playing in Dm, but you can play anything you can play on a DG box.
Trouble is, I'm in a minority of one down in these parts.

I've got one and Im further west than you are I think!

[Anahata]

They generally have a mellower tone than otherwise similar D/G boxes.
That can make them useful for song accompaniments, and the fact that some voice/song combinations fit those keys better.

[Theo]

I use my CF at a monthly piping session which often is in F.  I also use it a little for Gm and Dm.

[Jack Humphreys]

Our french sessions have pipes playing in G and D,  so CF is great for G and D minor, and can also play in the majors. CF also helps when the G pipes/gurdies move into C.  But I still take my 2R8B DG for the major keys.
On  Milleret-Pignol tutorial CD (something about "Aire") there is an interview at the and M or P gives his opinion that CF is the tuning he rates most highly, being centred around D tonality.
I do hope CF becomes more popular as so far it hasn't been easy to sell them on.

[Squeaky Pete]

I've used a GC for French stuff since the 80s but a chap at the sessions plays NSP in F (and D) and I've been taking along a CF Liliput.
I'm relearning some of the C stuff on the outside row so I shouldn't need the GC.
I've got a club IIIM that will eventually have 12 bass and the same helper row as the Pariselle.
There are a few CF boxes in the pipeline so I hope they remain popular.

[Steve_freereeder]

I have a very nice 1930s Hohner Erika in C/F lovingly restored by Mike Rowbotham of this parish.
It has a gorgeous mellow sound, which is good for singing with, and also for accompanying a solo clog dancer.
As others have pointed out, a C/F box is great for playing in D minor and also G minor.

(So you can play Dave Shepherd's William Taylor's Table Top Hornpipe in its proper key and not incur his wrath )

[Squeaky Pete]

I forgot to mention that Keith the fiddler who I've played with for 40 odd years has decided we ought to play the Origin of the World and he's learned it in the original key. So it's Gmin on a CF box.

[baz parkes]

I think they've always been popular in some areas...many players I know in Shrops/West Mids have a C/F as well as a D/G...again probably due to the singing business.

I have 2...a Club Viktoria IIB which is a bit of a beast and not awfully responsive for tunes but was my main singing box in the days I used to sing. I also have a honey blonde pressed wood dating from the 50s I think, bought from a flea market in Germany over 30 years ago which was initially re tuned by Mally and recently tweaked by St. Microbot. Lovely tone and player. I used to use it regularly on the band, but we seem to have dropped those sets.

[Hugh Taylor]

I used to use it regularly on the band, but we seem to have dropped those sets.

Alistair can't play in those keys is it?

[baz parkes]

I used to use it regularly on the band, but we seem to have dropped those sets.

Alistair can't play in those keys is it?

Good job he's not on here... (actually,no…)

[Chris Ryall]

I used to have a C/F Mori, great fun but sold 20 years back as I didn’t have a “French” group to play with here. Interestingly my Paris phase of life came soon after … everyone there seemed to be G/C, but you did see some C/Fs amongst the Bretons, notably Frédéric “Gazman” Lambierge of Redon.

Curiously none of the tunes were in C or F! The fate of this tuning seems to be to be play on the pull in tonic scales  of D or G. Particularly the latter.

As with A scales on a DG you can slip between G major and minor at will on the  main rows. The 7th F is naturally blue, and cool notes like b9 Ab and flexible 6th E/Eb … usually there amongst your accs, ideally also on pull.

The Pignol/Milleret layout is G/A harmonic minor/accs. A large part of their repertoire is in D (major, minor, blues, phrygian, whatever) on the same principle, but with the b6 available on middle row

It is a very different way of playing