Hello one and all.
First post although I have frequently visited for helpful info.
Just starting to learn and bought a cheap little Rochelle about 6 months ago to see if I would like it.Totally hooked.
.These have wheatstone setup and I play Irish music(badly) but wondered if there is any advantages in jeffries fingering when I look to upgrade for another instrument.(wife and overtime permitting!)
Can't help you, just a beginning concertina-player myself, but I would like to know wich concertinas uses the diffrent layouts? I belive wheatstone/lachneal use one and jeffries another(?), but what about Suttner, Dipper, Crabb and more?
You can request the layout you prefer with most makers. I prefer the Wheatstone layout myself because the A on the lower left side G row is better than just duplicating the D on the C row ring finger button. You'll find a lot of variations for the accidental row, but I like the Wheatstone accidental row layout. The only button I altered was the C# on the accidental row on the right side. I made that C# both directions.
Perhaps someone else can speak to the virtues of a Jeffries layout.
The layout is a detail when you are learning. Just pick one system and use it for now. (BTW my Jeffries-layout boxes also have that pull A on the low end of the G row; only Lachenals lack it.) Once you are a reasonably good player you'll know if you need to change or, like me, can manage to play both systems. You'll find tons of old discussions on this and an article or two about it at www.concertina.net (check the Learning section and the forums). For me it is just a matter of how you play the D scale, and both systems have survived for over a century because you can do it very well both ways.
Accidental row layout is more of an issue for chord-with-melody players and singers than for Irish style concertina.
Phantom Button writes that he prefers the left-hand G row of the Wheatstone layout. Perhaps there was a difference in the past, but today at least some makers' Wheatstone and Jeffries layouts are identical on the left-hand side. You can see this in Suttner's diagrams, at http://www.suttnerconcertinas.com/catalogue.html. That's true for Morse instruments as well.
My instrument has the Jeffries layout. Having learned to play on this system, I couldn't imagine playing on an instrument that didn't have C# in both directions. But, as Phantom says, instruments that are nominally Wheatstone in layout may have been modified, or can be ordered, to have C# going both ways.
Jeffries layout is fine as long as it is what it says it is. Jeffries concertinas are notorious for being one-offs and if you get an unusual layout, it hinders you from playing anyone elses.
Not that you were hoping get a Jeffries (unless you rob a bank or win the lottery).
You're complicating it way too much kev.Get a c# on the draw and press.After that you can just change the system as you get better and see what you prefer
jeffries v wheatstone/lachenal fingering
jeffries v wheatstone/lachenal fingering
Hello one and all.
First post although I have frequently visited for helpful info.
Just starting to learn and bought a cheap little Rochelle about 6 months ago to see if I would like it.Totally hooked.
.These have wheatstone setup and I play Irish music(badly) but wondered if there is any advantages in jeffries fingering when I look to upgrade for another instrument.(wife and overtime permitting!)
# Posted on April 19th 2007 by celtickev
Re: jeffries v wheatstone/lachenal fingering
Can't help you, just a beginning concertina-player myself, but I would like to know wich concertinas uses the diffrent layouts? I belive wheatstone/lachneal use one and jeffries another(?), but what about Suttner, Dipper, Crabb and more?
# Posted on April 19th 2007 by TradLad
Re: jeffries v wheatstone/lachenal fingering
You can request the layout you prefer with most makers. I prefer the Wheatstone layout myself because the A on the lower left side G row is better than just duplicating the D on the C row ring finger button. You'll find a lot of variations for the accidental row, but I like the Wheatstone accidental row layout. The only button I altered was the C# on the accidental row on the right side. I made that C# both directions.
Perhaps someone else can speak to the virtues of a Jeffries layout.
# Posted on April 19th 2007 by Phantom Button
Re: jeffries v wheatstone/lachenal fingering
The layout is a detail when you are learning. Just pick one system and use it for now. (BTW my Jeffries-layout boxes also have that pull A on the low end of the G row; only Lachenals lack it.) Once you are a reasonably good player you'll know if you need to change or, like me, can manage to play both systems. You'll find tons of old discussions on this and an article or two about it at www.concertina.net (check the Learning section and the forums). For me it is just a matter of how you play the D scale, and both systems have survived for over a century because you can do it very well both ways.
Accidental row layout is more of an issue for chord-with-melody players and singers than for Irish style concertina.
Ken
# Posted on April 19th 2007 by KenC
Re: jeffries v wheatstone/lachenal fingering
Phantom Button writes that he prefers the left-hand G row of the Wheatstone layout. Perhaps there was a difference in the past, but today at least some makers' Wheatstone and Jeffries layouts are identical on the left-hand side. You can see this in Suttner's diagrams, at http://www.suttnerconcertinas.com/catalogue.html. That's true for Morse instruments as well.
My instrument has the Jeffries layout. Having learned to play on this system, I couldn't imagine playing on an instrument that didn't have C# in both directions. But, as Phantom says, instruments that are nominally Wheatstone in layout may have been modified, or can be ordered, to have C# going both ways.
# Posted on April 20th 2007 by boxist
Re: jeffries v wheatstone/lachenal fingering
Jeffries layout is fine as long as it is what it says it is. Jeffries concertinas are notorious for being one-offs and if you get an unusual layout, it hinders you from playing anyone elses.
Not that you were hoping get a Jeffries (unless you rob a bank or win the lottery).
# Posted on April 20th 2007 by geoffwright
Re: jeffries v wheatstone/lachenal fingering
You're complicating it way too much kev.Get a c# on the draw and press.After that you can just change the system as you get better and see what you prefer
# Posted on April 22nd 2007 by yourealllosers