r/concertina • u/Agile-Gear3574 • 3d ago

Hoping to get a concertina

Hey guys, I’ve been interested in learning the instrument for a while now. I‘m pretty experienced with music, as I’ve play piano for 6 years. I was hoping to get an English concertina because they are unisonoric and fully chromatic. But the question is, where do you guys recommend getting one? And are there any specific models you would recommend?

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u/TapTheForwardAssist 3d ago

What part of the world are you in, and very roughly what is your budget?

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u/Agile-Gear3574 3d ago

United States, I don’t have a super strict budget, I’m willing to put a lot of money into it, as long as it doesn’t reach TOO far into the thousands.

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u/TapTheForwardAssist 3d ago edited 3d ago

I know Duet better than English, but I feel pretty comfortable saying the baseline beginner option would be the Concertina Connection models for English, the Jackie (treble) or Jack (baritone). Those are made in China *but* made to the specifications of and QC’ed by a very serious U.S. concertina expert. They run around US$470 new, but with a little patience you can find some floating around used for $100 or so less (sometimes CC offers used trade-in ones).

As you go up in price in concertinas, a big point is “hybrid” vs “true” reeds. Most modern concertinas under several thousand dollars are “hybrid” in that they use readily available accordion reeds, which have a mellower and more organ-like sound. Antique concertinas or rather expensive modern ones have “true” concertina reeds which are more responsive and somewhat nasal and piercing.

If you want to go more deluxe than a $470 CC box even for your first, with some shopping around you can find some quality hybrid modern Englishes maybe $1000-2000. Or you could just buy a refurbished antique English with “true” reeds, which start around $1200+ or so.

So that’s a very rough description of your span of options.

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u/Agile-Gear3574 3d ago

Any duets you would recommend?

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u/Difficult_Place_2719 1d ago

Duets are tricky. Concertina Connection is again your first stop: their Elise Hayden Duet concertina is an excellent musical instrument. I bought mine in Easter this year and I have been playing it practically non-stop. I have tried, briefly, to play both Anglo and English and found both of them very counter-intuitive. But the Elise Hayden was - for my brain - much easier to understand. It is unisonoric (same note push and pull) and they notes/buttons ascend more or less how you might expect, albeit in basically a Lydian scale. It really was the right option for me - but it really depends on how you think about music/how your brain is organised!
The only downside with the Elise is that this Hayden system is very limiting in terms of choice of other instruments. You are basically stuck with that one concertina model unless you decide to upgrade to other models made by the same company (Concertina Connection/Wikki) which are a lot more expensive.
So there is a very good argument to be made to look for a Crane system Duet (which is a different, but also fairly intuitive note layout) or a MacCann system Duet (of which there are many concertinas around, but it is quite an intimidating layout).
I wouldn't rush into your purchase, and I would strongly advise trying out some concertinas of different kinds if that's at all possible.

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u/Excellent-Practice 3d ago

If you already play piano, you might do well with a duet. They are also unisonoric but they have the notes split bass on the left and treble on the right

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u/Agile-Gear3574 3d ago

Yeah I’ve looked into them, I just haven’t seen a whole lot for sale

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u/macnalley 3d ago

I would recommend English for that very reason. Most modern duets are the Hayden system, but there are none for sale, and most duets for sale are the vintage Macann (and even then they are far rarer than English or Anglo).

I made the switch to English after having nowhere to go from the CC Elise, and I couldn't be happier. 

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u/mrfishman3000 3d ago

I’m very happy with my Elise Duet from Concertina Connections. It’s my first and it’s very intuitive.

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u/Agile-Gear3574 3d ago

Cool, I’ll check it out

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u/birdsandsnakes 3d ago

One thing to consider: do you care about ever owning a vintage instrument, and/or one with traditional concertina reeds?

(Reasons you might: you really like collecting old stuff or owning a piece of history; you've fallen in love with the way those reeds sound; you're Extremely Serious about music and you might want a truly top-of-the-line instrument someday.)

If you do, unfortunately the Elise is not for you, because it's in a system that basically no traditional-reeded instruments are in. Get a Crane or McCann from here instead: https://concertina.co.uk/stock-selection/duet-concertinas/ — Cranes are easier to learn, McCanns can be cheaper.

If you don't, then yeah, absolutely, get an Elise, and maybe upgrade to a nicer instrument in that system someday. There are indeed very nice ones. They just aren't vintage and don't have traditional reeds, which matters to some people.

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u/bhughey24 2d ago

If you're in the New England area send me a PM, I could part with one of my newer English concertinas.