Sol,

Well, loud is not necessarily bad but by stridency I mean a sort of harshness. Of course, I am referring only to the Jackie, the sound of which has been characterized by some as being closer to a concertina-reeded instrument rather than the accordion-reeded instrument that it is. My Stagi is more mellow and much quieter (which, of course, some would regard as a fault). I have a Lachenal as well and it is as loud as the Jackie but sweet and mellow, like you say.

By the way, how are you coming along on the Weltmeister?

Rand

I've heard a Jackie, and I wouldn't say that at all. They spacing of the buttons is designed to be the same as traditional concertinas, but the sound is VERY accordion-reeded sounding.

Wim Wakker has designed accordion-reeded concertinas with acoustic properties that make them sound more like "real" concertinas. In my opinion, the Jackie does sound more like a real concertina (but with the bit of harshness that I mentioned) than a Stagi. Though blasphemy to concertina buffs, some folks actually prefer the sound of accordion-reeded instruments like the Stagi to that of real concertinas.

Rand

Ah! You're thinking of the Geuns-Wakker concertinas, an entirely different beast from the Jackie. The Jackie is made in China to Wakker's specifications, but doesn't have high-quality modified accordion reeds like the Geuns-Wakker concertinas. I play a Geuns-Wakker concertina, and I've played a Jackie, and believe me, they're very different. The Geuns-Wakker does have a bit of that old concertina sound, I don't think the Jackie does at all. But that's "as designed."

I agree, the accordion sound isn't worse, just different. I also prefer it in some settings.

Well, I'm still focusing on one-row playing at the moment, so I'm not taking full advantage of it. (Though I've experimented a bit, and it seems surprisingly natural to go to the outer row for accidentals.) But it's very nice to have. Remarkable how much more air-tight it is than the other boxes we have around; things that would be impossible on them spring out very nicely on it.

Good to hear. Incidentally, have you seen these folks? -

http://www.irishdancemaster.com/accordion.html

I thought of you and the Weltmeister when I saw that they retune to reduce wetness.

Rand

I'm pretty sure I was on their webpage once a year or two ago -- it all looks familiar. For some reason (though I wouldn't do it with any accordion I have!) I'm amused at the thought of changing the tuning to something really weird, like A#/B.