Jackie  and Jack
 English Concertinas

The Jackie and Jack are 30 key english system concertinas, designed and developed by the Concertina Connection inc. and produced, using partly European parts, exclusively for us to our specifications in China.

Both instruments are identical in appearance and sound, but differ in compass. The Jackie is a treble concertina, with a range comparable to a violin. The Jack is a baritone concertina. It has the same fingering as the Jackie, but sounds one octave lower.

Sound files played on the Jackie from the Tutor:

 "Lilliburlero"  (MP3 70kb)

"Kelsterne Gardens" (MP3 60kb)

"Parting Lovers" (MP3 60kb)

Sound files played on the Jack baritone from the Tutor:

"Jack's Health"  (MP3 325kb)

"My shining hour" (MP3 550kb)

For Whom
The concertina is a wonderful versatile instrument, that is relatively easy to learn and suitable for all kinds of music, ranging from folk tunes, to pop music, jazz and classical music. Because of its small size it is very portable, and it blends perfectly with other instruments. 

The relatively high price of vintage concertinas and ‘mid priced’ new models, has kept many prospective players from trying the concertina.
Both Jackie and Jack  have been developed to cater to this group of potential players. They are the perfect instrument for anyone interested in trying out the concertina without having to invest a large amount of money to purchase that first instrument.

The Jackie and Jack have been developed especially for beginning players on the English concertina. Although the instruments are perfectly capable of  meeting the requirements of intermediate players, we understand that many players might want to upgrade to a vintage or  new instrument later on.
With this in mind, we made all the important features, such as key board lay out, spacing of the keys, key diameter, key travel (the height of the keys), number of bellows folds, type of thumb straps, etc. identical to traditional English concertinas, to assure a smooth transition to a higher class concertina later on.     

Both  Jackie and Jack english concertinas have a traditional riveted action, normally only found in expensive hand made instruments. The action is designed by us and makes the instrument 'feel' much like a high priced vintage instrument.

Specifications: 

• Traditional keyboard layout (the Jack sounds one octave
  lower than notated), spacing, key diameter and key travel
  (key height).
• 6 fold bellows
• traditional thumb straps.
• Accordion type steel reeds.
• Soft bag.

Tutor
The instrument comes with an easy to understand 47 page tutor, especially written for this instrument. 
It will teach the basics of playing concertina, music notation, rhythm, music theory, etc.. 
The tutor is suitable for both self study and for use in formal lessons (e.g. music schools, private instruction, etc.).

Trade in Program 
We understand that some owners would want to ‘move up’ in the concertina world after having played the instrument for a while.
To facilitate upgrading, we offer a full purchase price refund when the Jackie is traded in for any higher priced vintage or new concertina.