Woody McKenzie

Yes, the Herrington has been sold.

Thanks for the compliment! This concertina has enough presence to be a decent rhythm instrument and I have used it that way in jams. Because I come from an oldtime music background and play more fiddle than anything else, I wanted a G/D. Concertina is a love/hate relationship for me. I'm too slow of a learner and might not be able to become proficient in Irish on my C/G. I also felt "key limited" and had the Buttonbox make me a concertina without reeds, which I sent to England for a midi conversion that let me play in different keys and voices and also let me practice silently, which my wife loved. You can hear an initial effort of me playing it here: Had I learned to adjust parameters for different instrument voices, this option could be quite viable. As you can tell, the default settings in the software I was using didn't work well for some plucked or struck instruments. This instrument became "buggy" and notes would stick and I'd have to turn it off and reset. Finally, it stopped working at all. The fellow who converted it (Accordion Magic) in England told me that I needed the magnets re-aligned and I should do that myself or else pay a whopping repair fee due to shipping/tarriffs. At that point, I had the Buttonbox install real reeds and now have two G/D concertinas. The Morse still has that midi socket sticking out on it so it looks like a "Borg" concertina (you know, Star Trek). We prefer the Morse over the Herrington mainly because the Herrington is louder and competes too much with our voices when singing. I think the Morse would be harder to sell since it's sort of a Frankenstein. So, that's why I'm selling the Herrington.

I''d like to sell my Herrington. I have too many instruments! I have a few youtube links showing it being played below. It can get pretty loud! This one may be a one of a kind because it has a G draw/C push drone button for the left thumb. Harold wasn't keen on doing this and I had to wrangle with him over the phone for quite awhile before he agreed. The Button Box recently gave it a checkup and tweaked the tuning. I have the receipt from them to show. It comes with the original case. $1400 firm plus shipping. I live near Roanoke, VA, in case you would like to visit and try it out in person. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3UkLHuR18QY https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZtzK8Q3VyJ8 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5N9x4BvQOQQ Woody http://www.mckenziemusic.com/

I'm really enjoying Frank Edgley's Flee Like a Bird cd and just thought that I would recommend it as very pleasant listening with varied and tasteful arrangements. I've been playing concertina for a couple of years now and have been chasing dance music so much that I haven't really listened enough to different kinds of tunes. Frank's selection includes hornpipes, polkas, marches, waltzes, and airs, as well as jigs and reels. I especially like how he has chosen to accompany these pieces. My dance playing causes me to prefer backing rhythm and the guitars and piano do a splendid job of filling in the rhythm without getting in the way-- very tasteful. A few of the cuts have fiddle and there is also some mandolin. These are all tight and make for a single blended voice. In addition to the playing, I think the sound of his concertinas are also a factor in making this a pleasant album to listen to. Strong and sweet, but not strident. For example, I had heard a few other renditions of the tune Nancy played before and it's a tune I have worked on myself, but Frank's playing really gives it a wonderful feel and tone. Some of the hornpipes he plays are also quite nice in that they have interesting melodies with some nice subtle accidentals. The last tune on the album is a beautiful air that he wrote. This also shows his sense for melody. Perhaps my least favorite piece on the whole album is a planxty (Loftus Jones by O'Carolan) and march medley which is a very powerful effort, but my poor simple mind doesn't wrap around the more complex melody. All in all, highly recommended! The best compliment that could be had for this album came from my wife, when she asked me if she could have it for her iTunes. If you knew my wife, you would know that was a huge compliment! :-) (BTW, this is my first post to these forums. I think I may have fallen a little deeper down the hole...) Woody