Morse To Edgley - A Move Up?

[Alan Day]

There comes a time in your playing career that a high quality instrument is the only way forward.

The box needs to be responsive and the one I had was slower than I could play it.Like many on this site I had to bite the bullet and go for an expensive box.A Wheatstone Linota,Jeffries or Dipper.These cost a lot of money about £5000 plus ,but they have always been a good investment and very few have lost money on the purchase. I would be very surprised if after taking the plunge you will regret it and long term you may have an investment (not that you would ever wish to sell it.

I would definitely not recommend a high quality instrument for a beginner however.

Al

[Rod]

I guess that ' biting the bullet ' and gambling are one and the same thing in this context and unavoidable.

[CZ in AZ]

Hi everyone,

I was off doing what we all love doing, playing music for a solid week , but that meant I could not reply to any messages on the site.

 

Thank you once again for these comments - they really helped me think about the problem. After reading them, I have concluded that my Morse is leaking pretty badly and has key noise and buttons that don't sound immediately - in short, I really do need to get it worked on. Probably, I am developing some poor technique because I have to push and pull fairly hard to get the sound to go in rhythm on the fast tunes and run out of air cause of the leaks, so, in short, I need to do something about it before I get my Carrol in 2 years. I have Morse C/G ceili number 122 btw, so it is a fairly old instrument. Not sure what number they are up to.

 

Just to share my conclusion... I plan to do it all Order the Edgley and then get the Morse fixed, so I don't have to be without an instrument. Then decide which one I want to keep and sell the other, so that I have a backup. Sounds like the two makes are fairly equivalent in level, but may vary by the particular instrument. Once I get the Carroll, I will decide if I keep the hybrid as a back up.

 

So thanks again for this discussion - much appreciated.

Claire

[wayman]

Morse concertinas are into the 1170s now. #122 is about 11 years old. Over the last decade, there have been some design improvements to the Ceili, and also obviously significant experience has been gained. Also, if you aren't the original owner of #122, who knows what use (or repairs not by the Button Box) it may have seen which may have altered its performance.

 

I'm the second owner of #94; I was close friends with its original owner, and I know it to be one of the more heavily-played Morse concertinas and often in extremely adverse weather or other circumstances. Roger played it in the rain, he played it in the snow, he played it in crowded pubs, he played it wherever the crazy morris and longsword dancers decided they were going to dance regardless of might it would do to his instrument! (We do not recommend you go to these extremes with your Morse, or any other instrument, though many morris musicians can attest to their Morse's hardiness.)

 

At one point, Roger had us replace the bellows, and the action got a light servicing too (from watching him play, I saw that Roger really punched some of the buttons with his fingers when he played); I never played it while it had the original bellows, but now it's tight as ever and is an extremely smooth playing instrument. A Button Box servicing will probably make a marked improvement for your Morse. Get on our repair list, and when your turn comes you'll only be without your instrument for about two weeks

[JimLucas]

A Button Box servicing will probably make a marked improvement for your Morse. Get on our repair list, and when your turn comes you'll only be without your instrument for about two weeks

That's one of the (many) things I like about the Button Box*. If you want your instrument serviced, you don't send it to them and then wait until they have time to get around to it. They put your request in their queue, and when they're ready/your turn comes, they ask you to deliver it. Then they receive it; they do it; they return it.

 

* Not to slight other repairers. I doubt that BB is the only one with this policy, I haven't researched it.