I am in the market for a nice used duet. I have sent emails to all the instrument shops that list used concertinas but have only heard back from Chris at Barleycorn. Chris has a Maccann listed on Ebay that would be perfect for me, but at nearly $1,000 (550 GBP) and four days to go on the auction, I'm afraid it is going to be out of my reach.

Does anyone know of any other used duets for sale in some obscure little shop that I've never heard of? I would like one that has already been restored and tuned and is ready to play. I'm trying to keep it under $1000 if at all possible - but I'm starting to wonder if that is unrealistic.

This will be my first concertina, so I'm not picky about which system it is. Nor am I terribly concerned about number of keys - my first choice would be 46-k. But I am picky about buying it from someone reputable.

Thanks in advance for any help in finding my first love in a concertina!

Susan,
My observation is that, on the open market, standard 46-key Maccann Duets in nice condition and at concert pitch have been regularly fetching in the area of UKP 700-800; off-the-shelf retailers such as Hobgoblin ask more. I spot the Barleycorn auction has already reached UKP 670 at time of writing. You can pay rather less for one in rather less good condition (as I did), especially if it has been sitting on a shelf for rather too long. But if you have to pay someone to restore it (as I did, after I had spent many hours doing as much as I could for it myself), then you will probably end up not far short of the same amount.

Comparing it with the alternatives (eg 39-key Maccann, 35- or 42-key Crane, 46-key Stagi Hayden, and others), some of which will be obtainable for within $1000, I wrote this:
So you think you want to buy a duet concertina

I'd suggest you do what I did, and buy a new or used Stagi Hayden Duet. $800 new.
After 18 months of farily hard playing on mine, I'd say that the negative rumors about its quality are exaggerated. Other than one reed that intermittenlty goes into a "squawk" mode, I've had very ltitle trouble with it, and have been making some pretty decent music. I learned it totally from scratch in a few weeks, having never touched a squeezebox before.

I think the advantages of the Hayden key format outweigh the possible disadvantages of the Stagi. I figure my Stagi will last more than long enough for me to save up and have Tedrow or Morse version built, if I'm still squeezin' by then, and I expect I will be.

I'd advise you to buy from The Button Box, since they open up the Stagi and fix any out of tune or balky reeds before shipping it to you. Best wishes, Mike K.

Here is a nice crane duet on ebay:
http://cgi.ebay.com/Lachenal-Crane-Triumph...1QQcmdZViewItem
Every coin has a flip side and so has any key layout system. Maccann duet has some weird fingerings if you want to play (for example) a complete minor scale in C, especially the Es is in a strange position. Often the low D is missing on a 6.5 inch mccann, and I would like to have that for the music I play. Crane duets are based on a C major scale but more other scales can be played easy (compared to the maccann). What you may want could be related to the kind of music you wanna play.

Nice looking 46 key mccann just appeared on ebay for £500 buy it now which looks like a good price. link here.

'Razzacars'; hmmm.... the chap I share an office with and me are in the habit of watching for the latest Razzacars activity for pure amusement's sake. I see his name regularly as a low early bidder ("I'll put £50 on it in case I can get it cheap" it looks like). I know he has sent people 'can I buy it now' messages, again hoping to get concertinas before the auction ends. But his feedback in recent dealings is good, so I'd have guessed he's a bit wide awake but probably basically straight.

But this particular instrument looks identical to one he sold a few weeks ago for a maiden bid of £700 (you can still see it on his feedback, bought by 1113susan. His 'buy it now' was £1200 then if I remember rightly).

But if he was setting up fake bidders to put the price up the first time round then why the 'buy-it-now' price of £500 this time? Odd.