alex_holden

I'm pretty sure you're seeing the bottoms of the action pivot posts.

The photo is very small, but that looks like the pad was punched out badly. It might cause a leak if the missing part is too close to the edge of the hole but it shouldn't cause a clicking noise. There's usually a screw on the bottom of the action board that goes through the box into the handrail, if you take that out the box should separate into two halves.

The reeds are very closely matched to their frame and swapping them around like that is unlikely to produce a satisfactory result.

Yes, this one is No. 4. It has standard scale reeds on the left hand and long scale on the right hand, which I think helps with the balance on a duet instrument.

Thank you!

The pirate theme made a bit more sense in the context of the full event (there were other people dressed as pirates, and a group singing sea shanties), which was lost when I trimmed it down to the brief section where we actually saw John on screen. He was playing nautical tunes in the background throughout the broadcast.

You should still be able to watch it without an I.G. account, just click/tap on it to start it playing. I've also put a copy on YouTube:

Here is a short clip of @Little John's appearance on the TV for BBC Children in Need last week.

Hi @DougS, you might be interested in this previous thread:

I think it's a hybrid (accordion style reeds), not traditional concertina reeds.

I think it depends on how well the Lachenal was refurbished. If it was returned to 'good as new' condition then they should be comparable. If they just replaced a few parts and gave it a quick polish, maybe not.

I think John's figures were based on 1/5th of a Pythagorean comma rather than 1/5th of a syntonic comma. I don't remember exactly what the difference is but Wikipedia says a Pythagorean comma is about 23.46 cents, so (23.46/5)-(21.5/11) = about 2.74.

Not directly but I've seen photos of it. Bruce linked to a clearer video too.

It's possible Geoff Crabb might still have the stamp for branding the straps.

It's a black Suttner with metal ends and gold tooling on the bellows.