JimmyM

I'm heavily tattooed and at 60 the tattoos look considerably better than i do (I have a Hohner 4 stop melodeon tattoo but not a concertina.... yet ? )

I love this. one of my fave Nina Simone tracks. The concertina playing is great. You must do more

yup the hole on yours looks pretty much bang in the middle. I've emailed the button box just in case but I've bought a little bit of 6mm diameter delrin rod. I think i could make a button and that theres room to expand the existing guide hole. Got to be worth a go. thanks for your input ?

here are my buttons. Are they like what you got from The Button Box? I'll pop off an email to them

ok its been a few days now and no takers. I thought it might be so. Am I right in thinking the makers on this forum hand make each button? I'm going for 'plan B' which is a short length of 6mm delrin rod. initially i'll replace just the f#/D and see how that works out

i have a Borinwood 30 button c/g amongst my small collection. I have pretty much stopped playing it in favour of a 30button g/d (which i play either along the row or as if it was a c/g ? )and an old 20button c/g lachenal, I realised that one of the reasons i have stopped playing it is because the buttons are only 5mm in diameter. Probably my lack of technique but when my left hand little finger reaches for the f# it often misses. I've just measured and my lachenal buttons are 6mm and on my g/d they are 6.5mm. I appreciate that this is not an instrument of any great quality but i want to replace the buttons with some around 6mm. I've had the beast apart and i think there is room to widen all the guide holes. It has metal end plates and the holes in these already seem wide enough. So can anybody point me in the direction of a supply of ready made 6mm concertina buttons please?

I'm slowly coming round to acceptance of music downloads Like most here (?) i was brought up on vinyl and eventually moved over to cd's. But when i look at how i actually listen to recorded music I realise its digitally. Even back in the days of cd's i would buy a cd then immediately copy it on to my computer. The physical cd would probably never get played again. In fact thats exactly what i still do. Sure I enjoy the little packet from Custy's or elswhere dropping through the door, often with a little note in but I'll take the cd out put it onto my computer and then the cd will go on the shelf. I like to look at the sleeve notes -but not very often and theres no real reason the sleeve notes cant be made available with a download and they often are. For example i recently bought 'Two Gentlemen from Clare' from Custy's. Great service, as always. The cd arrives, i copy it on to my computer and then onto my 'fone. The actual cd now sits with all the others on the shelf. The digital copy is the one that gets played (very often, a wonderful album!) via my fone through my van stereo. probably too set in my ways now but i do accept that we cant reasonably expect people to be sat there with a 1000+ cd's when only a few 100 of us might actually buy a copy. Strangely i'd still want to own a physical copy BUT its having access to the music thats more important to me and if a download is all thats available, ill take that

You have a 20 button, youve been playing a while and youre looking to 'step up' so things to consider... there are PLENTY of Irish tunes available to a 20 button instrument. I play mainly ITM on a 30 button anglo and often wonder why i have all these buttons :-) theres loads of them I never use Have you considered say a 26 button lachenal? theyre often available for much less than a 30 button. Barleycorn Concertinas may be able to sort you out with one. lastly if i was going to buy a 'budget' 30 button I think i would go for the Rochelle. I've played a friends and it was ok. PLUS they have a good reputation and are generally able to be resold. The concertina in your foto may be ok but id definately want to get my hands on one before i parted with any cash.

its a low end instrument but many of us started out on similar and from there get the bug and get much better instruments.

hola i think ive just started following you on instagram :-) I too do a lot of playing in a vehicle :-) Im probably going to get hung for this but..... I get the impression that in the UK at least many concertina players are, perhaps, of a generation that is not so familiar with the various social medias available.

ahhh its the perennial topic I started on a Booringwood (?) 30 button c/g anglo. It cost me around £200 maybe a little more I think, new from Ebay. I'd never held a concertina let alone played one. I'd done a little reading around the subject on the interweb but obviously didnt know what i was doing. I played that box everyday for around a year or so, went to wccp events, slow music sessions and hung out with some very patient musicians Of course, eventually i bought a much better box costing nearly 10x as much and i very rarely play my old box -though i still own it. However my point is those Chinese boxes are many peoples introduction to concertina because they come in at a price that makes the box affordable. No, the production quality is not always very good but I see little alternative for anyone that would like to 'give it a go' but doesnt have a £1k+ to invest in an instrument that they may not take to. I may rarely play it and i have become very aware of its many faults but i have an affection for that little box and how it introduced me to the anglo

Ive yet to see him in the flesh but i think ive bought most everything he's played on :-) I seem to remember him getting discussed on this forum last year when he was up for Radio 2's young folk musician of the year

i dont have enough knoledge to know but im guessing that in this day and age such a thing would be relatively simple. Slight digression but I always wonder who buys stolen concertinas. The market must be pretty small (hopefully)

to me standard music notation IS a form of tab. When i started playing i did use some of the other kinds of tab in various tutor books but there are SO many! so i decided to stick with 'conventional' written music. However i only really use written music when learning a tune and i. personally, dont consider a tune to be learnt untill i can play it from memory. I do learn tunes by ear too but i find this harder to do. I'm mainly playing ITM so mostly concerned with the melody. Sounds silly but I was at a workshop given by Ollie King ( a very good melodeon player) recently and the best bit of advice he gave was to learn where all the notes are on your instrument. Its quite suprising how many people that have been playing for years but only know part of their keyboard. So no its not essential but yes its very handy and transferable to other instruments. imo i wouldnt waste too much time on any of the various forms of tab

I cant reccomend the Wolverton highly enough. Incredible value for the money and a very reliable and friendly guy to deal with. I recently took delivery of a g/d from him (as i already have a nice c/g) and i have to say I love it. Beautifully made and it sounds fantastic

The Rochelle is a largish anglo but its certainly not as big as the average melodeon. I'm not familiar with the other concertina you mention but ive played Rochelles and for the money I think they are very good. Im sure youve worked out already that concertinas are quite expensive :-) a 30 button c/g anglo will fulfill most of your requirements and the rochelle will keep you going for a year or so when you will probably want to sell it and upgrade. You should be able to get a good chunk of your initial outlay back Personally I started out with a c/g anglo and Chris Sherburns Absolute beginners tutor and found it easy to follow. There are many many different ways of representing the notes and buttons so my reccomendation is to learn where the notes are on your box including duplications. Then it doesnt matter which note numbering system someone uses. Absolute beginners does not really deal with the 'harmonic' style of playing so if this is important to you you may want to try one of the other Tutor books mentioned. I mainly play ITM so it wasnt a problem for me. I also quite like Mick Bramich's tutor for ITM though perhaps not for absolute beginners I also recently got a g/d. ( i still have and play the c/g)Very good for 'along the rows' tunes and all your c/g cross row tunes still sound good theyre just in the wrong keys :-) not a problem if your playing by yourself

just noticed this topic. Curious as to which you eventually went for? Ive just got a Wolverton G/D. (I dont think he was in business when you originally posted. ) I have to say that for the money it is the finest concertina Ive heard/played. I intend to replace my c/g in a year or so and based on my experience of dealing with Jake at Wolverton will almost certainly go to him for it

thanks Mike I play anglo ill have a go at some of what you suggest jn my practice. gracias

ive read this topic with great interest. I'm not a great one for practising much else than tunes but i'm persuaded that my playing would benefit from an exploration of arpeggios and scales... SO could someone point me in the dircetion of ways i might explore these ideas further please

I use paypal quite a lot both in the ordinary ;take the money directly from my bank' but also i have a paypal credit account where they offer 0% on purchases over £200 (i think) for 4 months. This is often very useful on ebay but you dont seem to be able to use it when buying from 'private' individuals

Ive sold a couple of melodeons to members of the 'internet' melodeon community. Ive assumed that while i did not personally know them, they seemed like reputable people. melodeons tend to be cheaper than concertinas so even if i had been completely ripped off it would have been for hundreds of £ rather than the potential thousands that concertinas go for. In each case i had contact with the buyers initially online and then subsequently via the 'phone. I then got them to transfer me half the money. I then sent the boxes, insured and signed for, gave them a week or so to verify that the boxes were as described then they sent the rest of the money. If they were not happy I would expect the box to have been returned. signed for and insured and upon receipt i would have returned their money. i guess there was an amount of 'unknown' for each of us in the transactions but working on the basis that most people are essentially good, a rip off scam in such a specialised community as ours, while certainly possible, would probably require such effort and knowledge that its unlikely to be worth the time and effort. Whats more likely is a genuine difference of opinion. i.e I describe my box as 'as new' but the purchaser disagrees or some such. Thats why i have done the 'pay me half now and the other half when you're satisfied that the box is as i described.

I dont have it here to compare as Ive just given it to Nigel Sture for some repair work but it looks exactly like my Lachenal

Awww I was hoping this was real but i think its a charming spoof. Im curious as to by whom though. Must be someone with local knoledge as all the place names are accurate. Well done who ever you are

ooh ill have to look at this later. i live just outside liskeard and worked at trago mills in Twowatersfoot. I havnt seen any musical hobo's :-)

Yup always enjoy the magazine. Lots of interesting concertina related stuff in it. The cd's pretty good too. Not my kind of music but certainly makes you think about the potential of the instrument. keep up the good work! (and could we have a cd of Irish tunes played on the Anglo next please? :-) )