Halifax

If you liked the feeling and sound of the Morse, go for it. Have the Button Box fix her up just like new. I second that they know what they're doing and It's worth it. Those are good instruments; built to last.

I think you've hit the nail on the head, Susan. I think it's an endurance problem. I need to crosstrain for the concertina, lol.

Ah! This is very interesting. Thank you!

Thanks! I'll check it out.

It's a good instrument, but you may be onto something, as it's often a very loud session.

It might limit my repetoire too much if I limit my playing to "pull" days and "push" days, lol!

That's very good advice. Thank you.

They might be a little stiff as the machine isn't so very old. I've been warned not to treat the leather at all, and wouldn't want to damage the beautiful papers, so I guess the cure is just more playing.

Fair questions. I play seated on a wooden pub chair with the concertina sitting on my left leg. I try to have reasonable posture, but yeah, sometimes I hunch a bit so I can hear over the other session instruments. It might be an endurance problem. I do try to keep my posture as neutral as possible.

I'm a reasonably strong and capable woman. Recently, I've started to turn a corner in my playing and can lead a set in our local session. And I don't know if it's because I used to play tunes twice over and now do it thrice or even four times (if the situation calls for it), but my upper arms (deltoids/triceps) feel like overcooked spaghetti noodles at the end of an exuberant set. Muscle fatigue via polkas, I guess. Any suggestions on excercises to strenghthen the pushing and pulling muscles?

In support of the Ozone treatment, many house inspectors have ozone fans designed to de-stink houses. We recently hired one to get rid of the mouldy smell in our car after we had a drain repaired. The inspector guy said he usually uses the machine to de-stink houses before a sale (cigaretts) or after a fire (smoke).

That's a great photo, Peter Laban!

Congratulations! Also, I'm impressed with your patience.