fiddler2007

guess not ... was curious 'bout the piccolo thing.

Yep, agree with Jake. Music is more important. I know a guy who gets great music out of any instrument. Must be his soul doing that. ------ My personal experience sofar: My heritage Edgley sounds quite better and less brittle or harsh, than my G/D Edgley with hybrid reeds. I had a Harry Crabb English for over 40 years, handmade reeds, great sound too. Drawback seems a bit that my heritage Edgley seems heavier, and therefor feels a bit lazy in response compared to a Hybrid. Maybe not so with other brands? I prefer traditional reeds for sound however, but for fast playing and a more penetrating gig-rig in a battle with banjos i would choose a Hybrid. Especially the higher ranged reeds seem quite louder. To get that loudness with traditional reeds it seems it needs more pressure. IMO that is ! PS bought a hybrid Seth Hamon wheatstone system but i am already used to jeffries layout. It's a real light weight & fast player, very responsive, but i am into selling it instead of a planned conversion for now. (See another post). Needs wood chopping to get that right and i rather not mess with a perfectly made instrument. So i am out shopping for a jeffries system hybrid for gigging now. Hamon's instruments are definitely a step up from the far cheaper McNeela instruments. Guess Jake makes good stuff too, as some others do. PS i'd certainly prefer a 7 fold bellows, especially when you're into chording, for a little extra air reserve.

Seth Hamon Professional with Voci a Mano reeds. C/G 30 button Wheatstone layout. 7-fold bellows! Very light and fast player, very well made; alas selling since i recently bought a traditionally built and quite expensive one. Instrument is in as new state. Bellows smell that way LoL. Due 450 Euro EU import duties that have been paid (mainly VAT charges) it makes sense for a buyer within the EU. No import duties then. Price 1900 Euros. BTW I stopped with paypal, it's a scam these days. Tip: get a free money wiring subscription with WISE.com or Intarem, and pay by Mastercard or Visa: You're off far cheaper for eventual exchange-rates and your money transfer is secure and almost immediate. Economy EU insured parcel shipping is around 70 euro's, Fedex is faster but more expensive. Case included. PM me if you live outside the EU, as i can probably get VAT back when exported again within a few months, and thus sell depending location about 19% cheaper. For US buyers i will include a COO form to avoid paying import duties. At costs of approx 100 euro's extra i can arrange a conversion to jeffries system layout, using 4 new Voci a Mano reeds. This will take about 10 days before shipping out.

Usually concertina reed plates are held in place with screws, maybe wax, almost never glued. A stuck reed might have been blocked by some debris, a cats hair, or a splinter of wax etc. It also could be broken ..... See if it moves freely by touching it gently with a small screw driver. Mind you these are small reeds so be careful. Sometimes they get stuck at the sides when not aligned properly. Don't touch it with you fingers, the moist from sweat can cause eventually. Visit a local repair shop or accordion maker?

Found a G/D Edgley, but wheatsone ... Jake Middleton helped me to get the proper jeffries reeds .. Conversion is on it's way by melodeon maker Karel van Der Leeuw in Utrecht. PS i figured out a far better and cheaper payment system than PayPal. Latter is very expensive, and especially sellers face long waiting times before they pay out. Interested? PM me as i would promote 3rd party companies otherwise.

Seen some designs, and IMO a few from obscure makers were not that well made. Put your template request on the Bravenet Cajun accordion forum, there are some experienced makers posting there, John Doucet, Jude Moreau etc. https://pub21.bravenet.com/forum/static/show.php?usernum=1722942123&frmid=16&msgid=0

Sideliner: i once tuned an old melodeon which seemed way out of tune on some reeds. Thoroughly cleaning them and a lot weren't that much off anymore. Accumulated dust, grease, wax debris ...?

Hi, i PM'd you ...

Must have had a flat tire or battery at least by now .. value depends quite a bit on condition.

Nope, what i mean is don't put (heavy) pressure on the bellows before you open a key. always be careful with pressure; you should control the volume of a note by gentle pressure variations. Something to practice with slow simple melodies. Tunes like Hector the Hero. Once you get the hang it will come naturally.

Interesting ... i had a Roland FR18 for a brief period, bought it out of curiosity. Nice was that you could program it in all sorts of custom tunings. But as a rock guitar playing friend once said about synthesizers; some are really nice, but still a doorbell. You press a button and you get a (beatiful?) sound. That's also the case with this apparatus. The only synth i ever had capable of emulating something acoustic was a Yamaha VM synth, controlled by an Akai Wind controller. The VM was monophonic so you'll never get a double note out of it. Produced great sax and harmonica type sounds. This Roland FR18 sounded like it's looks; plastic.

Before i started playing Anglo, buying one from Mike Rowbotham when my crabb englsh got stolen, i found out that C/G was the best bet, also the advice given by Mike. That is for Irish trad music. I was experienced on the English system, but after the initial struggles of learning the Anglo, starting with G tunes, and D later, i found it better suited for playing Irish but also American trad fiddle tunes. A modal works, but some A major stuff is less logical. C,D of course are OK, E and F are less easy. Although i am an experienced Cajun melodeon player (f.i. D-onerow) the way to play tunes in D on a C/G is a different ball game. Must be easier in D for a G/D concertina, as G is on a C/G. But you can play tunes in A like i play D tunes; a great plus. You must try to automate the weird fingering patterns in D (for you in A on your G/D), and learn to use all the rows for G also (D for you). With a G/D as your stagi is you'll find it's more like playing in a melodeon style. Most Irish players prefer a C/G systems. I am looking for a G/D a bit especially for song accompany-ing; was also told the larger reeds respond a little slower. That is also where better class reeds excel at; less air-spillage. For a real beginner on bellows driven instruments you must first get the feel that you press a button BEFORE push or pull the bellows. Sudden added pressure on a reed can cause it to go out of tune more quickly, or even break. PS: The good part is that you probably have tunes in your head already. I started with f.i Turkey in the Straw in G, and Soldiers joy in D (on a C/G that is). As i am an improvisational (fiddle) player i found the hardest was to automate my fingering patterns; You can play several notes in push or pull direction. It's a blessing if you feel comfortable there when you run out of air. So time to put out the cat and dog (wife too?), you'll drive them crazy by all means, and have fun.

report it to moderator?

Hi. I am looking for a mint Edgley, Herrington etc. G/D Anglo, 30 buttons, Jeffries system. Preferred location EU, Germany, Belgium, Holland or Danmark. Preferred payment COD, or Paypal, i will pay the costs.

Hello Gary, you're right about right ..... my right brain side must be still fighting to decide when to breath in or out too ...? Now i am quite an experienced player as in by ear, improvisation and the lot. Especially on fiddle, also melodeon a bit. Are there any anglo 'books' with practice tips how to learn to connect your brain to the awkward confusing note layout. F.i.: got a tip from Mike Rowbotham about getting used to Irish style by practicing the key of G alternating between the buttons b/c and d/e on the left side and c/b and e/d on the right hand to get the feel for decorating notes. For starters there must be some generalities how to get used and automate one's brain in playing the same notes, in or out, for easier & less bellow/air button moving efforts. Right now i am trying to get used to the key of D (mine's a C/G as advised by many players). I looked at Adrian's videos; nice music, probably a real nice bloke too, but the jerky playing is not really my intention. I sort of gave up on EC playing, as had one for 40 years, because of the close button positions for chording, and melody playing in C or G. I liked playing fiddle tunes and some times ragtimes in D an A on an EC however.

Reeds can be scraping the reedplate, usually accompanied by some metallic edge to the sound. Often disappears after some use as most reeds are clamped by a rivet and reset their position gradually over time. With large reeds i usually take them out, see if the reed moves freely enough, and if loose i center it, and hit the rivet hard with a hammer on an anvil. Valve problems can sometimes be a flappery sound, or delayed start of it. Some times the glue used for the valve an turn loose or dried out if its hide glue, as often used with older leather valves. New 'cheap' instruments usually are put together by low payed factory workers, (China?), and often never checked properly.

Not completely true as your account can be set negative by paypal ... paypal claims the rights to do so in case of a dispute and/or claim from the other party. Only after proper arbitraging you will get your money after all. F.i. some fraudeur buys an expensive camera, removes an expensive internal part, and starts a claim that it is not as promised and sent as defect. The fraudulent 'buyer' claims his money back, which paypal does immediately, and the 'buyer' sends you the camera back registered. It happened to me with an expensive electronic device, even after 'buyer' had signed and accepted the UPS shipment as being OK. This 'buyer' claimed afterwards that the unit was damaged, which it wasn't when sent; i even had taken photographs before shipping. The scam was kind of clever, as THROUGH Paypal i was offered a 20% off for 'repairs'. More or less advised as such by paypal i finally accepted this to avoid the risk of getting a defective and unsalable unit back. Also paypal's fees are quite high, in most cases 3.5%. For an expensive item IMO just too much.

I found it, i used a right click, the result wouldn't unzip, but using the download link on the dropbox page did the job .... sorry for all the fuss, Don. Thanks PS as a beginner someone asked me what system is fitted to my Edgley C/G. Now i bought this recommended Gary Coover book, but my left accidental row seems rather different; on mine the top 2 buttons are C#/D# and the 2nd one one D#/C# (the book has A/G i think) ..... is that the Jeffries system then on mine? Finding the notes for a simple D scale, let a lone A, drive me nuts being used to a onerow melodeon and english concertina.

Hi Don, still won't open, 7zp and WINRAR ... downloads OK

ah, thanks, well 36$ is not what i want to spend .... PS your Alan Day tutor zip file seems to be corrupted ....

Pff, this darn scale of D. Not very much logic there, èh?

http://bertramlevy.com/sales

Thanks, ordered Coover, momentarily fairly priced on Amazon.de (Germany). Bertram certainly adds some bandoneon flavor to his anglo playing, and the American tunes concertina book seems to be on sale now:

Hi, as i am generally new to an anglo, but quite experienced on melodeon, EC treble (and fiddle Lol) i was looking at all those published tutorials. Now what might be a good one for a 30 key C/G with practical tips on how to come to grips with the system. Most seem to be covering all sorts of items i don't really need; as other keys and tunings, most with 50% of the book (DVD?) filled with pure beginners exercises etc. Tips welcome .. thanks.

PS if you want to protect instruments at a drop, padding material IMO should not be too loose, the so called whiplash effect might cause damage too. Any opinions on styropor padding as with beer coolers?