Chris Drinkwater

Jon, purely on a pedantic technicality, I believe the term 'reed pan' is the name given to the hexagonal (usually) chambered piece of wood that holds all the reeds in place. I presume you mean 'reed block', which I believe is the name given to the lump of metal that the reed is attached to, in your case with a rivet.

Isn't that stretching things a bit too far?

I have a 1937 metal-ended Wheatstone English treble which has an air button on the right-hand side at the top in front of the thumb strap. Whilst I agree that its main use is to facilitate the silent opeing/closing of the bellows, I can see that it can come in useful to open the bellows while playing certain types of tune where 'attack' is used on a note to give the tune a bit of a lift (i.e. the need for a greater volume of air to increase the loudness of a note). Attack is best done on the close of the bellows, so if the bellows at that point in the tune happen to be almost closed, the air button can then be used to open the bellows sufficiently to provide enough volume of air to play that particular note to full effect, before reversing the bellows direction to carry on with the rest of the tune.

The Two Ronnies always used to do a song and dance number at the end of their TV show. One of their shows featured them doing a spoof Morris dance routine with them singing, surrounded by extras dressed in Morris style clothing. Does anyone remember it?

Thanks for letting me know. Chris

Hi - I am interested in purchasing your concertina case if it is still for sale. I live in England. Would you be prepared to ship it there? Kind regards, Chris