Richard Mellish

There's a very nice large one (Crabb 67 key) in the buy and sell section right now, but the mention of a PM means that it may already be finding a new home.

All fair enough, but I was commenting on the desirability or otherwise for the specific case of a concertina with some notes coming out of one end and other notes out of the other end.

My understanding of binaural recording is that it is intended as an improvement on conventional stereo recording, giving more realistic spatial imaging. Given the nature of a concertina, with sound coming out of the ends in opposite directions, I am somewhat bemused as to the virtue of any sterophonic imaging at all. With a Duet, or with an Anglo if playing mostly melody on one end and chords or harmonies on the other, a case could be made for allowing the listener to hear the two ends separately. With an English, or with an Anglo played in the Irish style, don't you want all the notes to seem to come from roughly the same place?

I'm unlikely to be tackling that genre, and if I were my existing C-Gs would presumably do just as well. Let's see whether you find anyone else to take it. If not, maybe bring it with you next time you come to Britain?

I'm beginning to be tempted by this one. I absolutely do not need another C-G, but it is substantially different from both my Wheatstone (made in 1920 in the golden period) and my Koot Brits.

I'm slghtly surprised by the enthusiasm for a metronome or click track. Is strict tempo desirable? If four musicians were playing together, wouldn't they be listening to each other rather than to a metronome?

If you send a concertina from Germany to the UK for an overhaul, you risk being charged VAT in one direction or possibly even both directions -- and that would be on the value of the intrument, not on the cost of the overhaul. Brexit has had many negative consequences and we're still waiting to learn of any positive ones. How about looking for a repairer in Ireland?

I suspect that most of the players who don't post here don't come here at all, so won't see that request.

Presumably players of chemnitzers and bandoneons cope OK with both the large size and the square shape.

I was tempted, but I am very accustomed to 40 button boxes and I already have one baritone, a Dipper Bb-F, so I felt someone else should take this one. It's a pity if there are no takers.

How do you use it? Playing with fiddlers in A? If you ever decide to sell it I hope you will offer it on here.

Why is this not in the Buy & Sell section?

I am inclined to wonder whether a "bowing" valve was ever much more than a gimmick. I note Stephen's quotation about what they were supposed to do, but what can you achieve by way of "dynamic levels" by letting some air through the valve at the same time as playing a note that you can't achieve by just squeezing or pulling more gently? I can see that sometimes on an English you might want to play a short phrase in one bellows direction and a long phrase in the other direction, so there would be some virtue in being able to let air in or out quickly, as one does on an Anglo. But even then, what was the supposed benefit of having two separate valves, one for push and one for pull?

Just by way of clarification of that bit from Ken: Jeffries, Wheatstone and Lachenal are the names of makers, who made various systems, not only Anglos. For Anglos with more than 20 buttons, the name Wheastone or Lachenal also implies a particular layout of the extra buttons, while Jeffries implies a different layout. Modern makers have made Anglos with both layouts.

I always suggest trying to find somewhere where one can have a twiddle on as many different concertinas as possible.