Richard Mellish

Some discussion also at http://mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=166414&messages=6 but the Mudcat servers aren't easy to get into just now.

A major factor is that the sound from a concertina goes out sideways, so it sounds quieter to the person playing it than to everyone else, fellow musicians or bystanders. If you play at a volume that seems to you about right relative to the other musicians, it's probably too loud.

Facebook says "You must log in to continue.". Sorry, but I don't wish to do that. Why not make it so anyone can view it without needing a Facebook ID?

In particular a 40-key provides a lot of scope for playing whole phrases without change of bellows direction. Of course there is even more scope on a duet, but that's a different story.

I assume you mean you want to reed frame to fit tightly in the reed pan, which indeed is necessary, but I was recently reminded that it should be tight only at the ends. A tight fit in the middle of the length would squeeze the sides of the frame closer together. If the gaps between the edges of the reed and the frame are already extemely narrow, as they should be, squeezing the frame could foul the reed.

Nope, my G-D was made new for me by Steve Dickinson but, as I said, it's 40-key. Steve had suggested having the extras, on the basis that having 30 and wishing one had more is much worse than having 40 and not using all of them. I do use all 40, though a few of them not very often.

My Wheatstone system 40-key G-D has a high A on pull and a C# on push; respectively the right-most and left-most buttons on the outer row on the RH end. The corresponding notes on a C-G would be D and F#. AFAIK those are standard.

Sorry about that, and glad that someone else has resolved it. Something to do with ordinary and non-breaking spaces and how they are handled by different operating systems.

On the Whatever Happened To Duet International ? thread I offered to dig out some recordings of Nick Robertshaw. I've put a first batch of them into a zip file at mellish.eu/Audio/Nick Robertshaw.zip . This is what I've extracted this afternoon from my Herga Folk Club recordings, some with concertina, but also some unaccompanied songs and one with guitar. More may follow, but no promises.

Speaking of Nick Robertshaw, I can dig out some recordings of him if required.

A few weeks ago Alan enquired about copying from cassette. If that's still an issue, let me know. I have a decent 3-head cassette player connected to a decent USB sound interface.

Could this be a design problem? Wrong sort of material for the valves?

In just tuning, one interval is different between a major key and its relative minor. For example in C major C to D is 9/8 but in A minor C to D is 10/9. Just tuning for C major makes the D minor chord (in A minor) wrong. Does 1/5 comma mean tone avoid that problem?

Don't forget that "tortoiseshell" can be a description of appearance irrespective of material, e.g. "tortoiseshell cat".

And me, now almost another month later.