Sohcahtoa

Sounding great there Doug, amongst a few of my favourite musicians. Post more clips if you have em!

I had an opportunity to try both recently. Not back to back and not in the same setting, so my comparison is imperfect. But I can at least share my observations. The Noel Hill model is very, very nice to play. I was comparing it to my Dipper County Clare, and it's quite comparable in tone, speed and dynamics. The Dipper won out by a small degree in smoothness of action, and by a large degree in fit and finish. I was somewhat unimpressed with the black finish and the fine details of the woodwork on the Noel Hill model, but those are minor aesthetic issues. The small model is a bit more unique, and initially it took me a little more to adapt, but once I got a feel for it, it plays very nicely. Very quick and responsive. The finish and woodwork on the small model was more well executed, and it's a gorgeous instrument, pretty well flawless as far as I could see. It was an amboyna model with brass buttons. Personally, if I didn't have my Dipper and was looking for a top playing C/G, I would go for the Noel Hill model. Since I do have my Dipper, when my name comes up on Wally's list for an Eb concertina, I'll probably get a small model - mostly to have some variation in tone available to me. I have not encountered a large size Carroll, but I hope to. I wouldn't discount it from your options, it may offer the best of both worlds. It would certainly not be too slow for ITM - look at Liam O'Briens giant Wheatstone.

It's probably worth the 991 Euro price, but I would absolutely not retune it to C/G. Also I would send it to UK or USA for restoration, I wouldn't let a South African repairman anywhere near it. What key is it in currently?

Your 30 button is a more desirable model/configuration outside of the S. African market, whereas SA players may prefer the eight-sided Wheatstone with more buttons and 8-fold bellows. So, if you're looking for an instrument to play Boermusiek, it may be a good trade. If you are looking to sell the Wheatstone for a profit, you may have more success with the 30 button. Just my opinions, others may have different advice.

Wheatstone Li-Not-ta

Myers Feather works well for me. I clip them to my handstraps and arch them away from my hands. A DI box is the only other thing you need.

Would love to hear your thoughts and comparisons to the Dipper. As a Dipper-haver and a Carroll-luster.

There are photos on Barleycorns website, where this instrument sold within the last year https://concertina.co.uk/stock-selection/anglo-concertinas/dipper-34-key-anglo-in-g-d/

sent you a PM

You just named three of my favourite concertina players. I think if that is the style that one aspires to, starting off with a C/G is probably not a bad idea at all. If one wants to dive deep into Noel Hill material right off the hop, then perhaps a 30 button (or at least a 26) might be a more suitable choice.

Can you see a narrow "pin" type base on the bottom of the key? It should be fitting inside a small hole in the action pan. That, along with the felt bushing, its what keeps the buttons mostly aligned.

Both, in my experience. There is an old thread on here somewhere that breaks down the number of tunes that can be played without a C#. Its also really useful to learn tunes along the row in C, and it comes in handy to have that familiarity with the home-rows. A lot of good concertina players can sit down at a flat pitch C session and get by on a C/G instrument.

I personally started out on a borrowed 20 button Scholer, and soon after acquired a Rochelle, one of the first ones that Wim brought over. I found it useful for getting my head around the accidental row, but very frustrating to play tunes on. I think coming from the instrument as a fiddle player, I more quickly wanted to translate how I was hearing them in my head into the instrument. I eventually sold the Rochelle and got a 20 button rosewood Lachenal. It was a particularly good one, so caveat emptor as there is a lot of variability between Lachenals. However the instrument allowed me to sound how I was hearing in my head, and responded properly for learning ornamentation. There is a reasonable number of tunes that can be played in relative "D" pitch (not key of D necessarily, but as you would on a D whistle or pipes) and then there is also utility in learning tunes in C, transposed down from the usual D - a la Kitty Hayes, Mrs Crotty etc. Now over 10 years on, I feel like having a strong foundation in along-the-rows playing is helpful and has shaped my playing style in a unique way. I think it helps coming to the instrument from an existing musical background, as it was more a matter of getting the tunes out, rather than simultaneously learning the music and the instrument. But were I to do it again, I'd go with a 20 button Lachenal, at least until I could move up to a 26 button or 30+.

Finally, I am free from temptation! Hope it went to a good home.

This is good advice Jody. I live in Canada, and between the very cold dry winters and quite humid warm summers, I've noticed end bolts on my Jeffries become very tight in the summer months if I haven't backed them off. In the winter, without a humidifier it can get excessively dry in the house. I once had a banjo head self-destruct because of the dryness. I run two humidifiers and can keep the main floor around 40% humidity. The instruments are much happier these days.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1K5jhQNMOlgpPvorHg-iXYxg0n2EJAEce/edit?fbclid=IwAR2AKyizHT8FNwhIKPmTZg5qhpYjRqGgJG4_ezADsTe6horgIABlxPdnS_I

Hey Ruairi, there's nothing inherently bad about Czech reeds, just more my own curiosity if he is sourcing them from harmonikas.cz as the copy language is a bit evasive. Everything I've heard about the instruments is encouraging though, so its nice that there is another option available that fills a gap in the market. Next time you open it up, snap some pics for those of us that are curious. I wouldn't worry too much about long-term damage, wood is fairly resilient and moves quite a bit (even when we don't want it to).

I'd love to see photos of the reeds on these instruments. Information on them is very vague, but he certainly markets them aggressively. I suspect he's using Czech reeds, but maybe I'm wrong. Personally I would be sending it back to the maker, unless it's something simple like a reed worked out of the dovetail in transit.

Its beautiful in a crude kinda folk-art way. I'd buy it for its decorative value at least.

I'm looking for a Wally Carroll, before I place an order for a new one I thought I'd check here. I have a C/G and would like either a C#/G# or something different. Please let me know what you've got.