Christian Husmann

That was a joy to listen to

Sent you a message

Gone as well

I agree with Nils, if you can wait a bit you can catch up with Jürgen in May. if it’s urgent you could contact a repairman in Ireland. I wouldn’t send an instrument to the UK at the moment. Some minor repairs can be done by yourself you can pm me and I’ll try to offer some advice

Hello Joey, I wonder if you’ve bought it about ten years later as it seems to have been produced 1970 🤔

Never had any difficulties. Taking the plane from London today I realised how important it is to give some information to the security. He actually thanked me giving him some information in advance saying it saves them time and worries

Thanks for the advice, Rod!

Hello Geoff, apart from cosmetic reasons I prefer the non-sticky version as well. My own sweat shouldn’t be the reason as it’s never occurred on my other Instruments. I hope it’s going to stay relatively clean now, if you zoom into the photos now the dark spots that you seen on each button are apparently a reflection of me holding the phone. I’ll attach a photo so you can see how they looked before the treatment. Hope to find sth now to give the ends back a bit of a shine.

Yes, it’s really nice and it’s got such a mellow tone…

It was actually car-polish. it´s been recommended to me to clean silver and other metals and worked very well on the buttons

No, it’s just for the look of it, the buttons were almost completely dark

What else is there to do on a Saturday morning… the difference doesn’t come through on the photos, inner two rows are clean now, the other side done completely

Just curious: in the ledgers you’ll find both Tortoiseshell and Shell, sometimes on the same page. just two words for the same material or is there actually a difference? 🤔 Christian

I thought I’d give it a try and post something here… the second tune is one of Simon Thoumire´s if I remember correctly

Hello, visiting Jürgen Suttner‘s workshop is ever so fascinating! Walking through it you see instruments at different stages of the making, starting with a pile of wood and metal down to almost finished instruments. greetings from Münster as well Christian

Hello, I’ve already contacted your dad and packed one but still hesitating as I haven’t understood the new regulations yet... Christian

I’ve recently acquired an instrument and a tobacco/ cigarette smell is definitely noticeable. It’s getting a lot better by leaving it outside of it’s case and changing the case. I had a spare one as it’s previous one had the same smell. but it’ll take time

Oh, I’m sure you’re going to enjoy playing your new instrument, have fun!

Hello Gail, yes, it sometimes happens with the very high or very low notes. As you said, you’ve got to be creative. Some play better on the pull or push, if the notation allows it you could try to push that button earlier down as you’d normally do. best wishes

Hello Maarten, interesting question. And a question that should be asked more often as yes, the concertina can easily be learned and therefore doesn’t need a lot of tuition like other instruments. But I’ve got the feeling that the most important part of the instrument doesn’t get enough attention. Depending on the music it’s worth to try out different ways of bellows directions: If you’re playing a long phrase at the beginning it’s sometimes useful to open the bellows and start pushing to eventually have more air for the than uninterrupted phrase. Putting on emphases has been mentioned before and yes, you’ve got more control with more closed bellows. And more than that articulation is another important part: Having a bit of pressure before pushing a button down gives a nice emphasis whereas when you push the button and than start moving the bellows you get a nice and soft beginning. Same thing for ending a note. Leave the button pushed down and the sound disappears softly, a quick release creates the opposite. Triplets can be played by using different fingers sometimes it is useful to keep the button pushed down and to do a quick change in bellows direction. Maybe it’s worth to take one or two lessons given by an accordion teacher, they might be useful … best wishes

Thank you, it’s a fine Instrument. Beautiful to look at and a joy to play

That was quick, thanks!

Hello! does anyone have an idea what gauge (?) in the Wheatstone ledgers is standing for? thanks Christian

A decent Lachenal could do the job - I’ve got a wooden ended New Model which has a fast action, good reeds and a mellow and sweet tone. I’ve got a Model 22 as well and yes, it can be loud but it’s got a good dynamic range. Maybe it’s worth trying to play at the bottom end of loudness… installing internal baffles could help as well

I’ve used UPS which was fast and reasonably priced.