Paul Read

This could become a full time job! This one was on about a month ago I think. http://cgi.ebay.com/Jeffries-C-G-Anglo-Con...1QQcmdZViewItem

These things are beautiful! And I thought he was just kidding. Ah well.

Jay, What is probably happening is that the pads have compressed over time and now the 'pin' at the end of the button is coming up too high and can slip to the side and jam against the action board. You need to open the end up and slightly bend the lever arm so that the button sits a little lower. The best way is to push the button down against the action board and carefully bend the pad end of the arm. This si best done with a slotted tool (see Dave Elliott's book). You can use pliers but be careful. It is possible but unlikely that the lever posts are lifting. Check that too.

I'e been trying to contact Stephen Chambers over the last month with no luck. I notice he's not posted here for a while. It's probably because of his new shop and being busy. Does anybody know more than that?

I've dealt with Djangojessie in the past. He got this instrument from someone in Australia. I think it went to Malcolm to get a price on restoring it? He is fine to deal with although it was on ebay before and didn't meet reserve. I'm pretty sure the other one is a scam. Whoops lots of typos!

I think you're right. He has at least 3 aeolas as I recall.

Wheatstone aeola treble. He's got a couple. I tried one once but it didn't help!

The Bertram Levy tutor is a good one to start with although a lot of it is aimed at 30-button instruments. Also trawl around the past forum postings and other info on this site and the faq. Good luck.

I reported it. They did nothing.

That metal ended one is, I believe, a Model 22. These are very high quality and the reeds are aeola standard I think. Chris is also reliable to deal with. It's been restored so it should be a nice one. There is a lot of variation in sound between similar instruments, however, and it is always a good idea to hear an instrument before you buy it

It's easy enough to track down who has the Carrolls from these threads. I would contact them privately and get their opinions now they've had them for a while.

You'll wait a long time for a new Wheatstone. The ones from the early 1900s will sound as good as anything you will get (although it varies instrument to instrument). I think Ian's is from around 1912-1916 era. Geting one off ebay and having it refurbished is a risky exercise if you don't know a lot about concertinas. Restoration can be expensive, usually including a full re-tune. I think may find Chris A will have something to offer around 2,000.

Ian Robb sings with a Wheatstone Aeola tenor treble english concertina and uses the low end a lot. One of my favourite players with a heavily chorded style. He' be a good one to emulate. He has used the double reeded Wheatstone on a couple of tracks.

I'm no expert with these, but I don't see any relationship here. The Jones ends are more interesting and similar to their typical rosewood ends. I'm wondering if the Crane ends were damaged and replaced by an amateur. There are probably better clues inside. It may be worth posting some pictures.

Here's his response to my follow up. Look at the foreign english usage. As far as I'm concerned it's a scam. I will inform ebay: "Hi again, I am not happy with this arrangement .I prefer to sell you directly the concertina . I want you to receive the item from me becouse I don`t want to have any problems afterwards .I will pay the shipping cost with insurance and I know sure that you will receive the item from me . Let me know . Robert" I may do one more follow up to see him wriggle but I think this is conclusive.

If this is the scam I think it is, the english is good because it is stolen from the original listing. When I contacted him, I didn't ask for a price, I asked if my friend could go and look at it. He avoided that question. As Jim says, that should raise a flag in itself.

Here is the reply I got: "Hi there, My asking price is £800 including shipping cost . Thanks and I'm looking forward to hear from you ! Regards, Robert" I've asked for the address and phone number for trying it out. That should decide it.

I'm not convinced about the fire damage. Surely that would show up in charred/melted polish on the wooden ends? I'd be interested to see the inside pics.

It would be my friend in St. Ives - but it's probably academic anyway!

I've just done the same myself. I was wrong about Chris Algar, it was a different instrument. Can anyone place this one?

One clue is the bidder's identity being kept secret (then people can't be warned). Usually they want payment through Western Union and often there is no feedback. I believe I've seen this one sold recently, won by Chris Algar.

Here we go, they never give up" http://cgi.ebay.com/Beautiful-Metal-Ended-...1QQcmdZViewItem

It's interesting that you say that about newly composed tunes. There is agreat Canadian writer named Brian Pickell who is producing some superb traditional style tunes. There is a book (possibly two) of these and there are a few classics in there. One is a Waltz called 'Waiting for Emilie" another one is ' Sourgrass and Granite" Here's the web page. Unfortunately, no concertinas. http://www.brianpickell.com/music/theband.php Edited to correct the tune names and add a site url

Hi Robin. That was a good ale wasn't it? It was partly the influence of Stone Monkey and yourself plus an earlier visit from Greensleeves and the band Crucible that made me decide that an English session was needed here. I'll send you the list by e-mail. Alan, thanks for the good wishes. I agree with you about the rules. Those will be the only two. From there I can see that it has to be handled carefully. A friend here, new to the folk scene but a keen new concertinist, had us rolling about laughing when he told us about turning up at a very serious Irish session with his English concertina. He then proceeded to get out his music stand - under the glare of an organiser not known for his sense of humour. When it came to his turn, he proceeded to play (from the music) a nice Scottish tune. He was 'politely' informed that they didn't play Scottish music. What we want to avoid is the session being taken over by Irish music and then we're all back to square one. I don't know if it's because I grew up England but I get much more pleasure out of these tunes after a few years of struggling along with the Irish tunes.

I'm pleased to say we've started an English musiic session here in Toronto. Prior to this it was Irish or lump it. What we're doing is working up a selection of 20 tunes that we all know as the foundation of the session. Once we have these well learned we will then add about the same number again. One more experienced musician has recorded CDs of the tunes and also provided copies of the written music. Everybody is working from these and we add 2 or 3 new tunes between each bi-weekly session. At present we're doing this at someone's home but once we feel it has a strong foundation, we plan to move it out to a Pub. Hopefully around February/March. Once we're at the pub it will revert to the usual session format. The only rule we have is no Irish tunes. This is because there are plenty of places in Toronto to play Irish. Thye rule that will be added when we move to the pub is no sheet music. Everybody has been pre-warned that this is coming so hopefully there'll be no surprises.