billyboy

hi, you are likely correct about the muffling not being dust related as it looked very clean inside. i have not checked the valves very closely so i will look at those. i was mostly thinking it was a reed thing. bill

Hi - i used a can of compressed air and very gently sprayed the reeds in question. this seemed to do the trick for the reed that did not sound. for the reeds that were muffled, it worked for a bit and the reeds sounded fine. then the dust particles or whatever it was came back. so, i am viewing this as fixed over all, as i now know how to get to the reeds. thanks everyone so much for the input and help! bill

hi - several things. thanks for everyone chipping in here. i really appreciate it. -- i did get an email returned due to something on his end about an IP address failing to respond. But i will continue sending email. -- this is a metal end concertina. -- i did get the face plate and pad board removed - thanks the Lawrence R's suggestion. so i can see the reeds. -- to clarify, there are 2 buttons on left hand that sound muffled or like something is causing them to not vibrate freely. one button is on pull an the button next to it is on the push. also, there is one button on right hand that does not sound at all on the pull. -- on the left side, i cannot see any dust or particles in the reeds. i have not looked at the right yet. can i slip a piece of paper or something very thing under the reed to make sure nothing is blocking? will this hurt anything? thanks - bill

I cannot see the reed pan. i remove the 6 screws but the face plate still seem attached. the pad box does come loose. In the middle of the face plate there are several other screws, do any of these need to be removed? Also, i live in Milwaukee, WI.

i have reached out to Juergen Suttner over a month ago. He suggested to remove the 6 screws on the face plate. All other emails of mine, have not gotten a response. i have tried 2 different email accounts. So perhaps he is traveling or having issues with his email.

Hi, i have a new Suttner A2-32 where one reed does not work on the pull and 2 reeds sound muffled/distorted. I removed the 6 screws from the face plate but the cannot remove the reed pan. it seems to be stuck and i am afraid to pull too hard. Any ideas how i can get to the reeds see of there is dust or anything? thanks, Billyboy

Thanks everyone for responding. some great ideas there. i had not thought of bongo bag before. i have an Edgley concertina (which i love) and the Sean Fallon hard case. i'll check with Frank E about a double case. thanks, billy

Hi all, i am looking for a good way to carry 2 concertina's to a session. i've been looking at some of the large, padded camera bags and other back packs. anyone have a good solution for this? thanks, bill

Another successful "Irish Fest" just ended here in Milwaukee Wisconsin. It's billed as the world's largest Irish festival, and runs 4 days. Every year, as many know, there is an "Irish Fest Summer School" the week before the actual fest. There are classes ranging from fiddle and whistle to story-telling and weaving. The best class, of course, is the concertina class. In the past, the Irish Fest commintee has gotten top quality teachers for their concertina class, with the likes of Gearoid O hAllmhurain, Frank Edgely and Jacqueline McCarthy. This year was no different as Chicago's own multi-instrument wiz John Williams (www.johnwilliamsmusic.com/) stepped in. What a GREAT class and what fun. While his teaching style at first seems laid back, you quickly realize he's covering lots of gound. He brought and taught out of a booklet of music titled "Twenty Dead Handy Irish Tunes - distilled and collected in Chicago - by John Williams". He proviided some annotations and history with the tunes and played them two different ways - his "teaching" style, where he plays the notes as they appear on the page with occasional ornamentation and/or chords, and his "performance" style, where he plays it as if he were performing on stage with furiously fast flying fingers. The week or classes, unfortunately, went WAY too fast. We learned a lot, played a lot and had a lot of fun. Next year seems so far away. John also played at the fest several times with guitarist Dean Magraw. John switched between concertina, button accordian and irish flute.

Hi anyone/all, could some one please explain (or point me to a source) what the term "Linota" stand for, with regards to the Wheatstone concertinas? thanks!!!! billyboy