Martin Essery

Apparently the only difference is the Fflyn has plywood ends and the Marion has wooden ends. Otherwise, mechanically similar.

Looks like I have made my decision. I have played cheap concertinas and hated it. I have played decent old concertinas and hated it. So, I decided to go for new, and definitely not Chinese, so came to the conclusion that the minimum I could accept was a Minstrel. I have an English I tried and confirmed I prefer anglo, so with that as a trade in, it should not cost that much 🙂 Apparently a couple of weeks wait yes, but will report here when I have it in my hands 🙂

Other than colour, is there a difference between a Flynn and a Marion? What does the extra 50 quid get you?

I am thinking of travelling and not happy about taking one of my more precious instruments. So, if you wanted a cheap 30 button anglo that actually works and is not embarrassing to play in public, which model would you go for? I have had a Calleg Las, which was awful and a Rochelle-2 which was just about bearable. Which model do you have for such purposes, or would have if you were to have one? Obviously has to be a hybrid for the price. I cannot see anything less that 500 quid being worthwhile, and would be reluctant to spend more than 1,000. Does anyone play a Swan? Is it worth the extra to get a Phoenix or a Minstrel?

I have a top of the range, very expensive, Wakker, and a Marcus Deluxe. Most of the time I pick up the Marcus, and I would support everything everyone else has said about them. Particularly good for me they are only 2 hours away, but I doubt that applies to you 😄 And they do some of the finest hand straps, hand sewn by lovely lady on the premises. Who needs an excuse for a second instrument, it's nice just to own a Marcus 🙂

A friend visited and was expressing how long it was since we last met and I responded, "It must have been several concertinas ago!" 😄

Can I place an order? I have a reed organ that was sold as playable, but is not, so I could harvest the reeds 🙂

I am! 🙂 But he makes the coffin shape, not the regular hexagon, which I would prefer. Mind you, he seems to be the only option to get my hands on one in less than two years 😄

Thank you so much, that is a great help, I wonder who I can get to make one? 🙂

I am trying to work out if Cormac's 'bass' is the normal G/D, or whether it is a 'contra-bass' in C/G? I have not come to a conclusion yet, can anyone do better?

Does anyone know what Cormac is playing here? Whatever it is, I want one!

Page 9 in the Rutterford Tutor 🙂 Rutterford-Duet-Concertina-Tutor-FourthEd.pdf I bought it to play the Bach cello works at pitch. Long way to go yet.

Excellent, so, even though a lesser quality, how can Startone make a concertina with 12,000 moving parts for 850 quid?

If we are into parts count, then it is 12,000 for a big accordion. They may have more space, but have a lot more moving bits too. I will accept the market forces argument though, and economy of scale. If this Startone tunes out to be even vaguely decent, I shall enquire if they want to start making concertinas, the cheap ones on the market that I have tried are unplayable!

Yet he does that all day every day for years and stillhas all his fingers 😄 Accidents only happen to people not paying attention, and no amount of safety procedures and equipment is going to stop that.