gavdav

Interesting. My choking reeds were fine under gentle pressure, and spoke instantly, but then wouldn't produce a note as I played harder. If I squeezed the bellows hard straight off on that note, then nothing; gently, it was back. I need to look into the reeds which ONLY speak under high pressure now. all fun and games

The reed starts initially under gentle pressure, but as pressure on the reed (i.e. a harder squeeze of the bellows) increases, the reed ceases to speak - this is the "choking" described. So, as long as you are playing gently and quietly it can be fine and sweet and responsive. Try and bust out a reel or switch bellows direction a lot and the reed can simply stop speaking.

A Glory-ous occasion, by any chance ?? Indeed, plus a more serious Hekety LNE on the following evening.

I hope you have now bought his book! Nice one Theo, but Gav's Dad actually helped publish edition 1, its a small world Dave E I did buy it, as soon as it was published all those many moons ago, and also recommended it to some US concertina sales persons, way back when

SWEB stores? Gav (off to play yet another LNE this year in less elegant company)

If its fouling the slot you usually hear a buzzing or tinkling sound. To raise the tip of the reed place a thin flat blade/shim etc under the reed and lift it just far enough to bend the reed tongue slightly. Go carefully, a little at a time. Once you have it speaking correctly you will almost certainly have to adjust the tuning too. It was too low, Dave Elliot very kindly helped sort the stalling reed out and it seems to be playing well! Phew!

Ok - it seems too low, at first I wondered if it was fouling in the slot, but I don't know how to adjust it.

Ok - so in serious mode. I have a reed (D push on the left hand) which will not speak at all under high/fast pressure, but sounds fine under low pressure I have checked the slot, cleaned the reed, reseated the shoe and it seems to make little difference. Is it just a duff reed? should I have it retongued? Will it make any difference or is this a mechanical/build problem?

Lachenal used McCann's duet system patent (Patent number 4752) to make their "patent" concertinas. George Jones also patented a more complex anglo system (9314) which was alleged to play chromatically a friend owns one of these, though it has been sadly retuned to a more "conventional" system. think these were both 1884 - both ae effectively fingering system patents I suppose.

I have carefully preserved it, in anticipation of an upsurge in music hall, and it can be reattached at any time.

Well, apparently not. Being impatient, I just removed this and the drone key is now working fine - I'm now simply puzzled as to why it might have been installed in the first place.

I'm just fettling a recently acquired G/D anglo and have some questions for the experts. The box has a left hand G/G drone, which is very useful, but presently seems a little weak. The air hole in the board has a donut of wood around it to decrease the diameter compared to the other buttons, but this seems to be making the air pressure disproportionately high when I give it a good squeeze and the note bends out of tune like an asthmatic cow. Would I be damaging the box irreperably if I removed this donut? The box plays pretty well with the drone "quietly" i.e. low pressure, but struggles as speed and volume are upped. Is this simply a side effect of such a low reed? (this is a traditionally reeded concertina.) Are there any other minor technical issues that could make a reed slow to speak. e.g. sticky valve, (levers are fine) as some of the other notes seem a little slow too and I'd like to bring it all up to speed.

Would this have been better in the general forum? I am curious about Connor concertinas, have just acquired one and wanted any info members might be able to share.

Hi, I just had a look inside an old (I'd guess 80s or early 90s) Connor Anglo. I was expecting salvaged reeds, but they are pretty obviously a "new" set in aluminium shoes. In fact the whole box has a very Crabb like feel to it - bellows construction etc, and I know that Connor learned at least some of his trade with Crabb. What I wondered is what makes the difference between a standard and a special? This has fancier endplates to the standard shown on the hobgoblin site, but not is not as flashily appointed as his Jeffries copies. Do you think the reeds were made for this box, reshoed or soemthing else entirely i.e. perhaps "new old stock" from Crabb or something... any experts out there? Any feelings on the quality of Connor's own reeds?

Not implying that it would - the new (double) one is aluminum and steel all round, my other cases are plywood, glue and tolex.

I've looked at Storm and Peli cases but can never work out which model I need to put two concertinas in when shopping online.

Bloody heavy, and that is I guess, an inevitable downside of a "Flight" case. My problem is really number of hands. To do a solo gig I need to be able to carry two concertinas and a guitar, plus a bag full of stuff and to be able to chuck it (not too literally, but sometimes not far off) into a car or van. I found the one box over each shoulder was fine if I wasn't carrying the massive guitar case or backpack. That said I'm fairly confident the new case would withstand a severe battering that my ply cases simply wouldn't.

Once again, I'm resurrecting this old thread again - maybe this should be in buy and sell, but I saw these on ebay and bought one. This thing is absolutely bomb-proof, I would trust it in the hold of an aircraft if I had to. Again, it makes a good seat, has plenty of room for blocks and pads, a central divider and is absolutely pro quality. The price however was amazing and it arrived next day! (less than a standard plywood concertina single case, or a deluxe bag). As a pro musician, I use a lot of flight cases of varying quality, but the hardware and construction of this is amazing. http://tinyurl.com/ccutfb If in doubt, I have added a couple of photos of my two concertinas inside said case. Available in other colors I believe (mine is red). Disclaimer - I am simply a happy customer, no links to the seller. Iron maiden stickers are an optional addition, ahem. next step is to add a shoulder strap and put a few foam blocks in. Oh yeah - an important note, the lid is removable, so some care must be taken with the hinges.

My cat's ears twitch visibly on certain notes only (high Bb on my Jeffries ) Still they both love the bag!

The good news is there appear to be two different, very nice, genuine Jeffries Duets for sale on ebay.co.uk right now.

exactly what I'm after in so many ways - just need someone to buy my duet!!! Gav

This seems very similar to the gumtree scams - I saw two concertinas, a Jeffries and a Wheatsone, both listed in london but when I contacted the sellers (actually the same person) they claimed to be in various parts of the shetland islands. They engaged in conversation until I asked for additional info like reed pan photos. I'd be very wary.

also, watch out for Gumtree - I have reported three frauds this week.

So, whilst I was waiting for other list members erudition to sort me out, I thought I'd swap the two Bb reeds and shoes around to try and eliminate a potential mechanical (non reed) cause. Strangely the result is that both reeds now sound fine and in a more balanced way than they did before. I'm clueless as to why it worked but happy it did!

One (and only one) of the reeds on my Jeffries has started making an unpleasant trilling noise. I've removed the reed shoe, cleaned it checked the slot and it sounds fine out of the instrument. When I reseat it and bolt it all back together the horrible noise is back. This note has always sounded weaker than the equivalent notes on other rows (this is the high Bb on the Bb row of a Bb/F box) say the one on the F row. any ideas?