PaddyLosty

The mic jack is in the photos on Facebook as well, so likely it is. Unless it was a standard feature for Colin back then, the 70s were wild 😆

When you pushed the reeds back into the dovetail, did they feel like they went in snugly, or did it feel like they were still quite loose? There may be a need to shim them with a little sliver of paper. However with warmer weather and some humidity the issue may resolve itself, at least until the fall when it gets dry again.

There are a lot of innovations out there, but its fairly iterative as the thing that most of us like about these instruments is linked to the tone and style of the best of the vintage period. Things like the use of more stable wood veneers and cleated woods (Dippers), and the use of cast resins or composite materials (Carroll and Kensington) for stability, improvements to the pivot mechanism (Carroll, Edgley) reed design and mounting (Kensington), efficiency in manufacture by utilizing CNC and wire EDM. 3D printing like Jay instruments. The use of high end accordion reeds among all of the hybrid makers. With the light weight and amazingly quick reeds in modern instruments, its hard to find anywhere that improvement is needed, but its interesting to see the minor improvements the best makers make to their instruments over the years.

Yup just slide it out with your thumb. It might be a little stuck, don't force it if it seems unreasonable. Chance it could be a loose though based on the symptoms. If it won't snug up when you push it back in then let us know, there are ways to fix that but hopefully won't be necessary.

Open it up and slide the offending reed out of its dovetail and then push it back in snugly (not too snug though). That seems to solve a lot of mysterious issues.

Here's another clip, looks like the same instrument (and Frankie is in F).

Tuning my D string to C, so everything down two semitones essentially. I have a fiddle I leave in that tuning now with a set of heavier strings on it, since my wife is a C#/D box player but has a really great sounding B/C box, most of the time at home we play in C. Old high pitch is nice as well and a bit more forgiving on the fiddle. I have a Jeffries that is in A452, old temperment Bb/F, should be great for playing with other fiddlers once its done its day at the spa.

I love tuning my fiddle down to C and playing with and playing with an F flute player. Sean Gavin and Jesse Smith's album inspired me to do so, and it's great. I've experimented a bit with doing the same with the Bb/F and playing tunes in "G" equivalent, but my closest buddy with an F flute is a few hours away.

Put them back!

SV for the air lever (single valve or slide valve) and WS for the Wrist Strap.

Two things that are abundant in our beautiful country!

To add the the possibilities, the price of a Suttner is fairly attractive in USD at the moment, and his wait list is listed as 1 year. If it were me, I'd go check out that Dipper. Chris might have other G/D instruments on hand by then to compare to also. He usually has at least one Jeffries in that key kicking around the shed.

Can you post some photos of the reeds and reedpans of this instrument?

Yes, fiddle for a long time, since I was in my teens. The piper Nick Brown lent me his grandfathers old Stagi because I was hooked on Mary and Andrew Mac's Open Hearth album, and that was that. It was only in the last 10 years that I had a decent instrument to learn on though, so still a relative beginner on the concertina. Congrats on the album! Hopefully our paths cross some time for some tunes if you're over in the US or Canada. Cheers! PG

As much as I love a Jeffries, your tone as well as Liam O'Brien and Hugh Healy's really makes me appreciate the old Wheatstone sound. Great tone all-round. I play Dwyer's similarly. I first learned it on the fiddle (my main instrument) from that same fabulous album, but then more recently learned it on the concertina. I like your take on it, there's some phrasing there that I'll probably adopt. Tory Island, where did you pick that one up? I always called it Murphy's Greyhound, from Junior Crehan, as well as Kitty Hayes (I play it on the row like her). Joey Abarta plays a nice version of it as well.