PaddyLosty

More photos would be helpful to get an idea of its condition

Lovely photo as always, Peter. I wish I had gotten to meet them both. Your recording with Kitty was a big influence on me taking up the concertina to begin with, starting with a borrowed 20 button that belonged to Nick Brown's grandfather (so pipers are to be held responsible on multiple counts for bringing this fiddler to the dark side). Anyhow, I Just heard back from Custy's, and they do have copies in the store, so will be updating the stock on the website tomorrow. Hurray!

Thanks Peter, I'll send an email off to Custy's. I don't know how that release flew under my radar for so long, I've always been a fan of her playing, and wish there were more players like her (along with Kitty Hayes, and Mary Mac etc).

If anyone could point me to a source for this album, I would greatly appreciate it. Custys in Ennis is out of stock, and I don't see any other sources. If any family or friends of hers are planning a reprint, I can wait, or if not, I'd love a digital copy. Thanks, PG

If you can do with 30 buttons, the spacing on a 30 button Jeffries, or a modern maker following that pattern, is very nice. I have long fingers, and while I can get used to a Wheatstone and manage fine with it, I feel very comfortable on my Jeffries with 30 bone buttons. However watch at Liam O'Brien play his Wheatstone. He's a big lad! There's also a lot to be said about the height of your palm rest. That may have a bigger impact on comfort than button spacing alone.

? Somebody save it!

Ah yes, my mistake.

It'd be around 1903 with that serial number. Strike that, I was looking at English serial numbers. We'd have to see some photos to give much more idea of value - a lot comes down to condition and individual playing characteristics.

Who made your Bb/F Baritone, Richard?

Interesting that the reeds weren't great. I thought their Class C was "Extra Superior". What's the serial number range on that instrument?

What browser are you using? Try opening it with Chrome.

The TG4 app works wonderfully for streaming it.

Theo, was that a case for a normal 6" Jeffries that would only fit 5 1/2" due to the added padding? Or was it a smaller case to begin with?

Where I live we have very cold, dry winters and comparably humid summers, so there's a constant battle. In addition to the constant humidifier in the winter and dehumidifier in the summer, the Oasis humidifiers seem to work well. Usually if a reed starts to act up from a change in humidity, I've found that simply sliding it out of its slot and then putting it back in place will alleviate the issue. You might want to try that with your Hayden.

Interesting Stephen, I didn't know that. The few that we have had kicking around over the years have all been older models. Currently neither of our two household Hohners are double-rays at all - one is a black Erica retuned to C#/D, and the other is a silver pearloid 4 voice B/C box, but it has white pearloid buttons and no black button "De-Luxe". I wonder if it pre-dates the Forbes tutor? SaltyD, any of those options from Theo would be top choices. They'll be expertly set up and will likely play much better than a Hohner sitting in a corner in some dusty music shop. If you want to stick to someone on the US side due to everything going on (though the mail seems to be operating normally), Scott Bellinger can probably source something for you. There was another guy using the name "Dancemaster" who seemed to do some good work too, but I'm not sure if he's still operating. Worth reaching out to.

I did a quick search and found a couple for sale...most are listed as Double Ray, which is the model name. Black dot is more of a nickname that people call them.

Very much agree with Stephen. The nice thing with a Hohner is that with some work by an experienced specialist, they can be brought up to a very high standard. My wife prefers hers over other boxes that she has had, that cost many times more. So you could get a Double-Ray/Black Dot, and in the future send it to someone like Martin Quinn or Mike Rowbotham to be tuned and adjusted or "Souped Up". Martin Quinn's Youtube page has many examples of instruments he has done this for.

Hohner Lilliput or Preciosa

Their playing is nice, but what I heard from Bernie had more of an old-style sound to it. Reminded me more of Mary McNamara - the younger lasses are nice players, but stylistically it doesn't stand out to me as much as Bernie's does.

Thank's Dowright, having a look at her album now. Looks like she also plays the harp.

I heard a few clips of Bernie playing with some pupils on Youtube. Her playing is lovely, just the style I like. I'm wondering if anyone has any other recordings of her they could share or point me to? She doesn't seem to have recorded any commercial recordings, as far as I can tell. There must be some private recordings out there.

Photos posted for you Stephen, let me know what you think.

That'd make a good album cover for Cormac Begley...and His Wonderful Family of Concertinas.

Hey Stephen, certainly happy to post some pictures. The last photo is next to my early unmarked C/G, likely a Crabb. It has a T. Bostock stamp inside and the action and sides are entirely mahogany (with ebony veneer). The reed dimensions are very similar, but the Jeffries has more aggressive undercutting in the reed frames, and the reed tongues have blue tempering colour. The Jeffries tone is quite different than the Crabb, though they play roughly about the same. The fretwork on the Crabb is a little more finely cut than the Jeffries. The Jeffries action is typical sycamore construction, and it has a wonderful warm honk, being in Bb/F. Other difference I just remembered is the Crabb has an Eb and D# on the LHS accidental row, whereas the Jeffries is the typical later Jeffries layout.

I was wondering about those chamfers. My earlier, bone button Jeffries does not have them. I wonder at what point they started adding them and what the goal was.