Ken_Coles

It's amazing what you folks can deduce/infer/figure out about this history we all wonder about. I enjoy following it. Ken

Me too. I believe they were all made in D/A tuning. Then there are the twelve-sided Wheatstones (anglo and duet IIRC) in the article by Wayne, Birley, Gaskins here. I guess they discounted the idea that these were made from Lachenal parts so they don't count as Lachenals anyway.

Here is how I've been doing it for over twenty years. I should add that soon after coming up with this, I inverted the foam so it is wider at the lower end, to aid my rather short fifth fingers. Experiment and see what works for you. Welcome aboard. Ken

That's Worcester, Massachusetts, not Worcester, England, right? (For the sake of our international audience.) 😎 Good luck in the hunt. Ken

I have seen the inventory at Button Box vary considerably over the last 24 years. This is not outside of that pattern. Sometimes a lot, sometimes a few. And the shop shifts attention from fixing up instruments for sale (e.g., in the weeks before NESI when it was local to them) to doing repairs for customers and/or building Morse instruments. The late Rich Morse once pointed out that he had to make payroll for several employees every month whether things sold or not, so there were decisions about where effort should go at any given time. For me getting the right instrument has taken patience. I heard about concertinas circa 1980 but had no idea where to find one (and little money as a student). In 1992 I finally stumbled across and bought a 20-button Stagi. Only in 1997 did I find a real box (my first Lachenal), and other players, and a teacher, after the internet had created a community you could research and connect to, for any obscure interest or hobby. So it can take a while, but not 5 (or 17) years for you I hope. Keep looking. Ken

One of many reasons the EC and Duet players say it seems to them that one must be (or at least, it helps to be) a little daft to play anglo. There's some truth in it. 😃 Ken

What Bramich showed in his first book was backwards (press and draw C#) from most of the Jeffries layouts I have seen. I did a review of the book for this site back in the static pages days and remember that I commented on it. As others have noted, the reality is anglo players are constantly juggling reeds...part of the obsession perhaps? Have fun, wherever your notes are. Ken

Topic moved to repair forum. Ken

Liv et al., It is worth adding that the impression that pictures need a URL comes from the reality that we can only afford to offer a meager space for image attachments to each of thousands of users. A handful of images typically hits this limit. Then a user writes to the Admin asking "why can't I attach files?" 😎 [aside: Wow we have an absurd number of emojis now.] To forestall one such question, I'll add that it is great if you eventually explore ways to use a third-party site for images you wish to share here, then you do use a URL to attach them here, and there is no limit. Have fun with the concertina. Ken

Ed, If you fancy meeting up sometime, I'm in western Pennsylvania (well, most of the time) and am happy to share whatever aspect of playing. Ken

There's also "Thank you, Republic Airlines [for breaking the neck on my guitar]" a song by Tom Paxton quite a few years ago... Ken

A perennial question with Macs. I'm only running Catalina, but you can go to System Preferences (Security and Privacy pane, perhaps?) where you can give permission to run apps not from Apple-recognized developers. Someone here will recall the specifics... Ken

Umm...if you want to support _this_ site, it is concertina.net (.com is another site). 😎 Cheers, Ken

Another vote for this summary of past experience. Of course it is a challenge, if we can't help find some examples of instruments near someone asking the perennial "which system." Hope you find your match! Ken