Ken_Coles

I'm tempted to speculat that might be one of many badge names for instruments made in China - someone here may know better and can correct me. The quality of those factory instruments varies a lot and you can likely do better. Where are you located? Someone nearby may be able to help you choose an instrument or show you some examples. Ken

Folks, please stay on topic as in the original post rather than hashing out other debates. Thank you. Ken

Ken Sweeney (northeast US) also does amazing irish music on EC. Another person who IMO was doing very well at it was Ed Delaney (Indiana, US) but I hear he is playing Anglo lately. Many great examples. Ken

One way to sort of get the buttons farther away is to raise your hands on taller handles. I do it by cutting up inexpensive pipe insulation. (An article from the static version of concertina.net two decades ago). It's cheap and quick to try and see if it helps with any fingerings. Good look with your impressively ambitious work! Ken

Topic moved to Construction and Repairs forum - thanks Bill. Ken

Are you looking for someone to do repairs, or do you wish to sell? If the latter, I will move this topic to the Buy and Sell forum, where it will get more attention. Ken

In the case of anglo concertinas, some of the notes are necessarily under your palms and they sound different to me than the ones that don't have my hands in the way. Ken

Policing a thread to ensure it contains only posted recordings and nothing requires a significant effort from your administrators. The only "administrative precaution" I can come up with is for Paul and me to moderate and approve every single post in that thread after an unknown and variable delay. My guess is some people will avoid such a process and start their own thread, as they are welcome to do. Another approach any one member could curate themselves (feel free!) would be to follow the model of the "Current makes of concertina" thread: Edit current links to each recording into the first post and let everyone add posts to the thread as they wish. That is how a community like this tends to function - people read/hear something and immediately think of, and want to post, a response. We're happy to have them do so. Ken

So sorry to hear this. When I visited Australia in 2006, Chris G. arranged for me to visit Richard up in the Blue Mountains - a spectacular setting. It was a great experience and his knowledge of the instrument was fascinating. My impression is that he was a bridge from the old days to the modern era of the concertina in Australia. Ken

There is another thread on this very topic here. Good luck. The upgrade option is a good one; and "riding a bicycle before you get your first car" isn't all bad. While a 20-vintage may limit what you can play, a Rochelle or Wren will too, in another way. I didn't find missing a few notes on my Italian 20b the first two years was a handicap; there were plenty of other things to master anyway. And while you can't do every melody, you can do partial chords (D, A, B, etc.) on a C/G 20b - I have songs I still accompany that way, and that was good early training for me also. Ken

To all, The way to promote gentler language is to quit posting in this thread and instead open a new one (with a nicer title) if there are things worthy of discussion. Ken

Years ago, in some other thread here IIRC, someone called our current era (since approx. the 1990s) a "silver age" where the original golden age was late 19th century up to the 1920s (when we had Wheatstone, Crabb, Jeffries, and yes, Lachenal). Ken

Why not write directly to Dana at Kensington? He'll know better than anyone how to treat/retreat the bellows he made on your instrument. I know he'd be happy to do it. Ken

Perhaps she can report her experience to us here at some point (using your account or one of her own). As an admin I can tell you one of the things I get to do is remind some of our adult members that we have children on this forum also, and we aim to keep it family-appropriate. Regards, Ken

Aha, this is from the fiddle-and-music scene in northern Vermont, which I hear is pretty strong. I've thought about spending some time there once I retire (not long now)....Thanks. Ken