Rick Austin

Are there any English Concertina tutors in the Bay Area? I am in San Francisco occasionally, will be in town this month and would love to get a lesson from someone then. Any referrals would be most welcome. Many thanks, Rick

Good news for those of us on the West Coast!

The new forum software does not like Camino (drop-down menus do not function). It does work dandy in FireFox, though.

Hello Folks, I've tried for days to search and find photos of the Morse Albion in the forum archives. I've a feeling they're in there somewhere, I'm just looking incorrectly. Can anyone direct me to them? Or perhaps post a few snapshots of one they might own? I've ordered a baritone model and have only the wee picture from the Button Box website to gaze at longingly over the next few months. Also, is there a way to make a direct donation towards the upkeep and maintenance of Concertina.Net? Many thanks, Rick

So... An option on a new Morse Albion baritione model is: "It is possible to replace one of the low G#/Ab enharmonic pairs with a low F." Other than getting that F, what are the benefits of this option? I am a beginner, so it's difficult for me to see how this might matter much. As always, I appreciate all the help the forum provides. Many thanks in advance, Rick

This is all most helpful. Thanks again, folks. I appreciate your willingness to pitch your two cents in, or your nickel or dime, as the case may be. Rick

Boney, It has seemed to me to be more of a contraption than an instrument. Playing a contraption isn't much fun and frankly, I want to have fun learning and playing the concertina. Thanks for the feedback. Rick

Of course, before I discovered concertina.net I purchased a slightly used Stagi Hayden Duet online. It does everything it's supposed to, there's not a thing wrong with it, except this: it's damned hard work to play. OK, so I admit it. It wasn't the ideal instrument for a beginner. I don't want to give up on playing, but I would like something that's not such a bear to make music with. I'd be happy to begin again learning English and the lovely people at Button Box have said they'd provide some trade-in value for me. They have the Jack/Jackie and also some new/used Bastari A-48s. Given your collective wisdom, O Concertina Netizens, which of these would be the better instrument for starting over? A significant detail is that I live in a rather remote town in which lessons from others may be unlikely at best. I do, however, have some musical training: I've studied guitar, voice and piano for over 20 years. Many thanks in advance for your advice. Rick, who sometimes makes mistakes

I've only been reading this forum for a few weeks and I must say you folks are a friendly lot. Gives me a dose of hope for humans to see them so helpful.

Oops. Pardon my ignorance. Perhaps something Italian would do. 'Flavio' or maybe 'Calvino'? What have others named their concertinas, I wonder? I suspect that Concertino himself wouldn't mind, but I expect to see him in a couple of weeks, and I could ask him.

Thanks Jake. I own one of those much-maligned Stagi Hayden Duets, which I purchased slightly-used from a nice lady back East. Maybe I've got big hands, but so far I've had no troubles reaching the buttons and it doesn't seem so terribly clackity to me, nor heavy. She got it from the Button Box, which did indeed do a fine job of tuning it. All in all I'm pleased with it, even if it has got a bad rap. I'm not so perfect myself, I probably wouldn't get along with a perfect instrument anyway. In general it seems rather pleasantly masculine to me - does that mean I can refer to it as my concertino? My first glance at the Frappr didn't turn up any other players nearby. I'll have to look more closely later on. Have a lovely evening, Rick

Hello hello, brand new to my concertina and wondering if there are any other players near Arcata, California? Many thanks, Rick

Could someone please tell me how to properly pronounce Brian Hayden's name? Is it 'hay-den' or 'high-den'? Many thanks.