Jake Middleton-Metcalfe

use fast cut plus and cotton wool, run the lathe pretty darn fast and hold the cotton wool (dipped in fast cut) against the button, works well in general but its a bit slow. A quicker non lathe approach is to use a high speed polishing mop mounted on a bench grinder motor and a fine polishing compound on the mop (the same sort of thing you might use to polish a bit of brass). Rotate the button slowly while polishing - this approach is quicker but potentially easier to polish away bits of the button unevenly as its a bit aggressive, if you use the latter technique be careful as you do it but it can be made to work well.

you will probably get a lot from going to some local sessions, hopefully there might be an american one in Brighton. Probably there will be English and Irish sessions, its a great way to get inspiration for tunes and playing techniques. If you ever get the chance to see Brighton morris men dance they have a very good anglo player.

yes indeed it is. Send me a pm if you want to discuss further, or you could email me on jake_middleton1@hotmail.co.uk

Instrument now sold, thank you.

"as good as or better" is a bit hard to define as peoples tastes are quite different, beyond a certain level of quality its sort of like art appreciation and it really depends what you play and what sort of feel and sound you want. In my opinion - without being too specific there are currently some makers producing instruments above and beyond what the first wave of makers made and I am very fond of these instruments. But someone else might very well say "oh well that is over the top how good does it need to be?".

I had a go on a metal ended metal pierced side concertina once, it sounded ... Aggressive.

I would love to go but unfortunately I have a commitment I cant get out of that day

Things have been somewhat busy at Wolverton concertinas. I am now offering a new design which is built around concertina reeds, the reeds are hand made in my workshop. This design comes with 31 buttons as standard but up to 34 are possible, currently C/G or G/D only. There is a display model so people are welcome to come and have a go if they wish. The new more advanced model is based on Victorian instruments, both in look and construction - It is very much a hand made instrument. The design is not a copy of any one historical instrument but rather an amalgamation of the most desirable features from the existing historic instruments which I have studied. I have also added some features of my own – most notably the unique pattern of the hand-cut end-plates. I have put some images below, there are also some new recordings and more information about this model on my website: https://wolvertonconcertinas.com/sound-samples/ https://wolvertonconcertinas.com/advanced-model/ A big thank you to the people who helped me develop this, you know who you are.

The A# on the Left hand side should be A#3, always I would say. As for the C/E - that is one which there is variation on, sometimes it is E/C and sometimes the other way round apparently. I do E/C on my instruments though the reed could easily be flipped. There is not tooo much of an advantage either way with the C/E or E/C in my experience - It is rather a seldom used note. If you ever play pop goes the weasel in G it makes for a comic "pop" in the weasel, I think that is all I ever used it for.

I have a small theory on this initial question - I think a lot of people find the Anglo easier to hold. Not everyone of course.

Hmm I cant offer tutorials at the moment though I can recommend the Chiltinas http://www.chiltinas.org.uk/links.html who are a group with mainly english players but some anglo players as well, you might find some help there. Alternatively my mate Phil who lives nearby used to do lessons, I will ask if he is still doing that.

I notice you are in Northampton - I am a maker/repairer not too far away from you in wolverton - I would be happy to look at it and advise you if you could make the journey here Jake

that is a cool idea making the clamps in the same part and then cutting them off at the end. I am not interested in buying but cool idea.

those buttons look nice, what are they made of?

I see, very interesting, I never knew any bellows were made in this way. Good insight