Jake Middleton-Metcalfe

I haven't explored this make of reed you are mentioning but I have a warning to make: You have to be a bit careful with taking the accordion reeds out and replacing with other ones - they may be actually a quite different size and not fit into your reed pan. You should be able to get some sort of drawing from the manufacturer to compare. I know that is not really what you were asking about but its something that the accordion reed maker I used to buy from warned me about. (Their Tipo a mano and a mano were actually scaled differently and the plate was a different size, that manufacturer was Voci armoniche) Also un-related but I am interested: you mention the reeds are by salpa - I understood that Salpa no longer exists, it merged with Antonelli to become Voci Armoniche. Are those reeds old stock perhaps? Or do salpa continue a small arm of their own brand, I have seen businesses do this sometimes when bought out or merged.

there are three things going on here: 1 the tune is very well played played. 2: the tune is very well written. 3: Dipper concertinas are very well made.

yes, I found the sage link someone posted earlier somewhat easier to understand. https://www.sage.com/en-gb/blog/eori-number-trade-brexit/#gate-b1a63862-3fa0-4a5e-bb67-c76b88bbc6b8

Well I can't think of a better candidate for "made in Britain" than Dipper or Wheatstone, I would love to watch it! Only go for it if you are comfortable with the whole thing of course, sounds like a pretty hard decision.

Awarded "for services to folk music"! Brilliant. Certainly he has always been an inspiration to me.

beautiful playing. How nice to hear such a well studied arrangement

special 2 degree taper reeds by Colin Dipper, that sounds interesting. Those Dippers are ever so good with their innovations.

I think I might have misunderstood what you were originally saying about the experimental reeds, sorry. Ah Geoff is great, I sometimes have a new idea or want to try something different but encounter a problem or obstacle and he would say something like "well actually we tried that in the 60s and xyz was the best way.."

Its a practice I picked up from an older concertina maker over here, Geoff Crabb. I believe the thinking is that when the edges are rounded underneath you are creating clearance which will not help the response of the reed, but all I was told is "square edges on underside of reed tongue is good for response". It stands to reason that rounded edges on the underside of the reed tongue would just make a wider gap for air to get through before the reed starts and make the response slower. I do de-burr the underside edges and top edges very lightly with probably 800 grit paper after they are filed to fit the frame and with square edges, but not to any degree which would cause a little 45 degree angle that wasn't microscopic. I hope this explains the reasoning well enough.

hmm, if you have not seen this already you might be interested in the ergonomic developments of Henrik Muller. You can learn about it here: http://www.concertinamatters.se/page38/page38.html Maker Alex Holden has done some work based on this new ergonomic idea, producing some instruments (or converting older ones? I can't remember). Having heard Henrik play, I was quite impressed by the different articulation and expression he was able to achieve.

I would advise against tumbling, you want very precise non rounded edges on reed tongues, especially on the underneath. I would not recommend stainless either, its best to just use blue tempered spring steel, it works really well

ah great. I knew he had the tools, I didn't realise he had a lot of them stored as well. He used to make a cheaper version of his instruments which used those parts.

coh they really go for it! Guinea pigs are a bit more compliant.

hey nice to hear! Are you on a boat by the way?

you could always get in touch with steve dickinson at c.wheatstone and co. He has the tools to make those parts left over from when wheatstone bought lachenal.

plenty of playing music with my wife and I discovered a great way to practice is take my son for a ride in the pram until he falls asleep then stop in the park, get out the concertina and play solidly for about an hour. That led to an interesting interaction with a retired royal artillery man - needless to say I played him the "train of artillery" tune which pleased him greatly. Do very much miss the sessions though. Very much, there was a very good one nearby.

can't disagree with that!

I believe Gary Coover plays a C/G 30 key with Wheatstone layout. Personally I would recommend it if you want to play in the harmonic or English style, the A/G reversal on the top row is quite useful for combining chords with the melody sometimes both in terms of cross row playing to smooth out a sequence of notes or also giving depth to certain chords. I believe the Jeffries layout is generally preferred for Irish music as you get a C# in both directions on the right hand side.

or try adding some bass notes in between the block chords for a sort of oom-pah oom-pah effect, it helps the flow with some tunes.

Nice to hear a baritone, very rich sound and nicely played. I would love to have a go at making these at some point.

well he certainly has something to teach people about being a performer! Lively chap!

I never saw that one lying about at your place! Would probably make a good starter instrument for someone. Best of luck I hope to see you soon!

Now found, all is well.

Good idea. I have also sent a letter to his neighbours either side, I hope he is ok.

I am trying to locate Mr Robert Hogben, a customer of mine and I am having trouble. Does anyone on here know him? He isn't answering calls or emails. Nice fellow. Keeps bees. If anyone has any news please could they let me know. Jake Middleton-Metcalfe