glacgrinner

Wow, that's my concertina. Except mine is a C/G. I'm a self-teaching beginner, got a Hohner in August but needed that C sharp. I tried a cheap 30 button from E-Bay (red plastic, sticky buttons, oddly muffled sound), but then lucked into this one in January. I never did find out anything about where/how it was made; I called around to a couple places around here (Minnesota) that promise to maintain "all things squeezey" and was actually told that it didn't exist. I was wondering for a time whether Bastari had a factory in the Bermuda Triangle. As a beginner, I have no basis for comparison, so you can take this with as much salt as you can tolerate. However, it isn't at all heavy or large (and I have the world's smallest hands), never sticks, and is great fun to work with. It is tuned just a hair on the sharp side. I do at least a little on it nearly every day, some days quite a bit. First post, couple questions. First - How often do these (any tina, not this specific one, necessarily) need to be professionally maintained? Mine was in a closet, unplayed since 1985, til I got it. I've had no problems so far. A couple of the lowest reeds sounded odd at first, but that went away. Second - I'm working out fingerings that are as balanced (between push & pull) as I can make them so I don't have to resort to the air button too often. However, I worry I might be getting over-dependent on the extra buttons and will find myself unable to play a regular 30 button if one comes my way. Is this over-thinking? Third - how the hell do you use a drone button and why?