Theo

You don't really need a concertina for Sea Shanties, it was originally an unaccompanied form of work song and there are many shanty groups here in the UK that still do it that way. For example The Keelers.

Here is a picture of the high reed chambers in a Hohner reed block. You could experiment with something mouldable like blutac to find how much reed clearance is needed. If the alternate B and A notes are good how do the chamber sizes there compare? The more I think about this the more I believe that it might just be a bad reed. It doesn't happen very often but I have had new sets of Italian reeds of this quality (tam I think) where one reed is not right. I'm sure That Andy Norman would not have a flaw in the design of his reed chambers. His design is well tried and tested.

Whether valves are required or not really just comes down to how the reed sounds. Try it without and see if that helps. In accordions the chambers for the highest pitch reeds may have a wedge shaped insert of wood the reduces the volume by about a third to a half. If the reed tip is furthest from the vent then the wedge needs to be thinner on the side facing the inner reed. If that's not clear I'll take a photo.

Yes that's correct, though it difficult to achieve exactly for all volume levels because pitch of a reed flattens very slightly as you increase volume, and low pitch reeds usually flatten at a faster rate than higher ones.

Kathryn, I love your tune and the way you play. Sorry about the next bit I'm a repairer and tuner. On the video I'm hearing some rough sounds. They could be artefacts of the processing that goes on between your playing and the sound emerging from my speakers. It seems to be mostly when you are playing octaves. I hear this sound at several places but the easiest to pinpoint is the final note, a C. It might be octaves not perfectly in tune, but it's not quite what I expect an out of unison octave to sound like. Are you aware of any beats between octaves? If not it's probably an artefac

That is only true if the seller is VAT registered. In the music business there are many sole traders who are below the threshold for compulsory VAT registration and who choose not the register.

I'm not an expert on this but my understanding is that import VAT is now charged on everything that enters the UK unless it is zero rated here. I assume the same will apply to goods from UK sent to any EU country. The exporter, if VAT registered, in either case can sell without charging VAT so the customer pays the same as before plus the cost of extra paperwork. If the exporter is not VAT registered the customer now must pay VAT. Customs duty only applies to things like booze and tobacco, and to goods that are imported from elsewhere (for example China) into UK and the sold on

Dana has explained the main differences in his usual clear an precise way. There is another difference I've noticed with some a mano reeds and that is the lengthwise profile. A mano reeds from Binci and Ciccarelli have a profile that is thinner towards the tip. I believe that this helps them speak at a lower pressure and also may be the feature that gives them a distinctly brighter sound. I've not seen this with a mano reeds from Cagnoni or VA.

If the May Fair is being sold by a business that specialises in vintage concertinas and is guaranteed by them then its ok, for a private sale with no backup then the price is on the high side.

Sometimes one or two of the screws between the buttons, that hold the bushing board, are long screws that go through to the pad board. There could also be a large wood screw accessible from the underside that goes through the pad board and into the wrist bar.

Adrian Brown is a member here and is based in Amsterdam

Model 22 and 24 have raised metal ends and were Wheatstones best 6 sided model, Model 21 is also metal ended but with flat ends and usually (but not always) not quite as loud or fast as the 22/24. Just to reiterate - concertinas are individual in their playing quality and sound. you can't make a reliable choice just based on model number.

Another vote for aliphatic resin wood glue, Titebond II or Titelbond III. Titebond also do a version designed for veneering which I have used successfully to make a laminated material for making new ends.

This concertina has accordion type reeds held in place with wax. Anyone who does accordion repairs will be able to change the notes round for you. A few years ago I was contacted by an instrument importer near me. They had received a large delivery of concertinas with the exact same error in the note layout, which could only have been a factory error. Yours is almost certainly the same.

Open to offers for this concertina. It's an inexpensive way to get a GD anglo.