meltzer

Cheers, Peter. That would be most kind. (Will send a PM at lunchtime).

Hmmm..... Wally's scenario sounds more like what's actually happening. Any road up, looks like I'll be taking her to bits, with the advice from marien & Wally in mind. (Alternatively, she's still covered by warranty from Barleycorn, so I could let someone do it who knows what he's doing. )

Cheers for that, marien -- will do. (The material I was describing is indeed the chamois).

Hmmm..... I'll have a think about that one while I go outside for a smoke.

It's not me. I was only 2 years old in 1972. Just thought I'd make some of you feel old, there.

As an aside, what's the advantage of having that material there? Is it just there to keep the dust out?

Since returning from my first long journey with it, my 'tina's note on the draw of the highest button on the C row is sounding intermittently. When it's not sounding, you just get really high harmonics. I noticed that the material underneath the ends had shifted slightly, and so attempted to move it back. This appeared to fix it (the note sounded clearly). However, when I put the instrument in my normal playing position, it stopped sounding again. Grr. Is this just a matter of taking the ends off, and moving the material, or am I missing something?

No worries mate, if you get a copy I'll transpose some of the other tunes to abc for you to put through the Tune-O-Tron, that way you'll be able to play back the midi file to get used to the tunes. What a man.

Cheers for the heads-up, Pete. I think I saw this reviewed in the latest EFDSS magazine, but I didn't register the quality of the accompanying CD. (This is especially important for me, cos I'm crap at reading music )

Merry Christmas, John & Chris, and to all other boardusers. I'm heading up north to the folks on Monday and taking my 'tina with me. Although quite what they've done to deserve that I don't know.

Nope. I post a lot from work, so don't want to leave traces of illicit online activity. However, if someone sent me a PM, or if I PMed someone, I'd sign it with my real name.

I've got one of them. My first box -- had it since I was 13/14. *wipes away tear*

This may be slightly off-topic, but I'd be intrigued to know why the OP wants to tune a C/G up to a D/A in the first place. (Other than for the joy of having a rare D/A 'tina, like).

No it isn't.

Mind you, English traditional music isn't swamped with folk trying to recover their English roots.

Great news. I'll certainly be getting it. It was the CD reissues of some of Peter's stuff that made me want to pick up the anglo after a gap of *cough* years.

I started looking on EBay for a vintage 'tina a few months back -- it was one of the reasons I registered on these forums in the first place. However, after a while (and having read some of the tales of woe on here), I decided to deal with Chris Algar direct (via Barleycorn, rather than bidding on one of his boxes on EBay), and got a lovely 30k Lachenal that met my requirements, and for less than the price that they regularly go on EBay. I know which I'd recommend doing. This hasn't stopped me staying on EBay and steadily replacing my English folk vinyl with CDs, like.

It sounds to me like you've reached one of the sticking points in any learning process -- the space between having to think about everything, and it becoming instinctive. This often feels like a backward step (because you find yourself stumbling over stuff that used to come easy), but it isn't really -- it's just the know-how making its way from your brain to your fingers. It'll happen repeatedly as you get better, and hopefully it'll keep happening as you continue to improve (because it's one of the signs that you are improving). Good advice about improvising, I reckon -- you'll probably find you can "do" far more than you think.

I tend to practice in 20 minute/half-an-hour bursts, rather than one long session. I would aim to play for at least 20 minutes every day, not least since I find it such a good way to unwind. I'm pretty much a "by ear" player, so I tend to intersperse my practice sessions with listening to music until I have an, "Ooh, I fancy having a bash at that one," moment. This said, I don't really listen to music by other 'tina players, other than Peter Bellamy. I find it quite rewarding & challenging to try & replicate some of The Watersons' harmonies, for instance.

I don't know any English English players. Perhaps I should get out more.

*drool* Not for me I'm afraid -- it's only a few weeks since I bought a 30k Lachenal. She looks an absolutely lovely box, though -- hope you get a good price.

I'm an English-style Anglo player (mostly song accompaniment), so I use mine pretty much all the time. My little finger's quite long. Also my first instrument was the guitar (starting at age 8), and I used to do finger exercises, meaning that my little finger is well-used to operating independently -- on my left hand, at least. Very handy for reaching for that bottom button on the chromatic row.

Absolutely. Even though the Anglo made immediate sense to me (as a melodeon player), I still had a little go on an English, just for the sake of completeness, and to see if I could get a tune out of it (I couldn't).

Oh then, why didn't you say so! I bank with Coutts & Co and my mother's maiden name is Battenburg. Does that help? Chris Cheers.

*impressed* Can you switch from one to the other in the same session? That would do my head in, I'm sure. (I've got an A/D/G box too, btw -- Corona II, had it since I was 13/14).