OLDNICKILBY

Well, Andy has come a long way, a very long way since, I did my first post. He is an extremely accomplished player and this week he was at Newcastle for his interview. About a month ago a player who I think is probably the best E C player in the county phoned to marvel at Andy s ability he said that he had been playing for 30 years and Andy had been playing for 30 weeks and there was little he could teach him. We were doing a Folk Club Booking near Solihull a couple of months ago and the Organiser of our local Major Folk festival heard him play and promptly booked him. Watch this space Andy is a member of C.Net P S This old dog is having to learn new tricks,wuff, wuff!

I too had a problem with a Dublin buyer, I sold him a 20 button and he rejected it at the last moment and returned it with some of the reeds swapped. NOT a nice man, very rude and very aggresive.

Many happy returns! So, do we all get a slice of cake? Only if you are at the October Second Saturday Me Duck Sorry

Well I reached the ripe young age of 3 score and 10 in the middle of August and my partner and my daughter got their heads together to give me a few lovely surprises. Apart from a visit from Leicester Morris in the afternoon plus lots of friends and family and the inevitable Barby(No not the doll)The evening was a bit of a shocker,I had asked Brian Dawson to come whilst unbeknown to me Jacky had asked Will Noble and John Cocking as well. Our old singing partner Rob Young was also there and for the first time in 5 years we, Vic Simpson Rob and Me got to sing together. The cake, made by Karen was a bit of a stunner as it was a copy of my treasured Holmwood Concertina, The cake being the unplayable tina in the title. We are waiting to cut it at our next Second Saturday Concertina and Singing Session that we have on the second Saturday of each month,surprise surprise.This being our 60th

I have had a call from the buyer of this interesting concertina, who tells me he has had an e mail from a Timber Merchant in Denmark West Australia. This man confirms my original identification of ,you guessed it "Quarter Sawn She Oak" As for Australia being short of timber,I wonder where all those Jarrah Railway sleepers must have come from 100 years ago?

I have consulted the Delphic Oracle on things wood recognition (Robin at Lincolnshire Woodcrafts) and he is of the same opinion as me "Quarter sawn She Oak" or at a pinch another Australian Oak. Partridge? dont be daft! Without any prompting his first response was "She Oak ,quarter sawn."

Partridge , I dont think so! No one in their right minds would use this, it is almost impossible to work with hand tools and it is also very heavy. The timber looks more like She Oak from Australia or at a pinch Tasmanian Oak.

Gor Blimey Guv! It must be rare.

It was fairly loud and somewhat raucous, but bear in mind that it was May Day in Padstow so I was a bit "tired" There was no chance to play it though ,as the singing was far more important(but then it usually is)

Now James dont be playing the"Dark Templar" I wrote "a man" and then "and a chap" thus two persons. Regards Old Nic

There was a man playing one at The Ring O'Bells at St Issys on May Day(thats near Padstow) this year and also a chap with a magnificent , massive English Wheatstone who had it to learn as a retirement project. We also unveiled the "Blue Plaque "to commemorate the singing of Beggars Velvet the previous year. No TOOTHY JOKES thank you

There may be a remedy or even a cure, Have a look on Mudcat for Dave Taylors song " The Melodeons are Coming"Perhaps someone can do a blue clicky for it as this old luddite can't

Well ,he came to our Second Saturday Concertina Session with his Mum and Dad and we were impressed as was he. This young man is going to be a top notch player IMHO.There were 9 of us this week and he enjoyed himself immenselyWe introduced him to someone who plays for a local Morris side and one of the dancers just happened to be there. He will , I think, be there tonight if all goes well.He got some good advice from Keith Kendrick and Sylvia(Thank you Me Ducks) His Dad thanked me for "opening some doors" for him. I will keep you posted next month "Second Saturday" is a Tina and Singing session we have every ,would you believe, second saturday of each month,this was our 53rd

Dear Boy, The name is Old Nic not Saint Nic

We went to our local Folk Club last Friday and a young man of about 16 sang and took his note from an E C. Great ,good man! At the interval I heard what I thought was a C D of a Tina , wrong .It was the young man playing with a high degree of fluency,ability ,confidence and even more skill."Been playing long?" " He had it for Christmas "said his Dad about 6 weeks. Of course I had to let him play my Holmwood ,his eyes lit up as he saw the immense difference between it and his Lach and he played it like a natural There is hope for the future

Just remember one thing "YOU CAN T MAKE A SILK PURSE OUT OF A SOWS EAR" Its no more than a load of bits and will cost too much to restore If you want the experience of learning to D I Y then its O K but it will still be s h one t at the end.

Perhaps the Morris Ring should be taking a bit more interest in the likes of The Demon Barbers,now this really is Morris with ATTITUDE. Vibrant energetic and downright sexy and raunchy.Sides such as Leicester Morris are really great sides we went to see them on Boxing Day and there about 200 or so watchers and they raised over £400 for their charities. Keep up the good work chaps and keep on raising the profile Charlie.

Well we finally made it . A major mention in the Guardian this morning WOW! In fact it was in an Obit for Nora Batty and referred to her stockings, at least we got a mention.

There is a simple tool called a spotting punch,like a centre punch but the same diametre as the hole in the end plate. Simply spot it through the hole on to the new end plate... Be careful using a photo copier for the fretwork as they shrink the size by about 1 or 2 % so adjust the settings to suit

I'm in the powdered graphite camp. I've had periodic problems with one button; several pro adjustments didn't fix it. A minute dab of graphite about once a year keeps it ship shape. Ah but the lubricant used was Tri Flow utterly wonderful stuff It is a P T F E loaded lube and we can only get a poor imitation in the U K

There are many cheap Sonic Cleaners available at less than £20 try them they work a treat with a little washing up liquid or some Household Ammonia I use about 10 drops

Well you got your Scates on with this one Chris. If you are looking for new Gold Blocked Bellows then Dave Leese has the dies to do them

I have just had a couple of leather boxes repaired by a saddler in Newark ( thats in England) She has made a superb job of mending the Hinges Handles and Corners. Besides being a good Leather worker she is a lovely singer. Her contact details are Harriet Havers Saddler 01636 678006

I know its a bit off topic but John Timpanny wrote some super songs. We still sing "Whistling Jacket" which is about the folk tale that a Hare will be bemused by a man whistling thinking that is his jacket. I have tried to contact him but the phone no. isnt working

What you are looking for is STOP hinges as they dont open over about 110 degrees and as such are almost un- obtainable in the small size .There are 1 3/4" available and it is possible to cut them down but they dont look right. I get mine from car boot sales on old boxes ,so charity shops and boot sales are a pretty damn good scouce. Hope that this helps