OLDNICKILBY

Buy a Tenor Treble Sell some guitars ,because for your budget you will only get rubbish and the old adage is still true "You can't polish a turd" A tenor gives you the range for most voices unless you have a really deep voice Keep the a cappella going you can't get better!

Hi Helen, I suggest you get Dave Elliott's concertina repair manual and read it through before you start. This will answer many of your questions. You will likely need to come back to this forum for individual issues. Good Luck

Not in the case of Wheatstone Straps as they will be Steve Dickinsons, but as usual a valid point Jim ( Now there was an interesting typo, it came out as" vlad point")

If there is enough demand then ,having spoken to David ,we will organise the Gold Blocking Dies for both Lachenals and with Steve Dickinsons agreement for Wheatstones . So folks if you are interested speak now and we will see what we can organise. I think that this is a great opportunity to get this sorted as I feel that the decorated straps give a great visual lift to the tina as well as greatly improving the playing ability of the owner

You can often bring the finish back with a dose of Pledge or if the tina isnt worth spending a lot of time you could try a sanding block known as Garryflex Use the 240 grit and then wax polish as often as not it brings the finish back.If you drop me a note I will send you a bit

Are Star Concertinas the Chemnitzer makers still going? I was there about 5 years ago and they had quite a few English and Anglos.Well worth a trek to the outer 'burbs as they make the most amazing machines.

From time to time I come across Concertinas with a repairers stamp inside with the name Envoy Worthington and a vivid description of the "Ailments of the Concertina " that are effectively cured ,from "looseness of tongues(or rather tounges) wheeziness, lack of voice,and bellows stiffened at his Royal Infirmary of Concertinas" at 133 Hilltop Alerton Bradford Do we know anything of this intriguing man ? When I first came across his stamp I thought he might be a Salvation Army Repairer but as he has "39 years experience of repairing and selling Concertinas" I suppose that is wrong

We have designed a series of sanding tools called Finger Sanders with a rotatable belt ,hand held , non electric for all sorts of modelling jobs Belt grits are 160 and 240 and 320 If any one would like one email us or even phone 0116 2403400 and we will send you a sample with a couple of belts free of charge. There can be a dust problem with the scratch pens but they are superb for removing the crud on the reed and the reedframe and as often as not they restore the reed to the correct pitch,again we sell lotsof them at £3.35 with three refills phone or e mail for a catalogue sorry for the commercial. It is important if you are sanding or filing the reeds to keep the "scratches" along the reed not across as this will put fracture lines in and guess what ,the reeds will fracture as they flex

I was having a book repaired at our local binders and noticed that he was using a dressing on antiquarian books.The purpose was to keep the bindings supple and crack free.I tried some on a spare set of bellows and there was a quite marked improvement. Syston Printing & Bookbinding is the man in Leicester 0116 2539552.No he is not on the www

Dont join them beat them. At the National Festival one year we were so sick of melodions wrecking every informal singing session that we started that we founded " MERDE" That is The Melodion Euthanasia Research Development Executive.A free industrial quality trimming knife for all who join,just right for slashing bellows. There is a fairly witty song doing the rounds about the march and dominance of the melodions by Dave Taylor a local singer songwriter.

It might help to contact Griff Jones, the guy that developed the mike A very enthusiastic musician and Morris man.I have spoken to Griff and he is happy for you to phone him. If you are non U K based please remember the time difference, Although Griff has given the O K I hesitate to put his number up, so if you want it, e mail me.

I WAS ACTUALLY OFFERING TO HELP THIS YOUNG PERSON. HE WOULD MOST CERTAINLY HAVE NOTICED IF I WAS BEING SARCASTIC. I WAS NOT WE DONT NEED OVER SENSITIVE PEOPLE TO SPOIL WHAT IS A TRULY WONDERFUL FORUM. WHAT DIFFERENCE THE MANUFACTURING TECHNIQUES MAKES IS NOT RELEVANT tHE OFFER STILL STANDS TO LET HIM SEE MY HOLMWOOD

wELL ACTUALLY QUITE A FEW OF US DO.i HAVE HAD MINE FOR ABOUT 15 YEARS AND NOT A SINGLE PROBLEM IT PLAYS SUPERBLY,I ONLY WISH I COULD, I WOULD BE QUITE HAPPY TO SHOW YOU IF YOU CONTACT ME AS I AM ABOUT 100 MILES NORTH OF YOU.THE BLONDIE IS ,I THINK,THE MOST WONDERFUL TINA I HAVE EVER SEEN AND HAMISH HAS PLAYED IT TO ME OVER THE PHONE AND IT SOUNDS JUST AS GOOD AS TO THE WEIGHT, THERE ARE SEVERAL WOMEN PLAYING THEM AND THE AINT BIG GIRLS WHY YOU NEED TO BOTHER HOW THE ENDS ARE CUT PUZZLES ME ,HAMISH WAS THE FIRST TO REALIZE THE BENIFITS OF USING CNC TO REMOVE THE TEDIUM OF DULL REPETITIVE WORK.HE DOES NOT FELL THE TREES NOR SAW IT BY HAND,NEITHER DOES HE SLAUGHTER THE SHEEP NOR TAN IN HIS OWN BACKYARD THEIR HIDES . HE DOES HOWEVER MAKE EXCEEDINGLY FINE CONCERTINAS IF I CAN BE OF ANY FURTHER HELP LET ME KNOW

Dave Leese most certainly has the dies for Jefferies pattern gold blocking as I sorted them out for him. he also makes a lovely job of it.He has several more patterns as well

You could try going to the Derby Gaol Session run by Keith Kendrick .I am sure he would be pleased to help and a lovely Tina player to boot. It is usually the third Thursday The place needs a degree in Navigation to find but well worth the effort.

Be brave, buy Dave Elliotts book and do the job yourself. It is not rocket science . If you can play a Tina you should have the brain cells available to repair it. Make sure you have decent tools, it makes life easier.

Well the idea seems totally daft as youve put Alan but there is a rather good suggestion in there as is common with many seemingly silly questions. It would be possible to mould the hexagonal frames first and the load them into the mould and then co-mould them with the Santoprene thus getting a chemical bond between the bellows and the frames.The process is often called over-coating We are getting into the realms of Kama Sutra moulding ,but well lets go there.

Well it would be possible to make a moulded bellows,however the tooling is a nightmare. It may be possible to blow the bellows of the core(that is the inside) but that would mean having a solid end to remove,this is not a problem They need to be fed or injected in the inside in the middle to get a reasonable flow however this would need a large side action mould that would be around 18 K. It would be easier to feed on the outside but visually not very good but much cheaper on tooliing around 7K There are suitable materials such as Santoprene or Hytrel, both have excellent U V resistance, excellent Flexural strength and are pleasant to handle The main drawback is the are not very easy to glue If anyone would like to take this further please let me know We have in the village where my factory is based two guys who have spent a life time making bellows and gaiters for the automotive industry and I have had some in depth chats with them on this subject.Sad isnt it but they are a bit like the Steve Chambers of the bellows world

Now heres one to watch,as I am a bit "in the Know" This is the man who is making the new ,very new, Concertina one could even call it a Concert Screamer as it is the Digital,no pun intended, Midi System being flashed around by a couple of old Folkies known as Waley and Fletcher Welcome Me Duck This for those unable to speak in the East Midlands vernacular is a term of friendship