David Levine

Dear Dr. Ghent, I admire you for giving credit where due. But imitation is still the highest form of praise. Yrs, Levine

Selling for $448? That seems crazy. You could buy a working Lachenal for less than half that and easily make your own tuning bellows.

The more I play the more I understand that I should be using all of the buttons, not just the default system as described by some great players and teachers. You can hear the difference between great old school players like Noel Hill/Tim Collins and great new-school players like Mohsen Amini and Cillian King. Using buttons on the accidental rows can help you avoid bellows changes that don't accord with the phrasing. Being forced to use bellows direction to choose a note is similar to playing the fiddle and bowing without regard to phrasing. When you can use all of the buttons on the concertina then you can phrase naturally rather than being forced to phrase by the need to change bellows direction. You aren't bound to push or pull because of the note. The only notes on my 30 button concertina that aren't limited by bellows direction are my high F# pull and the press middle E. On my 35 button Dipper I do have a press high F# and draw middle E, but I seldom, if ever, use them. I don't see why you'd need to change a reed to achieve a two-finger single-button triplet. My young students find it hard at first but after a while they can use the two-finger triplet on just about any note. Which I still can't do, being old, creaky, and lazy! The kids don't know any better, and do what I tell them is possible and necessary. I just use the first two fingers and sometimes middle and ring fingers, but I am hopeless with the little finger.

Jim, Tim Collins himself cautioned about the triplet involving the LH F# because of the difficulty of such a dramatic, fast triplet with a bellows change. On my concertinas I replace one of the right hand accidental row D# reeds with a middle octave F# on the push. This makes G/F#/E triplets accessible and is useful in general. I use the second button in from the middle on the RH accidental row. This is a feature that Colin Dipper and Chris Ghent offer. I have retro-fitted an F# reed on some of my concertinas, using Exacto knives to -- on Wally Carroll's advice -- adapt the slot to accept the larger reed for the F#. It is a reed on the inside so the slot is easy to work on. Obviously, you have to be careful and take it slowly. This works for an Anglo with real concertina reeds. On a concertina with accordion reeds the job should be very easily and inexpensively done by any repair person.

"...a G/D anglo makes more sense than the traditional C/G." I agree in the sense that the G/D is more intuitive. More logical. But to me the C/G makes more sense musically.... though I'm not sure what "sense" means in this context.

"a CG will also work." .... LOL. A bit condescending and understated. I haven't ever been to a traditional Irish session, anywhere in the world, where a DG concertina is played with the phrasing, tempo, and dynamics of a CG.

LTG: "Standard" Jeffries layout with C#/C# first button on RH accidental row and D#/D# on the next button (second column). Dierdre, the rows go sideways and the columns go up and down. C# button on first row, first column on the RH accidental row. It just takes a few minutes to change the positions of the C# and D# reeds to whatever button a player would prefer.

SOLD -- THANKS FOR THE INTEREST....

That is one serious fetish!

It must be zero hour in the Stevens house. Bathtime, bedtime, storytime.

Email and c-net message sent to you. David

This has been sold.

I am hoping to find a low C/G Anglo like the one Cormac is playing here. Any leads appreciated. Thanks in advance. David