Gerard

"In general, the answer is that on the English (and duets) the air valve is not used during playing. "Signor" Jame Alsepti introduced and (with Richard Ballinger) patented a system of paired air valves -- one in each hand, and each working in only one direction of the bellows, -- and he apparently promoted or taught a style of playing using those valves while playing. I understand that Harry Boyd commissioned instruments with such "bowing valves" from both Wheatstone and Lachenal, and the existence of a few such instruments has been reported here on C.net over the last couple of years. But there don't seem to be any contemporary players who have bowing valves that actually use them while playing, and I don't think it's even clear how Harry Boyd used them or whether any other performers ever did. There doesn't seem to be any need for or even benefit from them while playing an English. The idea that such "bowing valves" would be helpful in using the bellows to imitate the bowing patterns of a violin appears spurious, since the violin has no corresponding aids, and so any pattern of reversals -- bellows or bow -- that would exceed the limits of the bellows should be expected to go beyond the end of a bow, as well. Standard (one hand, good for both directions of the bellows) air valves seem to be used -- and useful -- only for the purpose of opening or closing the bellows without playing a note." Dick: The above paragraphs written by Jim Lucas in March 2006 may be helpful. Do your two valves work on both the push and pull or are they "one way' only? An interesting instrument indeed. Best regards, Gerry

http://www.concertina.net/forums/index.php...entry8251 I believe the discussion above had established that the S.V. meant single valve Best regards, Gerry

Also No.19 refers to the model number in the price list. Here's a link to a 1920 price list http://www.concertina.com/pricelists/wheat...t-Eng-c1920.pdf Steve That's great Steve, it's good to know & also means that my Baritone is a Model 20. Thanks for that. Cheers Dick

Also No.19 refers to the model number in the price list. Here's a link to a 1920 price list http://www.concertina.com/pricelists/wheat...t-Eng-c1920.pdf Steve That's great Steve, it's good to know & also means that my Baritone is a Model 20. Thanks for that. Cheers Dick

Most of us have arrangements that are best suited for our particular type of concertina be it Anglo, Duet or English that we have either adapted ourselves from other sources or obtained elsewhere. I'm sure there are members who can easily gererate a concertina friendly musical score and then there are others such as myself who being challenged in this regard can nevertheless having the apropriate sheet music to work with can learn to play musical pieces of various complexities. Would it be possible to have a "library' of sheet music a member could make submissions to and use as a source to learn from? Best regard, Gerry

For this computer challenged person the Tune O Tron very easy to use and I hope it is soon available. In the meantime instructions for using the ABC Navigator seem to be lacking. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks, Gerry