Don Taylor

Not sure if this is what you mean, but I would set up the wood block so that you are punching into the ends of the wood fibres, not across the grain. But, better still: https://www.sailrite.com/3-Tips-for-Better-Hole-Cutting That punch looks pretty knackered. See: https://www.sailrite.com/Can-I-Sharpen-My-Hole-Cutter

Looking at the Nanuk web-site, they have a 918 case that looks like it will easily hold a 7" concertina - I am tempted.

I liked Frank Edgley's Anglo hand straps so much that I asked him if he would sell me a pair for my Hayden duet. He very kindly agreed and I love them. They are the perfect combination of thickness and suppleness, they are smooth on the inside plus they are longer than the originals on my Beaumont which were a bit too short for my big mitts. I tried making my own first, but selecting just the right leather is surprisingly tricky. I think that I should have bought a fairly thick piece and then split it myself to get the right thickness. The leather supply shop only had very thick leather for belts or thin leather for making clothing. I did not know about splitting leather then.

Hmmm. Trying to work out what the hole configuration means, especially the large egg-shaped hole. Slanted rest with a thumb strap and a ?

This is what you get when a jeweller makes a concertina! A thing of beauty. So that is a Hayden? 47 buttons? Air button? What size is it?

Vince Thanks for this, so it really is your own plug-in! I already use Musescore. BTW. The concertina sound font linked in my signature space below works in Musescore.

Vince What music notation program are you using and what plugin are you referring to?

I am not going to revive the arguments about the mirrored layout vs. the standard Hayden, you can go back in the forum for several discussions about this. AFAIK only one member here uses and espouses the mirrored layout and that is a real problem. If you do choose the mirrored system then only one maker (Wim Walker/Concertina Connection) makes them. The choices for Haydens are already quite limited so you would be restricting yourself even further. If later you decide to sell a mirrored Hayden then I suspect your potential world market can be counted on the fingers of one hand - it might even be just the thumb... You could ask Wim how many he has made.

This is very important list! Can others add to it? How about: Little runs leading up to the root of the next chord. e.g. Play G-A-B leading to C when going from G major to C Major . Play 6ths or 10ths below the melody. Anybody else got some more to add?

Sad to say that group or choral singing is probably one of the most dangerous activities possible wrt spreading Covid-19. When you sing you eject many droplets for a much greater distance than the recommended 2 metre social distancing rule.

Parabolic auto-corrected to parable lice? Is it just me or is auto-correction getting much more aggressive lately?

I believe that the little Zoom hand-held recorders can also double as a combination microphone and USB audio interface so if you have one of these then maybe it could be used to reduce latency without having to buy additional hardware. Some models also have an auxillary mike input socket.

If you are doing it yourself then it would not be expensive. You might need to buy some tools. Fiddly work. Why do you think it might be a reed that is buzzing and what do you expect to be able to do to the reed when you get access to it? If you cannot see anything obvious that resonates inside the action then you should return it while you can.

Those are waxed in accordion reeds in reed blocks. Google about removing accordion reeds for information on how to get access to the inside reeds. Not trivial but not rocket science either. Are you sure that the buzzing noise is coming from the reeds and not something resonating in the action? I am not sure but I suspect that you will need to remove two tiny screws in the back of the ends to release the action board.

Rick Epping's Grandad?