Don Taylor

Looks like a Bastari: https://images.app.goo.gl/nvjT6VYKmcTMYiKe8

Hunting party? Riding to the hounds in the UK looks pretty strange to me. Even the duck hunters here out on the river in full jungle camo strikes me as bizarre. I think that hunters just like to dress up.

The main problem, especially if the tubing is perished, is getting the buttons to stay upright and aligned with the holes when you try to put the end back on. I have usually managed, with some suitable cursing, to get it back together with aid of a thin stick (a BBQ kebab stick) to reset any errant buttons. Other folks say to invert the whole thing so that the buttons hang down and offer the end upwards on to the buttons. You cannot do much damage to your concertina by taking the ends off to have a look, but only remove one end at at a time. There are lots of historical posts here about this type of action mechanism - Google the site for "Stagi action": site:concertina.net Stagi action You do not have a Stagi but the action on most Chinese (they all have fake Italian names...) made concertinas is a copy of the Stagi action. PS. I cannot see any of your pictures, if you are using Google Photos or Drive than you should create a shareable link to post.

It is probably the same problem, if the rubber has gone altogether then the button will stick inside the ends.

Take the ends off and post lots of photographs of the innards and the outards then you might get some good advice on what needs fixing and how to do it. Right now everyone is guessing at what you need to do. You can use something like this to clean and de-rust the reeds: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Fibreglass-Abrasive-Cleaning-Pencil-Refills/dp/B003YSWJDG Judging by the photograph that you already posted it looks pretty good. You should get a copy of Dave' Elliot's Concertina Maintenance Manual before doing any work on this box.

Concertina Spares in the UK say that they sell used reeds, but folks here have reported difficulty getting in contact with Mark Adey at CS. However, the web-site was apparently updated this month so maybe he is back. BTW. You really should start your own forum topic rather than hijacking somebody else's topic about a different subject.

Wim dropped his midi concertina line because the buttons had a short lifetime. Most electromechanical switches (buttons) are only designed for a few hundred or a few thousand button presses.

Dave Mallinson ('Mally') publishes several English session tunebooks. I say this not to discourage you but to point you at some sources for tunes.

I don't know of anyone in Canada (?) but the in the US the Concertina Connection does and I suspect that the Button Box and Greg Jowaisas would sell you a few if you asked them.

The OP (Frogspawn) appears to have a nice 55 button Crane which I would have thought was ideal for English sessions and for reading directly from scores without having to mentally transpose. Brian Hayden's All-Systems Duet Workshop Tutor teaches mostly simplified English session tunes in a harmonic style.

I know nothing about either of the two McNeela concertinas, but I suspect that you need to look at the two listings and compare what the Wren 2 does not have compared to the Swan. For example the Swan has a "rivet action" and " leather bellows". Two items that I would consider essential.

You have a CG Anglo so you can use Gary Coover's books. He does Haul Away for Rosie-O in the Pirate book and I think that is (almost?) the same tune as Haul Away Joe.

FWIW Here are a couple of screenshots from Transcribe! showing the overtones for A=440Hz played first on a Lachenal Excelsior with concertina reeds: and then on a Morse Beaumont with accordion reeds: The green spots are Transcribe's best guesses for the fundamental notes being played. It looks like Transcribe! thinks that C#7 is as likely the correct note as A4 on the concertina reeds, whereas for the accordion reed it likes A7 as much as A4. The vertical scale is amplitude in DB. Here is the audio file I used for these samples: Two Reeds.mp3 Don.

1). Since you appear to be in the US then you should contact Greg Jowaisas about his available vintage instruments, even better to go to Cincinnati and visit him. He is 'your man' and will stand by whatever he sells you and will probably let you upgrade later once you become infected by these damn things. 2). Another option for you is first to rent a Jack or a Jackie from the Button Box to find out if you really take to the EC. 3). If you buy a Jack or a Jackie from the Button Box then they will later take it back in part exchange for one of their better Morse ECs, similarly the Concertina Connection will take back a Jack or a Jackie bought anywhere in part exchange for any of their better quality concertinas. A member here recently bought their mid-range Minstrel and was very enthusiastic about it. 4). You have sort of done this already, but explicitly asking here if anyone has a playable EC for sale might yield a good result. I have had very satisfactory purchases and swaps with folks here. Just be wary of anyone without a posting history.

I understand that the 'modern' Equal Temperament (ET) tuning is a modification of meantone tuning which in turn was a modification of Pythagorean tuning. ET was developed to enable instruments to modulate to any other key without playing a wolf tone, but there are many compromises made to achieve ET. Some might say that ET stands for Equally bad Tuning. Instruments like concertinas that can only play in a limited ranges of related keys do not need to accept the compromises made to achieve ET, they can be tuned so that, for example, thirds sound good and yet still be close enough in tune to ET that they can be played with ET instruments playing within their range. This is not the same thing as having multiple reeds sounding simultaneously with most of the reeds detuned from the main note so as to achieve a musette sound. The tuning for the main notes is still ET. There has been much discussion here over the years about the benefits of meantone tuning for concertinas and perhaps the former owner/player of your concertina had it tuned in a meantone tuning. If so, then I would leave it alone and consider myself lucky. Here is an example of a concertina like yours tuned in 1/4 comma meantone: