Don Taylor

The 65B Wakker Hayden has a bisonoric thumb button for two high notes: http://www.wakker-concertinas.com/H-2.htm I am not sure if there is an air button.

Even with narrow EC buttons as long as the springs have been adjusted properly then you should not need much pressure to push the buttons. Maybe 50 grams of force to push the button. Once you get used to the narrow buttons then you will not notice them anymore and you will not develop calluses on your finger tips.

I am with Jim on this, I could easily live without an air button on a Hayden if the trade-off was between that and a wanted note button. Isel, it sounds like you are planning to build your own Hayden with 46 buttons in a 6 1/4" box? Even with concertina reeds that is going to be a tight fit.

I don't understand what you want. My Beaumont has a rather weak air button in the right-hand bar. I rarely use it except to compress the bellows before putting it in its box. I could just use a regular button instead. Maybe I am missing something about the use of air buttons on a Hayden but it is not like an Anglo when you sometimes need to use the air button to manage the bellows.

My experience with buying from the US is that, if you bring it over the border yourself, then Canada Customs will charge you GST+QST and not charge you import duty. I think those are the NAFTA rules - and it is still NAFTA at the moment. I use a US mailbox address (run by Kinek, they have two outlets in Champlain, NY) and drive over to pick up my stuff. If you use US Mail + Canada Post then, again, GST+QST and no duties but Canada Post charge a handling fee. However, it can get delayed while they figure out what to do. If you use a courier to bring it over the border then they seem to make up stuff to maximize their take and it takes forever. I do not trust any courier companies. I can certainly understand why you might want to avoid customs altogether.

If you are not confidant about doing your own maintenance on a vintage concertina then I think that an Edgley Heritage or a Kensington concertina from Dana Johnson would be your best choice.

Following up on Bill's point about being able to do at least some of the maintenance yourself, this book: 'The Concertina Maintenance Maintenance Manual' by David Elliot is a must have. The Button Box carry it for a reasonable price - don't even look at the listing on Amazon! Or you can pick it up from Custy's when you are in Ireland. Oh and by the way, an accordion repairer in Montreal is unlikely to have the right tools, supplies or knowledge to work on a vintage concertina.

I have sent concertinas for repair from Canada to Greg Jowaisas in Cincinnati. Just make sure that the customs declaration in both directions is clearly marked 'for repair'. Greg knows about this requirement. Postage would be about $50 in each direction.

I used to own an Edgley Professional but I have since switched from Anglo to a Hayden duet. I thought that the Edgley was very well designed and constructed. I suspect that a Kensington concertina made by Dana Johnson would be at least the equal of an Edgley Heritage. Both have concertina reeds. They are both made in North America for a North American climate - which is very different from that of Ireland or the UK: hot, very humid summers and cold, very dry winters which can play havoc with wooden instruments unless they are properly stored. You should also consider how much import duty in addition to GST and QST you might have to pay when you import an instrument from the EU. If you want to go the vintage route then you might contact Greg Jowaisas who is a respected member of this group. Greg is an expert restorer who usually has a stock of fully restored instruments for sale. He lives near Cincinnati.

Since you live in Canada and already have an Edgley, have you tired one of Frank's concertina reeded Heritage models? Maybe take a trip to Windsor, ON before the trip to Ireland.

This is an intriguing idea but unfortunately both the Morse Beaumont and, I think, the Wheatstone Haydens have an air button embedded in the handrail! I do not understand why they did this, the mechanism is complex and makes it tricky to remove and reinstall the right hand end and yet does not make it easier to operate the air button. It makes it well nigh impossible to modify or experiment with alternative handrail ergonomics.

I belong to a number of other forums that are now moribund. In each case someone has started a Facebook group and advertised its existence on the original group. Folks on the original forum groaned and protested that their forum already fulfilled the need but then posts on the forum started falling off until eventually there were so few that most folks stopped bothering to login to the forum regularly. This lead to fewer and fewer posts and more and more people not bothering. Meanwhile over on the Facebook group, well that did not really work either because groups are much more transient than forums, group posts are mostly transactional and it is difficult to find old posts. Also, lots of folks simply refuse to use Facebook because of its dreadful reputation and because of its despicable CEO and only holder of voting shares. So to the OP I would ask them to please not do this and to please explain what is missing on cnet that makes you want to create your own group. Let us fix cnet rather than destroying it. I would also point out that you had better be committed to being an active owner/moderator for your new Facebook group for many years to come. I have been a forum moderator and it requires a daily commitment of your time every day. It took me years to find someone willing to take over from me when I moved on to a new hobby. I am very grateful to Paul for running this show for about 20 years(?) now. Are you prepared to make that sort of commitment?

Oh no, not another forum destroying Facebook group.

I assume that you have seen toru KATO's web-site? https://www.isc.meiji.ac.jp/~katotoru/acco-concertina.html and his YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/catotoru1963

Any recommendations on a supplier?