Don Taylor

Have you tested your Phoenix for air-tightness? Hold it vertically through the hand strap of one end with the bellows closed. When you let the other end drop under its own weight (no buttons pressed) then it should take some time to fully extend - 20 seconds or more. More is better. If it drops open in a few seconds then it needs fixing.

I wonder if they even had classifications for brass in the 19th century? Even if they did then do you suppose that the makers would tell what they used? Maybe you are over-thinking this. Those sheets of brass are cheap, just pick one and try it.

Gary Coover's 'Christmas Concertina' is available from Amazon both in paperback and as a cheap Kindle edition. You can listen to Gary playing the tunes here:

I find this topic interesting as I have always wondered how the reed pans are created and I might have a need to replace one myself this winter. Do you rout the reed slots out by eye, or do you make up a set templates for the router bit to follow? Don.

See: https://www.fortepiano.com/index.php/products-menu-item/wire-menu-item/copper-alloy-menu-item/phosphor-bronze-menu-item I have bought P-B wire from these guys and made springs using something like AP James system below. The only problem I had was that any sharp bends needed to be made slowly otherwise the wire would fracture at the bend.

Does phosphor-bronze have the same aging problem as brass? And are folks (David?) sure that they have brass springs and not phosphor-bronze?

This score as written above does not alternate between 6/8 and 3/4, it stays in 6/8 alternating between measures of six 1/8 notes (stacatto) and then of three 1/4 notes (tenuto). Listening to the video I think that I hear an emphasis on the first and third notes, me-ri-ca!, of the three note measures so is that really 3/4 time?

So "ev-ry thi-ngs ri-ght" is 6/8 and "in Amer-ica" is 3/4? No, See Jim2010's reply below. Are the actual note durations the same? The same tempo but a different rhythm?

I would be interested to read the reason that you came to this conclusion.

Paul Is there any chance that you could institute some kind of paywall or donatewall whereby members who make a donation to keep the site running can be free of advertisements? Don.

Wayman, who also comments in that thread and was one of the designers and early makers of the Beaumont, told me that the staff of the Button Box once ran a blind listening test comparing instruments with the two different reed types and they found that the listeners could not tell the difference between them.

The cost of restoring this will be many times what you paid for it, even the cost of replacement parts will be more than the $40 or so that you paid.

I sent you a PM. Phil gave me permission to re-post his sound font a few years ago. Don (no relation)

Thanks for this, very useful as it has helped me decide not to upgrade my Elise to an Elise-2 when (if) it is available. So now my question is what about the Minstrel vs. the Rochelle/Rochelle-2?

Shameless plug follows... and you can make it play a quite acceptable concertina sound for play along practice. See my signature below.