Steve Gardham

Hope you get it, Richard. Looks like a nice box. Wouldn't mind a squeeze. SteveG

Someone asked about Michael Jary. He's still playing and tutoring occasionally, living near York, but heavily involved in music technology and computers. He uploaded the latest batch of songs on the Yorkshire Garland website www.yorkshirefolksong.net which incidentally has some songs anglo accompanied. Still in Yorkshire: No-one mentioned yet Chris Sherburn amongst the younger players. Whilst Irish-style predominantly he has been pushing the boundaries of song accompaniment for several years. Gav Dav is also putting in some interesting stuff with anglo and there's a young lad from Selby, Joe Richardson, we should keep an eye on.

Here's a few for starters, 'A Week's Matrimony' followed by 'Miss Doxy' and 'There's Bound to be a Row'. Then 'The Fowler' Then 'The Black Velvet Arm Band' followed by 'Adieu to Old England'.

Geoff has confirmed everything I was thinking. The displaced extra notes and the unusual endplates are the give away. The only thing that puts me off it being a conversion of a basic WE 30 key is the quite high quality of the bellows. But these could also be from another box.

Okay, Memphis is certainly far enough from me in Yorkshire to be a non-starter. I wonder if there is anywhere a register of players/repairers/collectors who would be willing to give up an odd hour occasionally to help enthusiastic beginners. I would certainly be willing to take part. Teeny, I would have a good look on eBay at what's available and current prices and then come back to the forum with questions about what you have seen before making a purchase. That's if you don't feel able to take up Neil's reasonable offer.

I may be wrong here but I haven't seen many standard layout 48 Englishes with 6-fold bellows. They normally only have 4-fold or is my memory poor on this one? If that is the case it would be a useful identification point. I hope and presume Nancy is regularly in contact with LT Lost Property. There are a few rogues out there but the vast majority of people would see a very individual unusual item and someone's prized possession and hand it in. Also this is a good learning point for all other players. Don't just take photos, record the serial number and any other distinguishing points.

Concerteeny, If you tell us where you are there is just an offchance that we know a player not too far away who would take a look at your instrument and say whether it is repairable or not. If it's just a couple of pads, even on a cheap model, it's a doddle to repair.

This may have no significance whatsoever, but if you look at the 55key pluses there seems to be a definite trend rising from my 61 to 68, 72, 74 and then it starts to slide back down again 70, 64, 56. What do you reckon the 'mag' stands for, 'Magnum opus', 'magic', 'magnificent'?

Gav, I'll be seeing Vic in a couple of weeks at the next TSF meeting in Newcastle. I'll get the gen on his box then.

Right Gav, I'm going to look really stupid now. I somehow got it into my head that at least some of these boxes were in the keys of A&G including yours when I've actually seen the layout which is G/D? Now I realise AG stands for Anglo-German. It would be very interesting to find out what keys some of these enormous anglos have. At least mine is still the biggest actually identified so far. It would be interesting to see if the one I saw at Crabbs c1970 when I got mine is one of those you have listed.

Hi Neil Nice website. Some interesting boxes. Cheers, Steve

Hi, Having looked at Gav's note arrangement and puzzled over it, and a few others similar, I think it would be more accurate to call these beasts anglos with some duet features, mainly the inner row of same note on push and pull. I am intrigued. What sort of music would it be mainly used for, or was built for? Which style would benefit most from the arrangement? Irish? In 40-odd years involvement with the anglo why have I not come across it before? Indeed, who invented it? Here's a statistic question for Gav. How many were made according to the ledgers and did anyone else other than Wheatstone produce them?

Hi Howard, I suspect that the majority of names on your list do not earn more than half their income/living from specifically playing the concertina. Brilliant musicians are usually gifted and in more than one field and are often in demand from other spheres. Chris Sherburn, for instance, is a brilliant engineer and boat restorer and can turn his 'hands' to almost anything. He is also as much regarded in the folk world for his comedy as his concertina playing.

Hi Gav, Yes, thanks, I managed to find it after I'd posted. It looks a lot like yours. Wouldn't it be great to have a get together of the big-anglo club so we can try out each other's monsters? What does 'status' mean on the profile page? Married/unmarried? I'm not sure what a lot of the categories mean on there. Probably because I'm not American and only taught EnglishEnglish for 30-odd years.

Hi Neil, Where are you and can we please have details/pics of your 50er?