Ross

I've been hammering on my Elise now for a couple of months and can now play Twinkle Twinkle quite well and have moved on to some other songs. The more time I spend with it, the more interested I am in it. Thanks for sharing all the tunes, even without the polish they still sound great and give me something to strive for. Keep posting!

Can't make this one after all. Hopefully the next one.

About the least epensive shipping to the UK is Parcel Post and runs $40-45 and takes up to 2 weeks. I'd be willing to split that with you at $270 total.

Its a long drive from Michigan too, but I've put the date on all my calendars and haven't heard any objections so far. I haven't actually registered yet but will probably be doing so within the next week.

Still for sale

Not a gig, but my Elise is going with me for 2 week work trip to Virginia. I just hope that the other guests at the hotel are the understanding type.

Instrument is in excellent condition and located in the US. Asking $250 or make me an offer. Comes with the gig bag and tutor. I also bought an Elise Duet and it suits me better so the Anglo has to go.

The bar on my old Lachenal is 1.9 cm with a rounded top.

Just an observation, it seems as though the more inexperienced players are more inclined to want to re-engineer the handle assembly for better bellows control. The more experienced players are more likely to keep things a little loose for better finger movement. Part of this may be due to the instruments that we play. Playing the Hayden Elise that I have takes twice the effort that it takes to play the old 20B Lachenal that came in the mail today. I'd seriously consider adding thumb loops for the duet, just because of the weight and stiff bellows. Absolutely not needed on the Lachenal. (IMHO)

My Rochelle and Elise both have 20mm palm bars. The buttons on the Rochelle are a little taller. On both concertinas, I find no difference in tone or volume between the buttons pressed half way in or all the way in. Is the last half of the button travel wasted motion?

I made up a temporary palm bar out of some scrap wood to try out some alternate positions for my Elise. When I pivoted the pinkie end in to parallel with the buttons, my pinkie could reach more buttons, but it seemed that middle fingers ended up too close. This also pivoted all of my fingers toward the thumb. My next move was to move the pinkie end away from the buttons a little to about 3 degrees and end-ways 3/8 inch toward the pinkie. I realize that there are many hand sizes and preferences, but this seems to line up pretty good with my fingers. Once I get the best feel, I'll make up some permanent handles or just remount the original ones.

I would say that as the cross section of the bellows decreases, it should take less time and hand force to develop the interior pressure to make the reeds speak. You'll probably find that you run out of wind a little sooner too, that's the trade-off. Pure mathematics. Nice looking little 'tina you have there, you should be really proud of it.

I'm considering going, but I can't make a decision until a few weeks before the event at the earliest due to work schedules.

When I get the chance, I'm hoping to make up an adjustable arrangement to see if I can improve the feel and finger / button relationship.

I and some other Hayden Duet players agree that the handrest bars are too low on the Elise starter model. And the straps are too sloppy, not enough tension. We advocate making another hole or two in the adjustable straps, or putting pipe foam insulation on the handrests. --mike k. I've just started making noise with the Elise, not really playing it yet. I'll have to agree that the whole handrest/strap assembly leaves something to be desired. My hands are on the small side which may play a part in it. My idea is to make adjustable bars so I can move them all over the place if need be. I may also experiment on adding a support that would rest most of the weight on the ball of the thumb. Because my hands are small, I also have trouble reaching the higher notes with my pinkie, so the adjustable bars would allow me try reducing the angle between the bar and the buttons, making it easier to use the pinkies.