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Willum

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Everything posted by Willum

  1. Full details at http://angloconcertinaplaygroup.org 4th / 5th February at The Folk 99 Westgate St Gloucester. Thats Gloucester UK not MASSACHUSETTS! Concert by Cohen Braithwaite-Kilcoyne on the Saturday evening. The tuition and workshops for absolute beginners and improvers will be for the harmonic or 'native' style rather than the Irish discipline. All information is on the website or email me philwill73@gmail.com for more info.
  2. Hosted by Stephen Rowley and me there's a new Anglo Concertina FB group started. We are also hoping to have occasional get-together any-type concertina days. We are both in SW U.K. Any events would be advertised on there and here of course. https://www.facebook.com/groups/1470693809737508/ Phil 'Willum'
  3. Years ago I swapped over the C# and Eb reeds on the first button outside row right hand of my C-G anglo in order to make a couple of tunes / chords work better. I get Eb on the push and C# on the pull. It makes sense for me but I'm an Anglo player and we are all a bit odd. Is this a well known mod I wonder?
  4. You might consider one of the new Blackthorn concertinas on a 30 day trial.
  5. I'm Interested in a Hayden Duet. Is there anything from a Stagi to a Wakker out there? I can do repairs if required. For an instrument of £2000 + I could PX a brand new Lowden 025 Guitar with Hiscox case. Thanks Phil N.Cornwall
  6. Hello Papawemba (Le Voyageur is my favourite track!) Mikefule has given you really good advice I agree with everything said there, especially the bit about spending a little extra to get it serviced by an expert as that can make a big difference to playability and your enjoyment. Phil
  7. Just doing a Brass reeded English. I'm a raw beginner to this, (so please correct me if I'm wrong so others can learn!) but so far I reckon for every 5 swipes of a file for steel you only need one for brass and a tiny tickle when you are in the rarified atmosphere at the high end, but it seems it will comfortably go from old pitch to concert. Also, and I'm sure this has been said plenty of times before but the reed is likely to be slightly lower in pitch in the concertina than it is on the bench. In my case if you tune 5 cents high on the bench it'll be pretty good then reassemble the box and fine tune with a second pass. So you definitely need a tuner that reads out Cents. I bought a Seiko SAT501 seems fine to me. I've made up an aluminium plate with a cropped off nail pushed in to it, the cropped off nail is to push the reed out from underneath so you can get the feeler gauge under it. Hope this makes sense.
  8. Interesting stuff and having just retuned a full set of Brass and another full of Steel from old pitch to concert, then I re-read this thread with a greater understanding. Especially having made all the mistakes that beginners like me will learn from. A number of the reeds, post filing, were found to touch the end of the housing and had to be microscopically reduced in length to allow clearance. Also you're right about the 'set', that is a black art, but you can tell when its right as the reed speaks much more quickly when is in the sweet spot. After a few thousand I expect it gets easier!
  9. Hello Malcolm old bean, Yes of course I remember you, those days at Plymouth Poly with Gerry Beldon and other squeezers such as Derrick Carter, whose still playing with the Plym Maids, as well as the QE2 visit to Auckland with Chris the Squire who I met at Sidmouth years later I donated my Lionel Bacon. I'm fine, approaching 65 but pretty fit. I married the QE2's Harpist Sarah Deere-Jones (all over YouTube like a rash) and we live in N.Cornwall I design Electronics and still play the Anglo and Melodeon and with the Plymouth reunion Morris. I worked out 'Nightingale' myself after hearing Alan Day play it so it'll be a bit different from his and yours no doubt. Funny story. I was driving my Mum mad trying to work out the middle bit when it changes key so took the box out in my car to practise it. Parked up in a layby with a view, and in the next car was a bloke with a tenor sax. I'll raise a glass to you this evening.... Cheers! Willum
  10. We may not need another version of 'Nightingale' but here's mine anyway. This is a Dickinson Anglo S/N 60010 with the 'Dickinson Brothers Great Linford' metal label. When Steve applied for the use of Wheatstone from Boosey & Hawkes they asked to see a sample of Steves work and this was the instrument he sent. Needless to say it 'passed'. Its now in Bb/F. Its well travelled having circumnavigated the globe on many occasions when I was a ships R/O (QE2) this photo of the best dressed box player showing that a concertina will attract the attention of elegant ladies! (Nurse on hand too.) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fpvgZM-XtZc https://www.dropbox.com/s/blwfx12ylbk9yse/wardyconcertina.jpg?dl=0
  11. Hello experienced people, I'm retuning a Wheatstone English from old 'high' pitch to A440 and its all going reasonably well. I notice though that every time I file metal from the base 1/3 or so, no matter how little, the tongue always ends up inside the housing and needs to be bent out in order to get it back to the 'speaking' position. Im putting a feeler gauge under it while filing. Initially I thought this is the friction of the file warming up the outside of the reed and causing it to expand but it never recovers to the original place once its cooled down. Is this a fact of life I wonder. Phil 'Willum'
  12. Thanks for the sage advice, a certain book is on its way here!
  13. I'm new to concertina repairs, PVA seems the obvious choice when fitting chamois leather to the chamber tops, and hot glue when fitting pads to ends of levers. Is this reasonable? Also I was wondering what type of felt to use to line the holes in the buttons to take the lever ends. I bought some 1.5mm red felt but its a bit too thick. Phil N.Cornwall with a well knackered Wheatstone English to fettle.
  14. By the bearded cringe, yes it is the very tune. Thanks Andy it may well have been Bob Walser that I learned it from. Well spotted.
  15. I learnt a tune called 'The Schooner Rag' from a chap at Sidmouth FF say, 33years ago. He wrote the tune & was a good Anglo player and worked at the maritime museum in Boston Mass. I still play the tune, and want to credit the chap. So if anyone knows who it was please let me know. Thanks Phil 'Willum' N.Cornwall UK
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