Dan Worrall

Right. That note reminds me to mention that I fixed the crack, and it is playing great now. I also took that time to make a set of higher wooden hand rests for it (1.1 in instead of 0.6 in originally) and that makes all the difference in the world ergonomically. The distance from the hand rest to the buttons of the G row is 1/4 in shorter on a Jeffries than on my Dipper Clare....go figure....and it always felt a little cramped. No longer.

Well done Harry Robinson!

Very nice playing Jody! I hope you'll be bringing some copies to Palestine! For those who have missed that thread, Jody will be joining us in Palestine, Texas March 22-24.

Just an update.... For those attending, make sure to let Erica or me know, so that you'll be on the list for a pre-workshop sendout of the music (and a worskhop schedule). And don't forget to make your hotel reservations...it is a small town so that can be tricky. Recommended is the Best Western, ask for the festival rate. Looking forward to it....spring is almost here! Dan

Quote HaHa...hadn't noticed the back ground. But having just spent 8 years building ( and now completed) a cabin on the very remote west side of Vancouver Island, Marlene said she would like an outdoor shower. All the ones I could buy were stupidly expensive, so for a Christmas present I made her an outdoor steam-punk shower, complete with pressure gauge and heated soap holder. I love being retired ! There is also a Aluminium cello in the background but another story, another time ! Robin, I'd call you a Renaissance Man, but the concertina wasn't around then.............

Robin, Thanks for posting. The bass is amazing! But my question for you relates to the last video; what is all that copper piping behind you? Have you and your new bass been thrown into the garage, or perhaps a bathroom, by an unsympathetic relative??? Best, Dan

I don't know why my two pictures didn't show....they seem to have uploaded just fine.

Many thanks, all! It is just a hairline crack, with no step, thankfully. I think I'll go for the PVA glue and will let you know how I get on with it! Dan

Hi Gary, I apprenticed with Harold during 2005-2006, when he generously taught me to build my own concertina in his fashion. That little L-shaped piece that you mention was not part of his method at that time or later, from what I know. So cannot help you there. I can however confirm Dana's interpretation of the board with the circle cutout; it was to keep the bellows off of the swinging reeds. His bellows, imported from Italy (from, I think, Galassi) had a lot of motion to them. Concertina-making didn't take with me, but I built two instruments. One of the lasting memories I have of my time with Harold is of building many homemade jigs (he called them 'fixtures') for various manufacturing steps. They are elaborate contraptions that he designed himself to get the most out of his limited collection of power tools. I still have them, stored on the high shelf of my woodshop, along with notes and photos from my lessons from him. I doubt they would be of interest to anyone today, but if there is a serious aspiring builder who is interested in making hybrids, I could part with them. Howard would have wanted that! Here are two pictures from that time; one is of the action board of my concertina made with Harold (note no L-shaped thing), and Harold and I holding my first concertina. You can tell from the photo that he had as much pride and ownership in that instrument as I did. Years later, I had parts that I had made for a second Herrington-style GD concertina, the wooden parts of which I had built. Harold had passed away, and I wanted to make sure it was a keeper, so I asked Frank Edgley to finish the interior action setting. It is a great player, and the world's only Herrington/Edgley/Worrall! Dan

I have a lovely old Jeffries 30 button that I recently purchased. It had been completely rebuilt in the 1970s by Colin Dipper, and is a wonderful player. However, it has developed an air leak. Investigating, i found the culprit -- a hairline crack has opened up in the action board, extending about 3 inches from the air button hole down to a nearby note hole, along the grain. The crack is only wide enough to see daylight through, but it is enough to render the instrument sluggish and leaky. The soundboard, built during restoration, appears to be spruce or some such, and is single wood (not a ply). In later days, Colin used plywood for these boards, for just this reason....stability and resistance to cracking; my 1991 Dipper's action board is made with ply. No doubt the change in climate from the UK to here in Texas had something to do with this crack developing. And of course, there is the issue of dry air from inside heating during the winter. I'm thinking of spreading some wood glue into the crack, on both sides, to seal it. Or possibly some rubber cement. Any suggestions on this from seasoned repairers? Cheers, Dan Worrall

Ah, Palestine and the East Texas Pineywoods in the Spring....dogwood blossums, azaleas, concertinas and the local brew-pub. Great old time music at the festival, non-stop. Jody. Barbecue. Sacred Harp singing. What's not to like? Its our 14th year. Come join us! Thanks so much, Erica, for posting this announcement. See y'all there! Dan

All, A number of new items are being added to The Concertina Journal (www.concertinajournal.org), just in time for your holiday reading: An Article by Allan Atlas entitled A Richard Blagrove Letter at the Royal Academy of Music. Blagrove was a prominent nineteenth-century proponent of the English Concertina. Reviews by Roger Digby of recent recordings by Charles Marshall, Cormac Begley, Steven Arnston, and Michael Hebbert. A new serial segment within Brief Notes entitled Concertina Tutors of the Victorian and Edwardian Eras. Three old tutors are posted in their entirety (one by Richard Blagrove for the English Concertina, with comments by Allan Atlas, and two by Charles Roylance for the Anglo Concertina, with comments by Dan Worrall) A Current Chronicle entry for Australia, by Warren Fahey, who joins the editorial staff as Country Correspondent for that country. Warren comments extensively on the history and status of the concertina Down Under. Also in the Current Chronicle, a text-only version of a book by Dan Worrall entitled House Dance: Dance Music Played on the Anglo-German Concertina by Musicians of the House Dance Era, originally published by Musical Traditions in 2014. There are instructions there on how to hear the 200+ archival sound recordings from around the world that accompany the text. Access to this digital journal is free. Please navigate to the Site News page on The Journal's website for a listing of and links to all the new content. Comments are most welcome, here on this thread. We are in the process of collecting new material for the next digital issue; please contact us if you have an article to contribute, or a CD or book to review. With best wishes for the Holiday Season, The Editors (Allan Atlas, Roger Digby, Randy Merris, Dan Worrall, and Webmaster Alex Holden)

For folks in the greater Tex/La/Ark region, Mill Fest is on this weekend in the east Texas town (hamlet, really) of Kennard, deep in the Piney Woods. Jody Kruskal is giving workshops on Friday and Saturday, and appearing in concert Saturday afternoon. Here is the website: http://www.oldmillmusicfestival.com/ Lots of good old timey music there, too.

Thanks John. Jeremy Hague would be a good contact. I meant to say Wes Williams not Wes Wallace; I must have watched Braveheart once too many times. At any rate, I don't see him on the ICA contacts list.

Christian, This is wonderful stuff. Gary is right - these recordings give a much more favorable impression of Loveless' playing than anything else that I have heard. I can't help but compare his playing to his teacher - Kimber. Loveless has the basic style nailed - the melody right, snappy chords left is perfect. The versions are somewhat different than those of Kimbers, however, which I find interesting. The Twenty-ninth of May is pretty close, but the others have little alterations scattered here and there. I would strike this up to the fact that Loveless learned, I would think, mostly from periodic visits with Kimber in person, not from recordings. It certainly doesn't detract; they are all well done indeed. I'll have to compare tempos with Kimber - Loveless is really blazing along. Would it be too much to ask you to send digital copies to Wes Wallace at the ICA for archiving there? These are significant enough that they should be formally saved, and ICA is the best place for that at present. Thanks so much for sharing this! Dan Worrall