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Bear with me, I'll explain! I have an Elise duet from Concertina Connection that I've been playing the hell out of for eight months and really really enjoying. I was recently taking stock of my finances and it occurred to me that I could afford the upgrade through CC's trade-in program to get a Troubadour. But then I thought, why? I have not felt very acutely the limited range or lack of accidentals - I'm just playing to accompany my singing, not with other musicians, so if there's something I want to play that I don't have the notes for, I can usually just transpose it, and I have the musical know-how to devise creative arrangements to work around the instrument's limitations. So far, the Elise has held up: one spring broke, but I was able to replace it myself without much trouble. I am attracted to the idea of a slightly smaller instrument (which the Troubadour is). Les Titford has a really good video on YouTube where he does a detailed comparison of the Elise and the Troubadour, and he points out the increased responsiveness of the Troubadour as its major advantage, but he emphasizes again and again that the Elise is pretty great for its cost. There's not really anywhere close to me where I can go try out a higher-end duet, so I'm wondering if any of you folks of long experience can share your feelings on the matter: what is notable for you about playing a more expensive Hayden duet as opposed to an Elise?

Hi Guys... I've just joined Concertina.net as I would like to start learning to play the concertina. After a bit of research, I think the 30 buttoned Anglo would be the model for me but, now comes the problem of actually choosing a suitable instrument from the many on offer! I have, of course, seen a lot of used and absolutely beautiful concertinas for sale while searching on line, concertinas that I would dearly love to own but, unfortunately, they're all rather expensive, and as I have never played before I thought that maybe my best option is to choose a new, cheap model to start with. I wanted to ask you what you guys think of the Rochelle Anglo 30 buttoned model? After looking at lots of cheap concertinas on-line this model looks and sounds quite nice and appears to be good value for $415… has anyone ever played or owned this model, or have any advice about it? The other question that I would like to ask is… I live in West Australia where concertinas appear to be almost non-existent, so I will have to order either from the UK or US. I read somewhere that, due to the rough handling while in transit, particles of fluff or dust can dislodge and clog the reeds, which may then need to be removed and cleaned. Is this true, and if so, would a novice like me be able to remove any dislodged particles myself? Many thanks, John