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After several years' absence, I find myself once again in the concertina world. I've come into possession of a 90 year old Wheatstone model 6 with raised ebony ends. The ends, apart from some light fingernail gouging, are close to pristine. I'd like to keep them that way. For the first 70 plus years of its life the concertina resided in the UK, and then more lately in western Oregon, USA, where it experienced a similar climate. Now I have it in Alaska, which is obviously a harsher world than it has known. (There's a tremendous swing in humidity from summer to winter and back.) I know some flute makers who insist that ebony simply doesn't absorb or lose moisture like other woods, but I have also seen some wooden ended concertinas that where the grill work was pretty busted up. I'd like to avoid that. Does anyone have any advice on caring for the ebony ends? Particularly useful would be anyone living in Norway or northern Scotland, but I'd appreciate any relevant opinion. The grill work seems sooo delicate! Thanks, George Knight Anchorage, Alaska, USA

Hello, Following on from the recent discussion about cases and the advice that it is apparently best to store your concertina on its side rather than on its end (something I didn’t know), I was wondering what other advice and tips people had for just general care, maintenance, storage, cleaning of concertinas. Chris