Jim Besser Posted November 20, 2009 Share Posted November 20, 2009 (edited) Harold - nice to see you on c.net, finally. You have many admirers here. For those who don't know: Harold was one of the pioneers in the effort to produce reasonably priced hybrid concertinas with accordion reeds but real concertina mechanisms. My first decent concertina was a square Herrington C/G. When I bought it, it was my only concertina option; this was pre-Edgley, pre-Morse, pre-Tedrow. I still have that box and often play it, even though my main squeeze now is a vintage concertina (with an even better Jeffries now only days away). The Herrington sits next to my desk, ready for breaks in my workday. It is almost indestructible; it's never required service; it's survived many Morris gigs in bad weather and my (excessively?) robust style of playing. I, and probably many others, owe a lot to Harold. Edited November 20, 2009 by Jim Besser Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dan Worrall Posted November 21, 2009 Share Posted November 21, 2009 Harold - nice to see you on c.net, finally. You have many admirers here. For those who don't know: Harold was one of the pioneers in the effort to produce reasonably priced hybrid concertinas with accordion reeds but real concertina mechanisms. My first decent concertina was a square Herrington C/G. When I bought it, it was my only concertina option; this was pre-Edgley, pre-Morse, pre-Tedrow. I still have that box and often play it, even though my main squeeze now is a vintage concertina (with an even better Jeffries now only days away). The Herrington sits next to my desk, ready for breaks in my workday. It is almost indestructible; it's never required service; it's survived many Morris gigs in bad weather and my (excessively?) robust style of playing. I, and probably many others, owe a lot to Harold. Jim, Good thread! Harold is a true original, and a true gentleman. I can't remember when I first met him, but I do know that five years ago I was brassy enough to ask him to teach me to make concertinas....and he surprised me by saying yes. We spent three multi-day visits in his shop. He very generously took me under his wing, helping me to make a whole suite of jigs (see picture....that is him at the end of one long session making the jigs in the foreground, in 2005), then taking me through the rest of the process. I built two and a half before realizing that that was not my new calling in retirement! Harold is an inventor and a constant tinkerer...his unique way of building hybrids was hatched entirely in his cranium--he was the first in North America to build them--and perfected by trial and error. By coincidence, we spoke earlier today; he has taken on a colleague as well as an assistant and has completely revamped and streamlined his production; look for his new concertinas soon. They will no doubt continue his tradition of making very fine instruments at as low a cost as he can manage. Harold has been with us at Palestine each year for the past five, usually holding a repair workshop and holding forth on the fine art of tuning. He will be there again this year, as we say in these parts, the Lord willin' and the creek don't rise. Dan Dan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Timson Posted November 21, 2009 Share Posted November 21, 2009 Welcome from me, too. On our Myspace page you can hear a recording of me and Anne performing Lili Marlene, with Anne singing and me accompanying on my Herrington square G/D. I made that recording only a month ago, so you can see I still play it even though I have a Jeffries and a Morse G/D to compete for my affection. It's still a great little box with a very distinctive sound all of its own that's just perfect for some material. And of course it was my first proper G/D that I took in the Radway with me 10 years ago after it arrived on my birthday. Thanks again, Chris Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ceemonster Posted November 22, 2009 Share Posted November 22, 2009 welcome, master craftsman, and may i ask a question about the herrington button mecanism? i understood from reading past material on this site that at one point herringtons were being made with a newly-developed mecanism that was extremely fast and extremely durable. then at another point, a post on a thread on this site said the poster believed this mecanism was no longer being installed in herrington concertinas.......any possibility of getting clarification? thanks, and welcome to the tribe.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Henrik Müller Posted November 23, 2009 Share Posted November 23, 2009 Ah, jigs! (Not the tunes) - the lifeblood of concertina makers. /Henrik Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bill_mchale Posted November 23, 2009 Share Posted November 23, 2009 I will also add my welcome. Truly its great to have guys like Harold, Frank and Dana on here as it was to have Richard Morse may he Rest in Peace. I always thought the square concertinas were very cool. It is a shame that some got hung up on the number of sides a concertina has rather than how good it sounds or how playable. -- Bill Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CaryK Posted November 23, 2009 Share Posted November 23, 2009 (edited) welcome, master craftsman, and may i ask a question about the herrington button mecanism? i understood from reading past material on this site that at one point herringtons were being made with a newly-developed mecanism that was extremely fast and extremely durable. then at another point, a post on a thread on this site said the poster believed this mecanism was no longer being installed in herrington concertinas.......any possibility of getting clarification? thanks, and welcome to the tribe.... I hope Harold will respond with a more complete and accurate answer, but I believe you are correct. At some point after he made and sold his first concertinas (which was in 1998, I think) Harold contacted all purchasers and re-installed a more traditional mechanism. I believe he was able to track down and convert the mechanism in each concertina that had his original unique mechanism. I had a conversation with him more than a year ago to determine if my Herrington had gone through the conversion. He confirmed it had. Not sure what was wrong with the original mechanism; again, hopefully Harold will be able to clarify all this. In any case, one of the strengths of my Herrington (30b, six-sided C-G) is its very quick action. Also, its a very durably built instrument. Edited November 23, 2009 by CaryK Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Harold Herrington Posted November 23, 2009 Share Posted November 23, 2009 welcome, master craftsman, and may i ask a question about the herrington button mecanism? i understood from reading past material on this site that at one point herringtons were being made with a newly-developed mechanism that was extremely fast and extremely durable. then at another point, a post on a thread on this site said the poster believed this mechanism was no longer being installed in herrington concertinas.......any possibility of getting clarification? thanks, and welcome to the tribe.... From Harold Thank you for your kind words. The original Herrington mechanism used a fixed steel post that functioned as a guide for the button and a coil spring. This mechanism design proved to be problematic. It was modified to eliminate the problem, but the revised design was rather complicated. This translated into it being more costly and time consuming to produce. That design was dropped and replaced with a mechanism somewhat similar to that of the Lachenal. This revised design has proven both sturdy and reliable as well as fast. Currently we are working on a new design that uses a removable reed pan and a riveted mechanism. I guess you might say we have come full circle. We are very pleased with the new design. We are doing construction cost and time studies as this is written. We are also going to have many of the most time consuming parts fabricated by a CNC laser. These parts will be more accurate than those built by hand and hopefully less expensive. This will leave me and my associates more time to do the really critical things that require special skill and experience, As a side benefit we hope that doing will allow us to significantly increase production and at the same time cost. If successful we plan to lower the selling price. There are still lost of work to do on time studies. I can't say if we will achieve our goal, but we are going to hive it a run for it's money. Harold Herrington Rowlett, Texas Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Harold Herrington Posted November 23, 2009 Share Posted November 23, 2009 welcome, master craftsman, and may i ask a question about the herrington button mecanism? i understood from reading past material on this site that at one point herringtons were being made with a newly-developed mecanism that was extremely fast and extremely durable. then at another point, a post on a thread on this site said the poster believed this mecanism was no longer being installed in herrington concertinas.......any possibility of getting clarification? thanks, and welcome to the tribe.... I hope Harold will respond with a more complete and accurate answer, but I believe you are correct. At some point after he made and sold his first concertinas (which was in 1998, I think) Harold contacted all purchasers and re-installed a more traditional mechanism. I believe he was able to track down and convert the mechanism in each concertina that had his original unique mechanism. I had a conversation with him more than a year ago to determine if my Herrington had gone through the conversion. He confirmed it had. Not sure what was wrong with the original mechanism; again, hopefully Harold will be able to clarify all this. In any case, one of the strengths of my Herrington (30b, six-sided C-G) is its very quick action. Also, its a very durably built instrument. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Harold Herrington Posted November 23, 2009 Share Posted November 23, 2009 Welcome from me, too. On our Myspace page you can hear a recording of me and Anne performing Lili Marlene, with Anne singing and me accompanying on my Herrington square G/D. I made that recording only a month ago, so you can see I still play it even though I have a Jeffries and a Morse G/D to compete for my affection. It's still a great little box with a very distinctive sound all of its own that's just perfect for some material. And of course it was my first proper G/D that I took in the Radway with me 10 years ago after it arrived on my birthday. Thanks again, Chris Dear Chris Yours is one of the only Herrington originals that has not been refitted with a new mechanism. If you will send it back I'll be glad to take care of it. For you I'll cover shipping both ways. By the way Chris, how are you keeping, well I hope. Harold Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jim Besser Posted November 24, 2009 Author Share Posted November 24, 2009 Yours is one of the only Herrington originals that has not been refitted with a new mechanism. If you will send it back I'll be glad to take care of it. For you I'll cover shipping both ways. By the way Chris, how are you keeping, well I hope. Harold I think mine is, too! It's never been back to you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Timson Posted November 24, 2009 Share Posted November 24, 2009 Yours is one of the only Herrington originals that has not been refitted with a new mechanism. If you will send it back I'll be glad to take care of it. For you I'll cover shipping both ways. By the way Chris, how are you keeping, well I hope. Very well, I'm glad to say. Ever since the nice surgeon put my new knee in I've been bouncing around like a good 'un. Anne is now a music student at university so life is very full. I'm sorry about the concertina, but since it has always played fine I've never been seized with a sense of urgency about posting it back to you. Cheers, Chris Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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