Another Greg Jowaisas Fan

[Michael Reid]

Greg recently did some work on one of my concertinas -- my main squeeze -- and I'm thrilled with the results. Greg quieted the action (rivets, pads, valves), lightened the touch a bit, improved the L-R balance, touched up the tuning, improved the fit of my case, and probably did a few other things I've forgotten to list here that have enhanced my playing experience.

 

Send him your concertinas, guys and gals, when you need some work done, and I'm sure you, too, will become very satisfied customers.

[RP3]

I second Michael's comments. Greg did similar work on my Dipper and I have been delighted with the results. He is very meticulous and takes his time to get it right. Don't expect him to be fast because this kind of work takes patience and skill, and Greg has both.

 

Right now, he's doing some additional work to my Carroll Bb/F. I know I will be just as happy with that work too! I highly recommend him.

 

Ross Schlabach

[Jim Besser]

Greg recently did some work on one of my concertinas -- my main squeeze -- and I'm thrilled with the results. Greg quieted the action (rivets, pads, valves), lightened the touch a bit, improved the L-R balance, touched up the tuning, improved the fit of my case, and probably did a few other things I've forgotten to list here that have enhanced my playing experience.

 

Send him your concertinas, guys and gals, when you need some work done, and I'm sure you, too, will become very satisfied customers.

 

Told you so!

 

I couldn't be happier with the overall tweaking and reed swap Greg did on my Jeffries, and he cured longstanding problems with my Lachenal/Dipper. He gets the Jeffries at the end of the year or early next for a new bellows, and I'm totally confident the results will be spectacular.

[Daniel Bradbury]

My Crabb is scheduled for new bellows and other work the first of the year. I am looking forward to having it done.

[richard]

Hello

 

I need to add my high praise and recommendation of Greg's work and artistry. I just got back the third concertina that I have sent to Greg, specifically to lighten up the spring pressure to its full possible lightness, and he has done a wonderful job. He always offers suggestions and insight for other little tweaks that can be made to optimize the instrument he is working on, and I trust his input. His heart is in the work. His rates are very reasonable too.

 

Richard

[hielandman]

Greg Jowaisas is a great repairman and a great guy, I would trust him with anything.

[froghorn]

Let me add my endorsement for Greg's work. He recently sold me a fair priced Edeophone which he fully warranted. When I noticed what I thought was excessive air leak he insisted I return it at his expense. He made extensive repairs including replacement of all chamois gaskets and questionable valves, adjustment of action and fine tuned all reeds. Thanks to his efforts it's now a wonderfully playing and sounding instrument. In my communications with Greg he proved himself to be extremely knowledgeable, helpful and honest. I should add the instrument came with one of the fine cases he builds. I heartily recommend anyone needing concertina repair work or a custom case check with Greg.

[Daniel Bradbury]

I have been remiss in not adding my endorsement of Greg's work here yet. He did work on my George Crabb Pollit's Peerless in January/February.

 

I sent it to him primarily for new bellows, some action work and a touch up of the tuning.

 

He played the instrument over a couple of days and then we talked about what should and could be done. Besides the bellows, he lightened the action, replaced the valves, adjusted the reeds, balanced the sound of the instrument and worked quite a bit on the buttons. I have very worn bone buttons that were sitting at varying heights and were very loose in action. He some how tightened up the button action and was able to get a uniform heighth across the fingerboards.

 

The tuning he did is wonderful. Rich chords and near perfect octaves. He even swapped some reeds around to balance the tone of the instrument. It now plays tight and fast with excellent reed response.

 

To make the bellows, he had to construct a new jig which is now using for the new Jefferies bellows. He applied Jefferies papers and gold tooling. He even made new wrist straps, in that I had sent the instrument to him with some temporary straps I was using at the time.

 

I have to say the work he did exceeded all my expectations, and those expectations were very high in that I have know Greg for a number of years and felt I knew the work he was capable of. He did a GREAT job on this instrument. It is a joy to play, to listen to and to look at.

 

I urge any who need work done on their instruments to consider Greg as the person to do the job. I am confident you will not be dissappointed.

[Greg Jowaisas]

I wanted to set the record straight and say that the straps with the Jeffries stamps in Dan Bradbury's pics were made by David Leese. He does a great job and they can be ordered at concertina-spares.com

 

Thanks to Dan, Mike, Ross, Jim, Don, Stan, Richard and all for the nice comments. I'm not perfect but I keep doing my best at any given point in time to get each instrument to play to its full potential.

 

Let's keep those concertinas playing into the next century!

 

Best,

 

Greg