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thanks for replies re Kensington C/G


pavel

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Hi pavel and rockportland, 

 

I bought a used C/G Kensington about 4 years ago and I've been very happy with it. I played an Edgley hybrid for several years before that and liked it a lot, but the Kensington has a better tone and the action is almost as fast. 

 

I think I paid a bit too much for it, since the seller was in Canada and I was in US--both shipping and import duty--but that's my only complaint. 

 

If you have specific questions I can try to answer them; sorry I don't have one for sale. 

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Thanks very much for the info. I too had an Edgley briefly but didn’t care for the tone. Nothing wrong with the Edgley, it just wasn’t for me. A friend has a Kensington and I love the tone. Good to hear that you’re hanging onto it.

You mentioned you found the action slightly slower with the Kensington. Just wondering if you have any thoughts about that?

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I have spent some time researching import fees from Canada on-line.  UPS rushes through the math and gives no information about the process when they accept your shipment.  If you submit a Certificate of Origin for an Edgley concertina, it qualifies for free trade status and zero import fees.  Since the concertina value exceeds 50% in Canadian materials and labor, it appears to clearly qualify.  Also note that UPS needs the tax number of the receiver in order to clear customs.  Also, there are still other fees of about $40 to get through customs.

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1 hour ago, David Lay said:

I have spent some time researching import fees from Canada on-line.  UPS rushes through the math and gives no information about the process when they accept your shipment.  If you submit a Certificate of Origin for an Edgley concertina, it qualifies for free trade status and zero import fees.  Since the concertina value exceeds 50% in Canadian materials and labor, it appears to clearly qualify.  Also note that UPS needs the tax number of the receiver in order to clear customs.  Also, there are still other fees of about $40 to get through customs.

David

 

I do not trust* courier companies to bring items through customs without finding a way to overcharge for their services.  Since you live in Maine then maybe you could have an Edgley delivered to a Canadian address on the border so that you can drive over to pick it up and bring it back yourself.

 

In addition it is very important to have your package labelled as a 'Wind Instrument - Small Accordion' - see my earlier post on this topic.  I was talking about importing into Canada but the Harmonized System Code is an International standard (that can have local modifications):

 

Don.

 

* A few years ago I met a US couple on a cruising sailboat passing at our town dock in Ontario, Canada.  They told me that this was going to be their last cruise and that they would be selling their boat when they got home.  I told them that we were planning a cruise through the US and they very kindly offered to send us their nautical charts when they got home - no charge.

 

A couple of months later I get a phone call from the courier company telling me that they had the package but that no value had been declared.   I told them that they were a gift but they persisted.  How much would they be when new?  I said that the charts would be quite old and at that time the US actually gave charts away for free to ensure safe boating.  That did not satisfy them.  How much would they cost in the US today?  I did not know.  How much would a new chart cost in Canada?  I foolishly told them that a new chart today would be about $20 each. 

 

There were about a hundred charts in the package - so you can guess what happened next.

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Hi pavel and rockportland, 

 

I bought a used C/G Kensington about 4 years ago and I've been very happy with it. I played an Edgley hybrid for several years before that and liked it a lot, but the Kensington has a better tone and the action is almost as fast. 

 

I think I paid a bit too much for it, since the seller was in Canada and I was in US--both shipping and import duty--but that's my only complaint. 

 

If you have specific questions I can try to answer them; sorry I don't have one for sale. 

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Sorry, I didn't intend to repost my original post.

 

rockportland said "You mentioned you found the action slightly slower with the Kensington. Just wondering if you have any thoughts about that?"

 

I'm not sure what you mean by that. At any rate it hasn't been a problem--since I found the Edgely wickedly fast. 

 

If you order a Kensington, you should be aware that it has a modified Jeffries layout with three C#s in the accidental row (or four if you want to count one an octave higher) on the right side (I don't know if there are other options). This seems like overkill to me, but I'm told that Irish players like it. I miss the push D#, but what are you going to do?

 

I'm aware that there may have been options other than paying the duty from Canada, but it seemed nearly impossible to get the paperwork together--besides it was several years ago, water under the bridge.

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On 8/11/2022 at 11:47 AM, rudeboy said:

If you order a Kensington, you should be aware that it has a modified Jeffries layout with three C#s in the accidental row (or four if you want to count one an octave higher) on the right side (I don't know if there are other options). This seems like overkill to me, but I'm told that Irish players like it. I miss the push D#, but what are you going to do?

 

Dana will take care of this if you order a new one from him. From what I know, he even did some conversion for people buying pre-owned Kensington concertinas. From Dana's website:

 

"For those few people who have use for the second reversed Eb in the Jeffries layout, I have done that for some people who play in keys that make that more useful.  A straight Jeffries option ( only slightly different from the Kensington Standard ) is something I will be happy to talk about though it requires a small amount of reed pan conversion at the current time.  Irish Trad. players will get much more use out of the extra C# than a second Eb."

 

Dana is.a wonderful person to deal with.

Edited by pentaprism
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  • pavel changed the title to thanks for replies re Kensington C/G

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