For Sale: Holmwood English Tenor-treble

[gcaplan]

Hi folks.

 

I'm selling a Holmwood Tenor-Treble English by Hamish Bayne (ocagonal, 56 brass keys, 6-fold brown bellows, raised mahogany ends).

 

For anyone who doesn't know, Hamish is one of the few modern makers of quality English concertinas. This is a serious instrument of traditional construction with hand-made concertina reeds.

 

It's an early one - around 20 years old - but Hamish has always said he feels it's one of his best. It's got a sweet and pleasing tone - ideal for song-accompaniment - and I've lost count of the number of people who have complimented its looks...

 

At the moment it's on its way to Hamish for a full service. It's been pretty much trouble-free: it's only been up to him a couple of times to have the tuning touched up. But I've asked him to re-do the bushing, tidy up a couple of minor issues with the action and check out the bellows, plus anything else he spots that needs attended to. So I'll be selling it in first-rate playing condition. It's been played regularly, so cosmetically there are the usual little chips around the purfling, but nothing more than you'd expect in a working instrument of this vintage.

 

Once it gets back, I'm planning to offer it on eBay. But if you'd like to get it without all the stress and uncertainly of an auction, you could make me an offer I can't refuse :-) . (For newbies, you can email me by clicking on my name at the top-left of this post).

 

As far as I know, this is the first Bayne to come on the open market, so the price is a bit of an open issue. Hamish's price these days is 4000 UKP (around 7000 USD) if that's any help, though obviously I'm not expecting that kind of money. Please let me know what you feel it's worth.

 

If you're seriously interested, I'll be happy to send detailed photos and sound samples as soon as I have it back.

 

Meantime, you can see Holmwoods here: http://hmi.homewood.net/bnick/eng2.htm and here: http://www.d-and-d.com/dnichols/DoN.html . My Holmwood is rather similar to Don's on the second link, except that the mahogony on mine is less strongly figured.

 

Given that the last Holmwood on eBay wasn't entirely kosher, I would arrange with Hamish that you could call him and verify its credentials before the sale was finalised.

 

I'm selling reluctantly: I have a health problem that affects the strength of my hands, and I'm increasingly finding the Tenor-Treble too heavy for comfort. You should be aware that the Holmwood has been built for reliability and is relatively heavy. So I've found myself a nice Aeola Treble, and need to sell to cover the cost.

 

The instrument is in the UK (Midlands), but I'd be happy to send it overseas provided we can come to an arrangement we're both comfortable with.

 

[Editied to clarify pricing]

Edited October 14, 2005 by gcaplan