I just got the email from Frank Edgley. It’s an Anglo C/G with a Jeffries layout. I ordered it several months ago. He is very happy with the way it turned out and I should have it a a week or so. He just has to finish tuning it up. Apparently that’s quite an ordeal. I have been under a huge amount of career-related stress for a few months so this is a real breath of fresh air.
That’s exciting! I am waiting for my autoharp to be done (by George Orthey). I should hear from him this month.
That’s cool, Jessie. I havent seen one in a long time. You’ll have to post a picture of it when you get it.
Oddly enough, my car’s trunk has 8 cans of Guinness that belong to Frank in it.
Congratulations!
I didn’t know you could tune those things!
Wow. I’ve always wanted one of those things. Shopped for one for a while befor deciding that I couldn’t afford one worth owning. Well. Too cheap to buy something I don’t know how well I’ll like is a more accurate statement.
Cool, I got my Edgley in june, and so far I love it. Since I suck at it and havent heard other concertinas for months now, I can’t really say how it compare to others, but I think it’s very solid and very responsive. Mine is a modified Wheatstone, having the octave 2 C# on the pull instead of the push, but having another C# beside it on the push (original Wheatstone only has one octave 2 C# button if I understand correctly). I think I regret doing that, it’s not really standard and would screw me up if I tried a standard tina.
Ok, I’ll quit the spitballs and admit it, if I were to ever play something with buttons concertina would be the deal. I wouldn’t want a loud one mind you, I wouldn’nt like that one bit. The cost of these things is quite prohibitive of casual investigation, I would think upwards of $2500?
My hat’s off to the dedicated.
I think they started out at a poor man’s instrument …
Nah Az, in the workshops I took it was pretty common to have both C#s like that. I have it too.
My Edgley is okay, though I wish I’d had the chance to try lots of models to hear the differences. I feel like it is very slow to sound some notes, but maybe it’s my beginnerness getting in the way. I’ve got an eagle eye on Tedrow’s mini-concertinas, though, and once he finalises his design I will be trying to figure out how to afford one…
Mine is a 32button G/C which seems to have been designed with G and D in mind so is great for Irish music. I have a C# on the draw just where I want it on the C row.
If your instrument feels unresponsive compared to others you’ve played then it is unresponsive. I’m lucky enough to have proper concertina reeds even though my instrument is only about 10 years old. It’s made by Richard Evans who’s not well known as a maker outside Australia but is probably in the Dipper league. My instrument is comparable in quality to a well-maintained Jeffries I’ve played.
As for learning new fingerings, don’t be put off. You might get to play accordeon or melodeon one day. Guitarists and 'zouk players learn to move between different tunings. Playing one button box would give you a head start on others.
Cangrats Paul. You are in for a great time.
I want to buy a concertina - can anyone tell me how difficult it is to play them ? How long does it take to play simple tunes ?
Gary how many whistles can you buy instead of one concertina ?
ON TOPIC !!!
One hundred Generation D’s for the price of the Jackie English 30-button. That’s assuming Holmes’ Music in Swindon are still selling Gens at £1.99! I quite like the Jackie, but I’m finding that its lack of the high B is a pain in the rear…there’s quite a few tunes that bounce around the high B and trying to fake it by dropping an octave just doesn’t work very well. Sigh. One more button, that’s all it woulda took, just one more button…
I didn’t know either. He said that you have to tune it up and then re-tune it until it stabilizes. Apparently it takes hours to do. 
Now, back on topic, my whistles are all lying on the coffee table except for the one in the car. 