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What kind of reeds do you use?
I make my own reeds using spring steel in phosphor bronze reed shoes. The reeds are patterned after a set of Wheatstone Long Scale reeds, and have similar characteristics. They are profiled on a CNC grinder with a high degree of accuracy and repeatability for consistent results from one set of reeds to the next. The shoes are designed to provide a wide dynamic range, free playing feel and quick response. On many concertinas, the higher notes get progressively more difficult to play and have reduced volume, My reed shoes are designed in a way that eliminates this problem.
What kind of wood do you use?
My concertinas use different wood in different parts. The end frames are a Birch / resin composite, compressed at a high temperature to half the original thickness, creating a hard waterproof material that has all the beauty of wood, yet needs no varnish or other material that wears with time. I use the rosewood colored version of this material, cut in a way that shows off the grain. The bellows frames are made out of a light wood called Yellow Poplar, which has a fine even grain and good strength for its weight. The reed pans and action pans are made from hard maple that provides a bright tone and responsive reeds. The reed pan material has a great influence on the tone and responsiveness, The traditional wood is a variety of european maple referred to as Sycamore in England, but not related to American Sycamore. I prefer american Sugar Maple but am always looking for other species that might improve the sound even more.
Do you make wooden ended instruments?
Currently, I don’t. Well made wooden ends are laid up of a number ( usually 5 ) of plies of wood to provide strength across the very narrow parts of the fretwork pattern. The Dymond wood isn’t well suited to this, and is so hard and dense that it wouldn’t likely provide the mellowing effect people usually are looking for with wooden ends.
What keys are available?
Currently only the C/G, which is the most common in use for Irish music. It covers the range of essentially all the traditional music, is easily played in the most common keys for Irish music, and is able to be played in the less common keys as well. Eventually I hope to offer a D/A , Bb/F and A/E, but there is such a need for C/G instruments with the resurgence of the concertina in Irish music that it will be a while before I have time to design the reeds and reed pans for those instruments.
What kind of deposit is required,
None. Since I don’t make custom instruments, if a person needs to be dropped from my list, I just pass the instrument along to the next person in line. Please don’t use up a space on the list if your aren’t serious though. it isn’t fair to others
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Can I buy more than one?
For those ordering with an eye on resale, If your customers wants to pay more for a concertina that might be available sooner than it would be from myself direct, that is fine, but I don’t want to have the prices artificially raised by someone buying a large number of instruments at once, only to resell them to people who now would have a longer wait if they want to buy direct. Orders will be limited to one or two per year per buyer, depending on the current state of my orders. If I find standing orders are taking up most of my production, I may limit this further.
What is your wait time?
It was a shock to me to have been working six to nine months out for the last few years, only to have a surge in orders that pushed the wait out to two years only a week after my advertisement on concertina.net went up along with the Kensington web site. At this rate, the wait may change quickly, and the only way to find out is to contact me. Simple inquiries about my concertinas won’t hold a place for you, but if you express a desire to purchase and want more information, I’ll hold a place in line for a few days to give you a chance to make a decision. Concertinas are a big purchase, and I don’t expect snap decisions.
What kind of warranty do you provide?
Generally, it is my great desire to make sure that the instruments I sell continue to give pleasure to their owners for a long time. I will repair defects in manufacture for a period of five years to the original buyer, and currently provide one free touch up tuning after a year of playing to allow for stress relief in reeds that may make them go slightly flat or change their set. This is common in all new concertinas. I don’t cover shipping for this, so for some it may be impractical to avail themselves of the service. I do try to provide a quick turnaround for this service as it fits into my work load. I also provide a fairly comprehensive maintenance sheet , and will be glad to talk people through simpler problems on the phone, or consult with any concertina repair person not familiar with my instruments.
How big, how many folds to the bellows etc.?
My concertinas are 6 1/4 inches across the flats, hexagonal ended. They have six fold leather covered bellows 1- 1/8 inch deep, Nickel Silver ends with 30 Delrin buttons plus one for air. They weigh a little over 3 lbs., similar to a 30 button C/G Jeffries with metal buttons. The button layout is a modified Jeffries layout. The action uses stainless steel levers in a special forked post that provides lateral stability as well as easy lever removal for repair or repadding. Springs are stainless steel and are specially wound to provide a life span of well beyond 4 million cycles. The concertinas come in a hard case, and have included a set of Allen type screwdrivers for maintenance. All screws are allen head to avoid instrument damage from slipping screwdriver blades so common in traditional instruments. All are standard (american) sizes in case one is lost.
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