My concertina after Steve Dickinson spent a week with it
I thought you would like to see this photo of my concertina after Steve Dickinson, concertina repairer took it away from West Country Concertina Players in Somerset and did some work on it.
I’ve never given my concertina away before so it was slightly daunting however when I showed it to Steve he said that he could take it away for a week and fix a few things on it. It was quite a sight! The thumb straps were wrecked as I hadn’t got round to replacing them – just added more tape, I had a red hanky stopping one of the sides from clicking as they rubbed together, my top Bb was missing completely and the button levels were all higgledy piggledy (is that how you spell that phrase?). It still sounded beautiful of course!
As you’ll see from the photo it is now looking beautiful. I’ve got a bit of practice to be doing to soften the thumb straps and get used the instrument in its new state. But that’s an exciting prospect in itself. I’ll have to get on to writing the music for my new piece a’ dol fodha na grèine and having the concertina all fixed up will make a difference.
Found this interesting post on the history of Wheatstone Concertinas!
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