Testimonial from a Long-Ago and "New Customer"

#589 arrived safe and sound in our home - this beauty (Professional Model with yellow box eucalyptus burl and bloodwood ends isn't "mine", but my 17-year-old daughter's... thankfully she shares! 

My old box is Frank's #4, made a good 22 years ago. It had replaced a wheezy Renelli and I remember it as an absolute godsend. Years went on, and oddly my little girl wanted to play concertina too - I thought it might just be a phase, but no, she took to it with the same crazy desire that can't be denied. And then of course, we needed another concertina; yea! Frank and Gwen, to my absolute delight, are still making concertinas so many years later. There's something really quite special in seeing craftmanship carry on, incrementally tweaked and improved on, and rare that we get experience an end product so real and fine these days.

This new #589 has completely seduced us. I'll start playing it, and just get carried away with the tune because it's so easy play! The expression that comes from its responsive button action and soft bellows feels no different than singing from my own lungs. And the speed - my daughter said, "My brain can hardly keep up with the speed of the buttons! ". I really don't think you have to 'break in' this concertina either, it plays like it has been in our hands forever already.

My fingers are stiffer than years before; I had become lazy and left many triplets out, or just lamely glanced off the buttons anymore. But this box doesn't let me do that. Every single button gently touched responds like it's reading my mind and all of a sudden I'm playing so much better and wondering, "Was that me playing?! I thought I couldn't do that anymore...". 

With two Edgley's in the house now, we can play together like never before. My daughter used to kindly use the wheezy Renelli because she was much better at compensating than I was. But with the addition of this new Edgley, we can let it fly - what a wild feeling. They sound different too, #4 is louder, a more brassy tone that keeps things light, lively and awake. #589 has a sweet, mellow tone, smooth like honey; an earthy richness much like my grandpa's harmonica - sure warms a room up.

Often, I just like to watch her play, and find myself saying over and over, "My God that's a beautiful instrument...".