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[Rog]

I am amazed sometimes at the jury-rigged nature of many performer's boxes, versus the lovely new Castas etc one sees in sessions. I have a battered old Nuage that (mostly) does the job, and a vile £70 26 key PA that generally gets thrown under a table in the garage (where it belongs) until (sigh) it gets taken as a ceilidh backup, in case the band leader selects a set in some DG unfriendly key (which he does at least once during a gig).  The horrible PA does cut through and do the job, though I treat it like a dreadful old mini I once owned, left unlocked in the hope that someone would swipe it (they never did). I've seen all sorts of taped together, ugly abominations used by performer’s (who are often poor and so make the best of what they have).

[Winston Smith]

"(who are often poor and so make the best of what they have)."

Yes, I believe that many great performers don't make much of a living at it, and have to resort to making do and mending. At least it shows that their hearts are really in the music making and not just the pursuit of a fancy lifestyle. More power to their elbow, I say!

[arty]

I bet those performers can get wonderful music out of their ‘jury-rigged boxes’, unlike some, with their ‘lovely new Castas’. Truth is, you don’t need a posh box in order to get beautiful music. I think we all know that.
I suspect the performers you talk about, are only really interested in the music and not in the equipment they carry.
On the other hand, there are many who know that they will never be brilliant musicians but really enjoy having a good, well crafted instrument and they just want to be as good as they can be. Nothing wrong with that! But, I guess Winston is right, there are many who just can’t afford expensive instruments.

It is the same in my world, (I teach painting and drawing to adults), some turn up to classes, literally, with trolleys creaking under the weight of their equipment. Then, you get the odd one who brings a stub of a pencil in their pocket and some paper and they blow your mind with the quality of their work.

[Howard Jones]

Except at the bottom of the scale (I would always advise beginners to get the best instrument they can afford) it is a mistake to conflate "better" instruments with better playing. It is also a mistake to assume that lovely new Castas are top of everyone's wish list.  There are plenty of professional players who continue to use Hohners because they prefer the sound, not because they're cheaper.

My main gigging box is, like the OP's, a battered old Nuage which I've had for around 30 years.  It's taken more than a few knocks, the paintwork is chipped and largely worn away from the keyboard. However it does exactly what I want, and if I had to replace it I would go for something similar.  In view of its already battered state I had no qualms about screwing a mic mount to the front, which I would hesitate to do to my other instruments.

Gigging instruments have a hard life, and are exposed to far more wear and tear than an amateur's instrument.  Rather than judge them by appearances, judge them by the music they make.

[playandteach]

Gigging instruments have a hard life, and are exposed to far more wear and tear than an amateur's instrument.  Rather than judge them by appearances, judge them by the music they make.

When I had my clarinets stolen, I considered every other make and model, even being offered sponsorship to play on other brands. I ended up buying a second hand pair from the same vintage as the stolen ones, much to the insurers delight.
But if you ever come across a Buffet RC A clarinet with a right hand thumb key... it's mine. The only one existing.

[Thrupenny Bit]

I wholeheartedly agree with Howard.
My first box was a Tommy. Coming from a quality English concertina it was the only one I found after looking at ~ 12 odd festival stalls that I could get to make a sound without needing a gym membership to build up my arm muscles. It spoke as soon as I touched it. Had I bought one of the others I probably would have given up as the lack of box 'functuality' would have beaten me.

I was lucky and had a deep pocket at the time and appreciate not everyone would be in such a fortunate position. As Howard says, buy the best you can afford. If you do eventually decide it isn't for you it will still have a good resale value.
Q

[Rog]

Yep. Hohner somehow managed to come up with a winning formula. It’s the way they vibrate in your hands that I like. I think it’s the lightweight construction that does it. And they are (almost) infinitely renewable and still work under heavy shelling 

[Andy Next Tune]

As soon as I read this thread,  I immediately thought of Tony Hall's Hohners!

It's not what they look like, it is the sound they deliver 

[Stiamh]

Jackie Daly has been playing the same 12-bass Nuage for the past 20 years or more. In 2013 he did a house concert at our place and was having a spot of trouble with a button. There was a box technician in the audience who agreed to give the instrument a quick once-over after the show, which he did while Jackie sat in a rocking chair telling jokes and nursing a tumbler of Merlot (as in his tune The Rakes of Merlot).

Yves Hélie (for it was he) was amazed and not a little amused at the amount of accumulated crud coating the entire treble mechanism. A surprise when you consider that the young Jackie was known for tuning and modifying his own instruments and even built the 2-row 4-v he used in De Dannan's "Star-Spangled Molly" years from scratch.

[Rog]

What a great video of your house concert!! Is that an Erica?

[Thrupenny Bit]

lovely!
Q

[Stiamh]

Thanks, lads. Roger, it's a Rowbotham special, 22-button 12-bass Double-Ray C#/D.

[oggiesnr]

For somewhere over forty one of my favourite performers has been Pete Coe and I don't think I've ever seen him play any box other than a Hohner. To be honest I can't imagine sounding like himself playing anything else.

[Anahata]

Time to post another link to Pete Coe's The Sound of Hohner (in case anyone's not seen it yet)

[Chris Rayner]

Professional musicians are for the most part ill paid.  I have known many, and those who could make a halfway decent living I could count on the fingers of a dreadfully mutilated hand.  In my youth I moved in such circles, and was briefly tempted by the thought of trying my luck.  Fortunately I was deterred by an inkling of my own mediocrity together with the opportunity to enter medical school.

I never lost my enthusiasm for music, although for much of my maturity family, work, and innumerable social obligations squeezed it to the margins my life.  I have a number of guitars, some of them quite expensive, if I were obliged to lose all but one I would keep a battered old Otwin flat top steel strung guitar which I bought in the late sixties for £10 secondhand.  It has a perfect tone for fingerpicking blues, and has accompanied me for the best part of my life.  A year or so ago I bought a case for it.  The case cost four times as much as the instrument.  I enjoy playing the others, but the Otwin suits me best.

I have been fortunate to salvage a reasonable fortune from my picaresque life.  I even have a fairly generous pension, which came as a bit of a surprise.  I can afford to treat myself from time to time to well made and sonorous instruments of all kinds.  Sadly what money will not buy is a return to my youth and vigour when dedication to the practice and art might now be yielding dividends.

Spanish proverb:  Take what you want says God; take it, and pay for it.

[Theo]

I have tuned and repaired many instruments for pro and semi-pro musicians The instruments that look a bit battered are almost always a delight to play, which is why the owners to keep on playing them.   Functional repairs always take priority over cosmetics, so they continue to play well despite their distressed appearance. 

A recent example is Saltarelle which was one of the very first to be imported by Rod Stradling 30 years ago. The most recent work I did on it was to completely replace the worn out bass mechanism.  It still looks the same, but the bass end now plays better than when it was new.

[Julian S]

I have tuned and repaired many instruments for pro and semi-pro musicians The instruments that look a bit battered are almost always a delight to play, which is why the owners to keep on playing them.   Functional repairs always take priority over cosmetics, so they continue to play well despite their distressed appearance. 

A recent example is Saltarelle which was one of the very first to be imported by Rod Stradling 30 years ago. The most recent work I did on it was to completely replace the worn out bass mechanism.  It still looks the same, but the bass end now plays better than when it was new.

And I can certainly confirm that ! Great work Theo.
Huge thanks from a grateful customer.

J

[Theo]

Hi Julian

Glad to hear it’s working well, and I did another for long time full time musician on the English folk scene.