Jackie English Concertina, Beautiful Sound Accordion Reeds Squeeze Box

I purchased a Jackie concertina some years back and had wonderful results. For about 6 weeks.If you play the concertina regularly, you will find that the pivot points for the valve rods separate from the particle board(!) platforms they are secured to.Let me explain. When you push a button, it presses down on one end of a rod (basically a thick wire). Mid way along this rod, there is a pivot point, like a see-saw, that translates your downward push of the button to an upward lift of a little wooden pallet (an air valve) that covers the reed opening, allowing air to flow through the reed, producing the note. Simple. Foolproof. Not so fast. If the pivot point is not securely attached to the body of the concertina--if it comes loose for any reason, then you're in trouble. Missing notes. In a cheap concertina (and this IS a cheap concertina) the pivot points are pressed into an MDF (particle board) plate. They work loose when you play the thing. This is what happened to me, and on investigating the cause of the dead note (and loose button) I determined this to be the cause. This is a design issue generic to ALL these concertinas. Stay away.

This is a great beginner concertina for the price. The tone is nice, again, bearing in mind the price. All the reeds were dead on in tune when checked against an electronic tuner. Yes, only 30 notes, but being fully chromatic and starting on G, why, that's enough to play more folk tunes than I could possibly learn anyway. No it doesn't sound like a vintage concertina, which is fine, because I probably will never sound like a guy who plays one, either. This instrument feels and sounds good enough to play for several years, though.The instruction book that comes with it is excellent as well.