Hey Jim,

It was great meeting you in person. I also met Jack Bond, who is a longtime reader of this site.

The Doc Marshalls have music posted at http://www.myspace.com/thedocmarshalls . We're workin' on record #2 right now.

I'd like for the band to play in Maryland sometime. We're doing a festival at the very southern tip of NJ on July 15th, so we might make a trip to D.C. along the way. If you know of any good venues to play in MD or that area, please let me know.

My pine box is an A. It hasn't been as useful as I had hoped, but it's a fantastic instrument. I'm still of the opinion that Savoy boxes are the best for the money.

I love your zebra wood D accordion. It has a great look and handles particularly well.

Playing with Jesse Lege was a lot of fun. I'm not used to playing 3 hours straight with no breaks, but that's the Louisiana way, I guess. It was a blast.

BTW, I really, really recommend that you try out Balfa Camp. It's definitely expensive, but I'm certain that the vibe would be much more laid back than Augusta. Also, you have the advantage of being immersed in Cajun culture rather than being bullied by the Bluegrass Mafia or Old Time Terrorists.

My brother and his wife live in Olney, so the next time I'm in the area I'll let you know. Would love to drink a case of beer and play some tunes.

Best,

Nick B.

Olney's not that far from me. Apsolutely let me know when you're in the area.

Balfa Camp is something I'd like to attend. Maybe next year I'll check it out.

I'd love to have a handmade A box, just cause I love that low sound. I also want to get an F box. I really don't mind not being able to jam with others with strange keys. Hell, I'm used to mostly playing Cajun music with my dad anyway

Again, let me know when you're back in town.

Cheers!

Jim

F-Box -- yuh talkin' high F or low F? Jest curious. I have a high E/F d-k Falcon and love the heck outta it. Had a recent spate of songwriting with the F and it rocks booty on the lower octaves.

~R!CK

Hey Rick. I'm definately thinking about a high F. Do they make low F Cajun boxes?

The thing that got me interested was listening to "Made in Louisiana" by Marc Savoy / Dewey Balfa. The F sounds like a Merry-Go-Round.

Do you have any recordings/vids of your box?

Cheers

Jim

Guys,

FWIW, I own a hi-F box and it's definitely one of
my favorites!

As has been stated, the lower registers are very
expressive.

I have a theory about hi-F .. I think that it's more
responsive than my other accordions.

I suspect that, because of the high-pitched tuning,
the reeds require less air pressure to sound.

Perhaps the low-mass reeds have less iniertia so they
become more rapidly excited

But, it's godda be one of my coolest instruments!

--Big Nick

Totally concur -- the F handles on a dime and the most responsive key I own. No recordings of mine available *yet* (tunes are originals, still cooking and unpublished) -- but we are in the studio with it and several other of my boxes at the moment. Our target is to have a CD released in September.

I've heard of a low F box, but never have seen one -- I think the dimensions would have to be larger than the standard box to accomodate the size of the reeds. I have a low G and I think at times, it's just too low to really hear what's going on as the band easily starts clobbering it.

But the two high keys -- E and F -- wow... what gloss. They shine through with such little effort. That box is the one on my Myspace main page photo -- dark blue curley maple with quilted maple faces and gold logo. Had it for 9 years... Randy does outstanding work.

R!CK