A Visit With Bob Tedrow (Homewood Musical)

Like many of you, I have noted how involved Bob Tedrow is in the world of concertinas and how much interesting information he shares with all of us. So I took advantage of a trip South in July, 2000 to visit his shop, Homewood Musical Instruments. There I found not only concertinas, but other items that interest Bob and his steady stream of customers, including guitars, banjos, ukuleles, and accordions. Bob said he commonly has one or more old concertinas in stock, and he had just sent out one of his "turbo-Stagis" (that's our term, not his) to a customer. I spent much of a day watching him repairing a Lachenal English concertina and interacting with folks who came in. As I saw in his workshop the month before in Chicago, Bob has clearly made a careful study of how concertinas work and how to repair them. His willingness to share everything he knows in the name of promoting the instrument, rather than guarding "trade secrets," reminds me of several Cajun accordion builders I have met.

Bob seems to rely on word of mouth and local or Internet referrals rather than taking time to make a catalog or advertise extensively. He was very nice about having me underfoot for a whole day and is a pleasure to deal with. I was even present for the "Concertina Support Group" meeting, but since no concertinists came by this time it consisted of a gentleman with a continental chromatic accordion, Bob on uke, and me on trumpet. So we played 1920s tunes! If you are a concertina afficionado and are in the area, give Bob a call and pay him a visit. Homewood is part of Birmingham, Alabama, a scenic mountainous are with a lively music scene. You could easily spend several days there visiting the museums and other sites of interest.