Magnus

here are some pictures that i took for friends and not really to document the process. But they tell a story i suppose! if things still are unclear i would gladly answer questions. I decided to start putting pictures on my bandpage http://lyngfarer.com/concertinastuffs.htmland these pictures are there now. EDIT : mid January 2018. These bellows had a good run but ended up being a fairly lacking design in the end. I played them often untill november/december 2017 when they started feeling very flimsy in comparison to some of the nicer instruments i was lucky enough to try out. So i finished the chapter on that design and made all the notes i would need to be able to get back on the horse when i start over. Currently learning about leather and how to work it as well as properly working with hide glue and it seems prudent to learn these things before i get into another big bellowsproject. I did come up with a very neat fix to counter the structural problem with pulling the bellows out of shape and its about as simple as anything could be. - M

Thanks for all the replies! The argument against gussetless designs is a good one and made itself apparent to me when I tried out different ways of folding with thinner fabrics. A fix that atleast feels proper for now was to add an additional `reversed` fold on both ends that would have to unfold entirely before the bellows could be opened up beyond what is structurally sustainable. On its own and definitely when mounted in the frames it has enough strength to stop the bellows before the folds can pop out and it feels pretty absolute and unyielding. It would be interesting to make a mental note to see if this strength disappears as the push vs pull evens out since this is due to the fabric becoming more lenient and broken in and also I havent tried to destroy it by playing to heavy or rough and im sure there are player who would be more demanding in the way they work the bellows. so i suppose im not arguing against the fact that traditional bellows are tried and tested and still around for a very good reason as much as im saying that allthou everything Dana Johnson says is true in theory it hasnt made itself apparent in these bellows because of measures i made against it happening. I did not know about the stagi gussetless designs and will look into that to see if there are things i will avoid or adapt into my own endeavours and a few of the youtube links are also new to me. So again, thanks for the very helpful replies. I am considering getting a proper set of bellows and the prices for those are definitely not bad at all. It was neat however to be able to put something together that worked and to bring it on the tour im on now instead of coming home to a package waiting in the mail. It ends up being more practicetime for me and theres nothing like the trial by fire-esque realities of bringing something on tour. If it holds its own on the road its good for most places. It should perhaps be noted that im not touring in a band where i play the concertina but it gets played whenever i have time between tour-duties and that ends up being one or two hours per day even if it isnt actually on a stage.

Hi everyone I have really gotten excited about playing traditional music these last few years and ended up buying an old english concertina when I wanted to try on a new instrument to learn. I have been an active and touring musicican for years and years and have gotten fairly used to fixing and maintaining my instruments so i felt confident that I would be able to put the concertina back together or atleast make an informed guess as to when to leave it in more capable hands. The bellows where pretty much dust and torn apart in a very rough way. Even if I knew how to properly make bellows im not sure if restoring the old bellows would have been anything but naive and it crumbled in my hands as I was assessing the damage. I decided to make my own bellows using origamifolding because it seemed so much easier. So i bough a relatively thick piece of paper/cardboard and strengthened the inside with a layer of Bobbtape and the outside with gaffatape (it was never meant to be anything other than a trial so i disregarded the design and looks entirely. I am happy to say that it plays wonderfully. The only thing im noticing is that theres a different force required for push vs. pull but i read about how thats a thing other bellowmakers are figuring out too so i dont think that this is something related to the origamifolding as much as it is about me being an amateur. Also i can feel it evening out after hours and hours of playing. It would be fun to have some experienced players try it out and tell me how it compares to normal bellows but for me it feels pretty much the same (i have an irish concertina with working bellows that i bought at the same time since im playing irish tunes and wanted the different notes on the push and pull also) but my frame of reference ends there. What I would wanna start a topic about is if there have been other endeavours into other types of building parts for the boxes or if anyone with more knowledge and experience would be open to giving me some pointers. All help is appreciated! In closing i feel like pointing out that im not of the opinion that the instrument is in any dire need of improvements at all and that i was and am reluctant to tinkering too much with these old boxes given my lack of knowledge. I think however that learning by doing really works and I havent done anything irreversible to my instrument so i think im in the clear. - Magnus