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Wtb......38 Key Bb / F Jeffries


Robin Harrison

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Wanted to buy.........38 key Bb / F Jeffries.

Ideally I'm looking for one in old pitch........needs to be in nice condition but unrestored is fine.

At a push, I would consider a 44 key instrument.

Thanks

Robin

Edited by Robin Harrison
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  • 2 weeks later...

Well I lucked out I think........the one Cohen mentioned was unavailable but Alex, a member and friend here on C.net, offered me one that he had bought from Paul Groff.

It was ( and remains) slightly sharp of old pitch and was in really poor condition.

Alex has done a first rate job rescuing it. New Dipper bellows; quite substantial cracks in the action board stabilised and repaired; lever arms replaced; frames repaired and very nicely French polished; completely cleaned and valved and padded.

All that he had not done was to tune it........

And boy, it's a honker. I have owned Jeffries in F/C, G/D, now Bb/F and C/G and for a full and balanced Jeffries sound, I think the Bb/F stands out.

It has some buttons where I am not used to them.......and this video is taken 5 minutes out of the box.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AV3OUzts60k

 

And what a great anglo it will make for Morris.....loud and lusty !

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WYqQjCl77e4&t=6s

 

Thanks all for looking !

robin

Edited by Robin Harrison
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Just so nobody gets the wrong impression, this instrument was in poor condition, but it was never represented to me as anything other than a project and Paul Groff was a very honest and helpful prior owner. The quality of the instrument is down to Paul's ability to spot first class Jeffries reeds, the Dippers' work in setting me on the right road and whatever else I did along the way.

 

I visited Paul back in 2008 whilst on a work trip to the US and saw this concertina. Paul was very open about the instrument even before I went to see him - it was a serious project but the reeds were really good. It was impossible to tell at the time as it wasn't playable but I had a good chance to look all over the instrument and Paul was extremely helpful, especially over the payment and shipping as I had neither the ready cash nor the space in my luggage to do everything in my trip.

 

The reed pans were warped, the action faces had large cracks in them and there were a number of levers which needed replacing. Also the bellows, whilst functional weren't the prettiest. The first stage of restoration was down to the Dippers. Rosalie made a lovely set of bellows and Colin sorted out the warping - bringing the concertina back into cold damp England helped a lot! - and he also did a few other things which I hadn't asked him for and he didn't charge me for; he went well beyond his brief to help me along the way with things that, at the time, I would have had difficulty doing.

 

I then repaired the cracks (most of them had closed up in the re-acclimatisation), rebuilt the action, cleaned everything and got it into working condition but never had the heart to retune to concert pitch and equal temperament - it was good enough as it was.

 

I have very little need of a BbF - in modern pitch or otherwise - it hasn't had much use since restoration so I was happy to help Robin with his request.

 

Thanks to Paul, Colin and Rosalie - enjoy the concertina Robin!

 

Alex West

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Well I lucked out I think........the one Cohen mentioned was unavailable but Alex, a member and friend here on C.net, offered me one that he had bought from Paul Groff.

It was ( and remains) slightly sharp of old pitch and was in really poor condition.

Alex has done a first rate job rescuing it. New Dipper bellows; quite substantial cracks in the action board stabilised and repaired; lever arms replaced; frames repaired and very nicely French polished; completely cleaned and valved and padded.

All that he had not done was to tune it........

And boy, it's a honker. I have owned Jeffries in F/C, G/D, now Bb/F and C/G and for a full and balanced Jeffries sound, I think the Bb/F stands out.

It has some buttons where I am not used to them.......and this video is taken 5 minutes out of the box.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AV3OUzts60k

 

Cool version of "Haste to the Wedding" I think :D

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I was just rereading this thread from the beginning and two questions about Alex’s post jumped out at me.

The quality of the instrument is down to Paul's ability to spot first class Jeffries reeds...

... but the reeds were really good. It was impossible to tell at the time as it wasn't playable...

 

How did Paul recognize good reeds in an unplayable instrument?

 

 

The reed pans were warped, the action faces had large cracks in them ... and Colin sorted out the warping - bringing the concertina back into cold damp England helped a lot!

...I then repaired the cracks (most of them had closed up in the re-acclimatisation)...

 

If the integrity of the instrument is so dependent upon the English climate, what will happen after it has spent a few years in Toronto?

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David

 

Excellent questions!

 

For the first, you'd need to ask Paul. There's a lot you can tell from visual inspection - whether there's been significant filing post original manufacture, how tight the tolsrances are etc - but I suspect he'd tried them out in another instrument by swapping reeds in and out.

 

As to the second - time will tell. My own suggestion would be that the majority of the movement has taken place in the first 50 years or so of the instruments life (or the wood's death if you prefer). Further movement which might open up the cracks will occur but should be limited. Now that the instrument is all back together and snugged up, the reed pans should be constrained from further warping.

 

There are other posts which go into the need or desire to keep old concertinas in a constant (and less aggressive than North American) humidity. I have no direct experience of such matters

 

Alex West

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