Question About Bellows Materials

[bellowbelle]

I am not very informed about materials used in making concertinas or in particular, bellows.

 

I know that some (most, today?) are made using some amount animal hide, calfskin, etc..

 

What were the oldies made out of, mostly? Paper-type stuff?

 

Can anyone give me a brief little lesson on bellows materials? Thanks!

[Frank Edgley]

All the English made ones I'm aware of used leather for the gussets and capping pieces on the tops of the folds as well as at the bottoms of the "valleys". The basic bellows was constructed of cardboard. If the bellows had fancy papers, these were usually applied over the cardboard. If there were no papers then the bellows was usually leather over cardboard. It's amazing, but I have seen bellows on concertinas over 100 years old with original bellows still in not-too-bad condition. Although I wonder if the received much playing for 80 - 90 of those years.

[bellowbelle]

Thanks, Frank!

[malcolm clapp]

I think Wheatstone had a brief flirtation with some sort of synthetic leatherette (?) material in the '50s. Rexene?

And my Morse Ceili (#112) bellows is also synthetic. Seems to be standing up to everything I've subjected it to, so far. (How long is the warrenty, Richard? )

[Michael Reid]

And my Morse Ceili (#112) bellows is also synthetic. Seems to be standing up to everything I've subjected it to, so far.

Ah, but not the entire bellows. The strip that encircles (enhexagons? ) each section is real leather, and I think the gussets are, too.

[Richard Morse]

And my Morse Ceili (#112) bellows is also synthetic. Seems to be standing up to everything I've subjected it to, so far. (How long is the warrenty, Richard?

All the important parts of our bellows are real leather (and goat at that!): the gussets, top runs and end runs. Only the butterflies are synthetic (which is the case with most Wheatstones and Lachenals as well). Our warrantee is for 5 years against defective materials and workmanship. We expect them to last many decades.

[malcolm clapp]

And my Morse Ceili (#112) bellows is also synthetic. Seems to be standing up to everything I've subjected it to, so far.

 

Ah, but not the entire bellows. The strip that encircles (enhexagons? ) each section is real leather, and I think the gussets are, too.

 

All the important parts of our bellows are real leather (and goat at that!): the gussets, top runs and end runs.

 

 

No, sorry to disagree, particularly with the concertina's maker, but the gussets on mine are definitely synthetic. Can't tell about the enhexagoning strip without taking one off, which I have no intention of doing until or unless absolutely necessary. (As a well known Australian boxer was heard to say on TV recently: "If it ain't fixed, don't break it")

 

I think the term is 'top run', by the way, but I love the word 'enhexagons'. Says it all!

 

Richard, my post was not meant to be in any way critical of the Morse Ceili. If modern materials and designs work, then use them.

 

And I was joking about the warranty. I've seen some pretty lousy leather bellows over the years, both ancient and modern, and yours ain't one of them, whatever they're made from.

 

I believe I am a reasonably competant anglo player and I am quite demanding of the quality of concertinas I choose to own and play. The Ceili meets all my requirements as a 30 key C/G, so much so that I sold my Jeffries after owning the Ceili for 6 months, and it was a mighty good Jeffries too!

 

Regards,

Malcolm.

Edited December 4, 2004 by malcolm clapp

[Richard Morse]

All the important parts of our bellows are real leather (and goat at that!): the gussets, top runs and end runs.

No, sorry to disagree, particularly with the concertina's maker, but the gussets on mine are definitely synthetic. Can't tell about the enhexagoning strip without taking one off, which I have no intention of doing until or unless absolutely necessary.

Maybe I should have been clearer. All the important parts of our bellows ARE real leather except for our first couple of batches. I don't remember what number we changed over, somewhere around #30- 40 for the top runs and a bit later for the gussets (but I could look it up and find out...).

 

We did a lot of testing of the synthetics (mainly flexural, strength, adhesion testing) prior to deciding to use it - but it turned out that it wasn't holding up to certain abrasion situations. So we changed things to leather. We also sent notice to everyone who had our instruments with the synthetics bellows that they could return the box and we'd replace the bellows with a new one for free. Quite a number of folk took us up on that, and yet many didn't saying that they had experienced no abrasion problems.

 

I hope this clarifies things. If anyone is unable to tell if their Morse has synthetic or leather bellows, you can contact our shop with your serial number. We'll let you know exactly how yours was built.

[bellowbelle]

Thanks, all.

 

My curiosity came from...well,

 

one day after practicing my concertina playing, my husband and I went for some ice cream at a local farm/dairy. We gazed at the cows while eating our huge stack of ice cream.

 

Suddenly, I realized what a great contribution those cows have made to my life. Ice cream, calfskin for leather goods and whatever....felt a bit guilty, yes, but...

 

since I'm not a total vegetarian, anyway, I can't get all 'righteous' about not using any leather, in my opinion. Simple fact of life. (I step on ants, too, and they get squished....)

 

So, the next argument is whether cows are greater than ants, maybe, I dunno...

 

Bellowing cows. Hmm. ('Thanks, Bossie!')

[Ken_Coles]

Maybe I'm the only one who has this impression, but I thought most (if not all) vintage concertina bellows used goatskin (not bovine). Incorrect?

[Ken_Coles]

Oh, and I have an upgraded Ceili, number 036. I recall the changeover (for top runs, at least) as being after the first 40. The synthetic held up great, except for wear on the end where it rested on my leg. When I finally did the upgrade my top runs it was fun to go straight to the head of the six-month repair queue at the Button Box!

[d.elliott]

My reading around over the years, taught me that the bellows were derived from the book-binder's art, which used Morocco leather (goat); paste board, etc. Calf or sheep skin was used to imitate Morocco leather.

 

Given the concertina time-line, and the technologies available at the point of development, this makes sense to me.

 

Richard is clearly using the right stuff if he is using goat skin, but the goat might not agree.

 

Dave

[Richard Morse]

Maybe I'm the only one who has this impression, but I thought most (if not all) vintage concertina bellows used goatskin (not bovine).

That's my observation and understanding. Goat, and different parts of goat for the different parts of the bellows.

[spindizzy]

Are accordian bellows made in the same way? ... if you scaled the price of say, 6 fold concertina bellows to those immense areas of folds you can get on some accordians, the price would be scary! (... scarier that is)

[Richard Morse]

No, accordion bellows use considerably less expensive materials and are designed to be fabricated quicker.

               Accordion bellows            Concertina bellows

Card:       Continuous pre-folded         Usually single requiring
                                          installing hinges (usually
                                          linen or leather)

Gussets:    Cow or lamb, not              Goat, from the chest 
            skived or oriented            area, aligned to stretch
                                          with the grain

Covering:   Continuous paper or           Single paper, synthetic
            cloth                         or leather pieces or 
                                          butterflies (double piece)

Corners:    Pre-formed steel              None as the gusset tips
            clips keep the corners        overlap and top runs
            together and prevent          connect things
            air leak there

Top runs:   Pre-fabricated cloth or       Goat from the shoulder
            paper tape performs           area (extremely tough)
            as an abrasion deterrent      for durability and flexi-
            and keeps the metal           bility
            corners from lifting up

 

This covers typical bellows of both kinds. Accordion bellows are rarely constructed differently though their materials can be of wildly different qualities. In general, the less expensive bellows have very shallow folds are are incredibly stiff and noisy. The best ones have fairly deep bellows and are very quiet, more supple and will last a lot longer.

 

Vintage (and those emulating those) concertina bellows typically have much deeper folds than accordion bellows, are quieter and are far more supple than accordion bellows. They also last far longer and can take more abuse. It's interesting to note that the range of materials and construction quality is much narrower for concertina bellows than is for accordion bellows (though that range is quite a bit higher in quality overall).

 

Also interesting is that the variation in concertina bellows design is much greater than is for accordion bellows. This seems due to a penchant for optimizing bellows performance for the different types of concertinas and music played on them. Anglo bellows typically have deeper folds and more robust hinging (for suppleness and reversal control), English tend to have less deep and fewer folds which are more tractable and even (more pressure control in single directions). Duets are similar to English but have more folds (as they typically use more air with that type of playing).