Anglo Wheatstone On E-bay

[Seosamh O'Conchubhair]

Any opinions on 30 key Anglo Wheatstone for sale on e-bay? Reserve £1050 G.B.P. Located in Australia.

[Greg Jowaisas]

Hello Seosamh,

 

The Wheatstones from the 1950s can be good to mediocre. I had a good one for a couple of years.

The good ones are usually mid-level instruments. The other ones I've heard were reasonably loud and had some cut to their sound. I would not describe them as mellow instruments.

 

The action is a hook and lever. Often the reed shoes are screwed to the pan. These are not necessarilly bad points but serve to make these Wheatstones generally of a lesser quality than the top notch instruments made before WW II.

 

A number of these kinds of Wheatstones are coming from South Africa. Sometimes they are modified with 8 fold bellows which can be less than optimium for Irish music. As with any concertina the quality is in the reeds. You may want to check with Vic, the seller, who seems pretty forthcoming. Ask about the reeds and general playability.

 

As I said, the one I played for several years was a good, ttrouble free instrument. By the way, I bought it from The Button Box.

 

Best of luck,

 

Greg

[Mark Davies]

The vendor is thoroughly reliable and very knowledgeable about concertinas.I have bought three concertinas from him over recent years and have been very pleased with them.