Need Guestimates On Repair Costs For Following Concertina

[Voomy]

I have no idea on the repair costs on concertinas. So I need some more experienced gents on here to give me a basic idea what I'm in for.

 

These are exact reasons to be careful what you buy on ebay. lol.

 

lesson learned.

 

 

wonderful concertina with everything working EXCEPT the reeds. completely out of tune. To make it worse. they are glued in. I'm sure I can get some kind of solvent to get them off.

 

 

The bottom row plays fine. top is all out of wack... again, the reeds.

 

 

This one will most likely need a complete overhaul.

 

 

This one, the two Cs are too far apart in cents to make octave playing... a little harsh. probably will just need a single reed to fix this.

 

again... lesson learned. go with something like button box... for $100 extra... save you a lot of headaches.

 

 

Sooooo I can PROBABLY fix them myself. But I have no idea where to get parts.... Any suggestion would be welcome. would accordion reeds fit these? I can cut out new wood and such, to make them fit. I just cant find concertina reeds.

 

I know its going to be quite expensive from my own research, but I think id rather let someone who knows what they are doing to fix them. So any suggested websites for repair, or if someone is good on repairs here, Just let me know who to contact.

 

thankyou for any feedback!

[Patrick McMahon]

The first one that looks like the reeds are glued in, you will probably find they are waxed in.

If they are, you can probably get them to pop out using a fine screwdriver carefully, without much disturbance of the wax.

I would normally do that, and then replace them exactly where they came from, and re-melt the wax to reseal the reed with my favourite old solder iron, which I can keep at a low temperature.

 

I'm amazed that it's so badly out of tune though. It doesn't look old or worn. It looks like a very nice example with hardly any use.

I would re-check the tuning before making any alterations.

Maybe check by ear as well as electronics, just to be sure no mistake is creeping in.

 

Here's a link to a virtual piano, if you want to check by ear :

http://virtualpiano.net/

[Voomy]

Your right.... I know next to nothing about repair on these creatures. It probably is some kind of wax.

 

again. This helps me a lot by talking to my fellow musicians.... tho I'm a tech, I just play the creative stuff other people have come up with.

 

 

It is out of tune. but its a double reed. Perhaps its not as bad as I think. Its #806 w/e that means. I don't know how to replace the reeds on it though. maybe ill just send them all into be repaired and if the estimate is too much... just pay for the examination and let them keep it, so I don't have to pay for the shipping back

 

It however is definitely out of tune. I can play a lot of alan days beginner songs just fine, sounds completely wrong on these tho.

 

thankyou so much for the reply. it helps a lot

[Voomy]

ugh... administrator regulation things... I have to types this all out again... admittedly quite shorter.

 

Hey, thankyou for replying. It truly helps. I'm just a tech.... I learn the creative things full musicians do.

 

your probably right, that its some kind of wax.

 

I can play most alan days beginning songs quite good. and it sounds completely wrong on these instruments. But again, you might be right, it is probably not as out of tune as I think.

 

I think that particular concertina is double reed. #806 w/e that means.

 

Perhaps I will send them off to be repaired and if the estimate is too much, ill just let them keep it and avoid the return shipping.

[Voomy]

huh.... well My mistake. I guess these new touch screen computers.... kinda... well I gotta get used to it. sorry for double post

[Patrick McMahon]

The other thing to check before tuning, is that the valves are ok. I can't make out in the photo if there are any valves in place.

Every reed, apart from the very smallest high ones should have a flap valve on the underside of the reed, to prevent air going through in the wrong direction.

If the valves are missing, or not properly fitted, it will affect the tuning, and replacing the valve might put it back in tune.

[Voomy]

valves are definately missing if im thinking what your describing. I am a novice. I honestly dont know much about the workings of concertina. Do you know how to tune them?

[Patrick McMahon]

I do, but it's probably something that needs a bit of practice before doing it on an instrument that you want to keep.

An old scrapper is great for gaining experience.

 

Firstly, as I said, I would fit a set of valves. You might find that that's all you need to do.

 

Tuning them involves scraping, filing or grinding a tiny bit of metal off the reeds, so it's not something you would do unless you're sure it's needed. A small bit of metal off the tip raises the pitch. A small bit off the lower end lowers it. It's a time consuming painstaking process.

 

There's loads of threads on this site about tuning reeds, but it's a fiddly time-consuming job, that would probably cost a lot more than the concertinas are worth, if a lot of reeds needed tuning.

[Voomy]

Yeah... maybe i should just take these as lessons learned and throw them out, whats the point if you can get newer cheaper.

 

Just out of curiousity... you said its a pain to tune them... Is there a special machine that is required?

[Theo]

 

Just out of curiousity... you said its a pain to tune them... Is there a special machine that is required?

 

No, the tools are very simple, but learning the skill to use them well takes time and patience.

[Patrick McMahon]

If you were to give up on them, you can always re list them on ebay. Better to get something back than to just chuck them.

 

Shame you're not in the UK. But there are plenty of people in the US who will bid on them, even if they do need tuning.

 

If the last one only has one out-of-tune reed, it would surely make a nice instrument with just a little job doing.

[Daniel Hersh]

Where are you located? I think you might benefit from having more experienced player check them out to evaluate their tuning and overall playability. That having been said...

 

The top three are all German-made, all from manufacturers that are no longer around.

 

The top one already has accordion reeds, which could be tuned by any accordion technician - you don't need a concertina specialist. It might be worth tuning, depending on the tuning price.

 

The second one has "long-plate" reeds, which are different from both accordion reeds and also different from what we usually call concertina reeds. I doubt that one is worth tuning - I believe that this model of German concertina is usually not as well-made as the top one..

 

The third one is a much older German one. You don't show the reeds but they are likely to be long-plate too. I don't know as much about German concertinas that are this old, but I have heard they were not generally built to last, so I probably wouldn't try to get this one worked on.

 

The fourth one is an Italian-made Stagi. These are still being made and sold - see the Stagi W-40 on http://www.buttonbox.com/new-concertinas.html#anglo . If you are in the US, Button Box might be interested in working on this or taking it as a trade-in if you want something else. It has accordion reeds, so if all you need it tuning, an accordion technician might will be able to do the job,

[Voomy]

extremely useful posts guys. extremely useful. and thankyou.

 

Orlando, FL. usa But I have no objections to send the top one and bottom one off to even Europe. I get a few things from uk.

 

Ok the top one might be save able. Ill ship that one in. I imagine it will be quite expensive seeing how expensive reeds are. Is button box probably the best bet? It.... might not be worth it if it costs over $300 to fix.

 

your quite smart, and your right. the older german one has long plate reeds. I'm learning more and more thanks to you guys. So in the future, ill stay well clear of those. and stop making bad purchases! ahhh the plight of being a novice

 

 

 

 

 

[Theo]

I imagine it will be quite expensive seeing how expensive reeds are.

 

It is unlikely you will need new reeds, unless the reed tongues are actually broken off.

[Voomy]

hey thats actually some pretty good news! All the reeds are intact in all of them. The one tech I talked to said its $55 dollars an hour to retune. How many hours does something like this take?

 

again, just a guess is fine.

 

Im just going to ship it in to one of these various shops or something

[Alex West]

Paul Groff (you'll find him on the forum somewhere) was in Miami for some time and may still be there. He'd be an excellent person to give you a good estimate of the work required particularly as he's relatively local to you but also because he'd be familiar with all of these types of boxes - easier than sending it all the way up north to the Button Box I would have thought (as long as he's interested in looking at them - but you can always ask)

 

Alex West