How Many Jeffries Duets?

[PeterT]

In view of the recent interest in Jeffries Duets, either made by C.Jeffries, or Jeffries Bros., I wondered whether it might be an idea for C.net members to volunteer which instrument(s) that they currently have (irrespective of playing ability!).

 

This might give us a better idea of the number still in existence, as duets, how many people are playing them (looks to be more than previous estimates), and the age profile of these instruments. Note; I am only looking for the Jeffries Duet keyboard, not other duet systems made by Jeffries.

 

I'll kick off by saying that mine is a Jeffries Bros., 50 key instrument, tuned in C.

 

Peter.

[stevetwilliams]

Hi Peter,

I have a Jeffries Bros Duet with 58 keys tuned in C.

Steve

[Ed Stander]

I have Two: a 50 Key Jeffrey Bros (23 Praed) in F, and a 58 key Jeffrey Bros (23 Praed) in C. Best - Ed

[PeterT]

I have Two: a 50 Key Jeffrey Bros (23 Praed) in F, and a 58 key Jeffrey Bros (23 Praed) in C. Best - Ed

Hi Ed,

 

Well, I don't know that much about the Jeffries Duet system, but this is the first time that I've heard of one in F.

 

Regards,

Peter.

[Paul Woloschuk]

I'll kick off by saying that mine is a Jeffries Bros., 50 key instrument, tuned in C.

Peter.

 

Mine's also a 50 key Jeffries Bros (23 Praed St) instrument, in C. ( 50 keys...plus the air button. )

[Theo]

I have one in B flat. 45 keys + air button. Jeffries Bros, Praed st

[Greg Jowaisas]

I have a 50b in C and a 58b in high Bb. Both are Praed Street Jeffries Bros.

 

Greg

[ragtimer]

This might give us a better idea of the number still in existence, as duets, how many people are playing them (looks to be more than previous estimates), and the age profile of these instruments. Note; I am only looking for the Jeffries Duet keyboard, not other duet systems made by Jeffries.

Peter.

It's good you're doing this, and that there's a current thread about Jeffries Duet playing, and another on converting one to Anglo.

 

More important, there's a well-known FAQ page somewhere (I wish I could remember) where the author discusses Duet choices. It's probably this one:

http://www.concertina.net/iv_duetguide.html

 

He states that Jeffries Duets are rare, hardly anyone could ever learn to play them, and most have been converted to Anglos.

 

Pretty clear now he's wrong. He also "proves" that the Maccann system is superior to the Hayden (which I play), and somehow manages to dismiss the Crane/Triumph Duet as well, tho these should be fairly common (Salvation Army) and not so difficult to learn.

 

Just goes to show you can't believe everything you read on the Internet

--Mike K.

Edited to add: I just revisited the link above, and he is much fairer to the Crane/Triumph than I remembered. And it must have been another site that went into details of which chords could be played well, or not, on Hayden versus Maccann. But the pessimistic view of the Jeffries is pretty much as I recalled.

Edited October 20, 2006 by ragtimer

[PeterT]

It's good you're doing this, and that there's a current thread about Jeffries Duet playing, and another on converting one to Anglo.

Hi Mike,

 

My gut-feel, in view of the recent activity, was that the Jeffries Duet is not quite as rare as previously thought. When I bought mine, in early June, the reasons were:

 

(1) To ensure that this one did not finish up as an Anglo.

(2) To try to establish whether I could learn to play one, at least to a basic standard.

 

Well, I would not wheel it out in public, just yet, but I'm happy with my progress, so far.

 

Interestingly, four of the eight "Discussion Forum" topics had Jeffries Duet threads at the top, when I looked, this afternoon. Must be a record! I did consider posting the fact in the "General Discussion" Forum, to make it five, but decided against it.

 

Regards,

Peter.

 

Edited for "typo"!

Edited December 8, 2006 by PeterT

[bignick]

I can currently account for 3 Praed Street Jeffries Duets:

 

A 58 key in C

A 50 Key in C-and-a-bit

A 50 key in D (originally in B flat and a bit)

 

Nick

Edited October 25, 2006 by bignick

[DavidFR]

By my count this makes 11 Jeffries Duets, all Jeffries Bros and Praed St models. Wow! For our historians - do we have any kind of numbers on how many Jeffries Duets were ever produced, and if they were all produced during the same period at that address?

 

The way people talk about it you figure many of these must have been converted over to Anglo, but if this is the case and there are still a fair number out there being played, there must have been substantial demand for the system at the time. Perhaps they stopped production because other Duet models became more popular, but the Jeffries system must have had a substantial fan base at one time.

 

I'd love to see one in the flesh (in the metal/wood/leather/paper?) sometime.

 

-David

Edited October 25, 2006 by DavidFR

[Alex West]

My recently acquired Duet is a 50 key Jeffries Bros in C. So we're now up to 12!

 

The Oval stamp is 23 Praed Street, but there is also (crude) stamping on both ends for 12 Aldershot Street, Kilburn NW6. I'm not sure if this gives an indication that this is a late model or not (pure speculation, but perhaps C Jeffries Junior took some of the materials which had already been stamped as 23 Praed Street Jeffries Bros when he set up on his own. Was this an early way of him branding his work?). The fretwork is more similar to a "standard" Jeffries 38 button anglo than to the duets and larger anglos I've recently here and on e-bay.

 

Mine needs a bit of work on it and there are indications in the box that it hasn't been played seriously (if at all) since 1942

[wes williams]

For our historians - do we have any kind of numbers on how many Jeffries Duets were ever produced, and if they were all produced during the same period at that address?

 

The way people talk about it you figure many of these must have been converted over to Anglo, but if this is the case and there are still a fair number out there being played, there must have been substantial demand for the system at the time. Perhaps they stopped production because other Duet models became more popular, but the Jeffries system must have had a substantial fan base at one time.

It seems to be impossible to estimate how many Jeffries Duets were produced. As noted, they all seem to be Jeffries Bros, so around 1908 or later but this 49K C.Jeffries may be a rare exception. So they seem to have started being built some 20 years after the Maccann, and 10 years after the Crane.

Edited October 26, 2006 by wes williams

[squeezora]

In view of the recent interest in Jeffries Duets, either made by C.Jeffries, or Jeffries Bros., I wondered whether it might be an idea for C.net members to volunteer which instrument(s) that they currently have (irrespective of playing ability!).

 

This might give us a better idea of the number still in existence, as duets, how many people are playing them (looks to be more than previous estimates), and the age profile of these instruments. Note; I am only looking for the Jeffries Duet keyboard, not other duet systems made by Jeffries.

 

I'll kick off by saying that mine is a Jeffries Bros., 50 key instrument, tuned in C.

 

Peter.

 

 

 

Hi,

 

I have a C. Jefferies duet in Maccannn system, with 46 button layout. I don't know the date of making, but it probably precedes the Jefferies Brothers examples listed so far.

 

I think it might be the more unusal because it is tuned down in G instead of C which makes it ideal for a lot of voice accompaniment. It plays just like the standard Maccann, but is a transposing instrument sort of like the Baritone English is to a treble English.

 

I hope this doesn't interfer too much with your pure Jefferies system inventory, but I think they could all be included together and then perhaps we can get an idea of how many of each type are out there.

 

j.d.

Edited October 27, 2006 by squeezora

[PeterT]

I have a C. Jefferies duet in Maccannn system, with 46 button layout. I don't know the date of making, but it probably precedes the Jefferies Brothers examples listed so far.

Hi Juliette,

 

I think that you'll find that this is a rare instrument (I'm tempted to say very rare, but this will probably bring out the cry of "me too!")

 

http://www.concertina.com/jeffries/

 

The link above gives the Jeffries history, and suggests a manufacturing period of 1905-20

 

Peter.

[Stephen Chambers]

I think that you'll find that this is a rare instrument (I'm tempted to say very rare, but this will probably bring out the cry of "me too!")

Peter,

 

In my experience they're about as rare as Jeffries Englishes, and I've probably seen around 3 or 4 of each, but Jeffries' Maccanns do seem to be most typically of that rather limited 46-key size, in fact I have the metal ends (only!) of one that was stripped for "spares" many years ago by Tommy Williams, for that matter I likewise have the ends of a Jeffries duet.

 

I've also had around half a dozen Jeffries duets through my hands, selling them to Andy Rehir & Tim Laycock amongst others.

[Paul Woloschuk]

My recently acquired Duet is a 50 key Jeffries Bros in C. So we're now up to 12!

 

The Oval stamp is 23 Praed Street, but there is also (crude) stamping on both ends for 12 Aldershot Street, Kilburn NW6.

This is exactly the same as mine, except it is just under the left handle:

 

C. J.

New Address

12 Aldershot Road

Kilburn NW6

 

The crude stamping is interesting, as the 'N' is reversed (i.e. a mirror-image), which means that the die used was made incorrectly, yet the stamping continued with it - one would have thought that Jeffries would have made a better job of the stamping and might also have replaced their 'N' stamp die!

 

Next to the right handle is W. THOMAS (again crudely stamped, presumably this was a previous owner) and under the right handle, another stamp: AUG. 8 1921.

[PeterT]

In my experience they're about as rare as Jeffries Englishes, and I've probably seen around 3 or 4 of each, but Jeffries' Maccanns do seem to be most typically of that rather limited 46-key size, in fact I have the metal ends (only!) of one that was stripped for "spares" many years ago by Tommy Williams, for that matter I likewise have the ends of a Jeffries duet.

Thanks, Stephen.

 

A true collectors' item, then. Let's hope that this one gets used for song accompaniment.

 

Regards,

Peter.