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Early Edeophone Treble For Sale


david robertson

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This is one of the early Edeophones, as you can see by its retention of the Oval and Diamond cartouches from the New Model range, rather than the scrolls you normally find. It also has aluminium reed shoes which, as far as I can tell, make no difference at all to the sound (loud and sweet as you would expect of a wooden-ended Eddie) but do make it surprisingly light.

Restoration has included new pads, valves, bushings and dampers. Woodwork has been repaired and re-finished, bellows re-bound, new straps fitted, and it has been tuned to modern concert pitch. It also comes with its original case, still serviceable after about 120 years.

I'm looking for £1900, but will always consider interesting trade-ins.

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I have an edeo - 56 key extended treble - with aluminium reed shoes - possibly around 1905. Another interesting thing about it is that it has a riveted action - my guess a replacement at some time.

 

Ed - has bowing valves, and diamond and oval catouches.

Edited by SteveS
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I also have owned an Edeo with Aluminium reed shoes and rivitted action, it was a 63key extended Treble with Bowing valves and had the Oval and Diamond cartouches.... I originally thought the action was a replacement but now I'm not so sure.

 

It was a long time ago but my memory says it had a serial number in the 60,000's... I could be wrong.... but it made me think (at that time) that it was an instrument constructed just after the takeover by Wheatstone & Co. hence the rivetted action.

 

Reading this thread makes me think that my old Edeo was probably originally made with the rivetted action.

 

The Aluminium reed frames, I thought, were there to help give the instrument a Flute/Piccolo voice..... ??

Edited by Geoff Wooff
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I have two Edeos with aluminum reeds shoes in the project closet and have refurbished another for a customer. They all have/had rivet action.

 

The customer's Edeo had heavy oxidation of the reed shoes (unstable aluminum alloy). It was quite a chore to clean the shoes and get the reeds playing again. One of the project closet ones shows similar symptoms though not quite as severe. It became a parts donor for the customer's instrument. The third seems to be doing OK and plays well with that lighter, flute-like tone Geoff described.

 

I'll check the serial #s. My impression was that they were all earlier examples.

 

Greg

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  • 4 weeks later...
  • 2 weeks later...

I also have owned an Edeo with Aluminium reed shoes and rivitted action, it was a 63key extended Treble with Bowing valves and had the Oval and Diamond cartouches.... I originally thought the action was a replacement but now I'm not so sure.

 

It was a long time ago but my memory says it had a serial number in the 60,000's... I could be wrong....

 

I'd say it was more likely from the mid-1890s Geoff. Aluminium was a "new wonder material" when it was used to cast the "Eros" statue that was originally erected in London's Piccadilly Circus in 1893, and Lachenal's (who were regarded as the most progressive concertina-making firm) had already started to use it by the following year.

 

As I mentioned in Some Notes on Lachenal Concertina Production and Serial Numbers:

 

Edeophone number 38694 (CMC 262) is a 63-key instrument with bowing valves and aluminium reed frames. It sounds remarkably like the unusual instrument described by J. A. Black in January 1895: ‘. . .I have just come into possession of an edeophone (treble) by those truly progressive makers, Messrs. Lachenal. . .This fine instrument (played by Mr. Alsepti [black’s teacher] at Islington on December 4th last) though of sixty-three keyed and four and a half octave compass, weighs only two and three quarter pounds, or exactly the weight of a forty-eight keyed concertina’.

So maybe the one you had was made for Alsepti, or one of his circle?

 

The use of aluminium in concertinas was pioneering at such an early date, though the composition of the metal they used at that time seems (in retrospect) to have been unstable and examples are not-infrequently found where it has crumbled away.

 

Edited spacing

Edited by Stephen Chambers
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I also have owned an Edeo with Aluminium reed shoes and rivitted action, it was a 63key extended Treble with Bowing valves and had the Oval and Diamond cartouches.... I originally thought the action was a replacement but now I'm not so sure.

 

It was a long time ago but my memory says it had a serial number in the 60,000's... I could be wrong....

 

I'd say it was more likely from the mid-1890s Geoff. Aluminium was a "new wonder material" when it was used to cast the "Eros" statue that was originally erected in London's Piccadilly Circus in 1893, and Lachenal's (who were regarded as the most progressive concertina-making firm) had already started to use it by the following year.

 

As I mentioned in Some Notes on Lachenal Concertina Production and Serial Numbers:

 

Edeophone number 38694 (CMC 262) is a 63-key instrument with bowing valves and aluminium reed frames. It sounds remarkably like the unusual instrument described by J. A. Black in January 1895: ‘. . .I have just come into possession of an edeophone (treble) by those truly progressive makers, Messrs. Lachenal. . .This fine instrument (played by Mr. Alsepti [black’s teacher] at Islington on December 4th last) though of sixty-three keyed and four and a half octave compass, weighs only two and three quarter pounds, or exactly the weight of a forty-eight keyed concertina’.

So maybe the one you had was made for Alsepti, or one of his circle?

 

The use of aluminium in concertinas was pioneering at such an early date, though the composition of the metal they used at that time seems (in retrospect) to have been unstable and examples are not-infrequently found where it has crumbled away.

 

I will see if I can contact the current owner so as to obtain the serial number of that 63key Edeo.

 

I recently bought an old accordeon which ,I was surprised to see, has Steel reeds in Brass frames which I imagined, by its style , to have been made early last century (1910 ish) but perhaps it dates prior to the use of Aluminium.

 

Another 'accordeon for sale' advert I noticed recently said that the reeds in the upper octave were mounted on Brass frames so as to produce a sweeter tone!

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I recently bought an old accordeon which ,I was surprised to see, has Steel reeds in Brass frames which I imagined, by its style , to have been made early last century (1910 ish) but perhaps it dates prior to the use of Aluminium.

 

Aluminium was initially relatively expensive and (before WW1) was only used to save weight in expensive "professional grade" accordions, just as it was in concertinas for the likes of Alexander Prince and Percy Honri. Accordion reedplates were more usually made of (much heavier) zinc, but the most expensive ones then (and now) have brass reedplates.

 

 

Another 'accordeon for sale' advert I noticed recently said that the reeds in the upper octave were mounted on Brass frames so as to produce a sweeter tone!

 

That's often done for improved tone and response on the high reeds, and I know that Wheatstone's did it in at least one very early aluminium-reedframed Aeola, #25750 made in December 1912, because I've had it through my hands and worked on it.

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As the delighted new owner of this Edeophone, I'd like to add some thoughts. First; I examined the aluminum reed shoes and they look as good as when they were installed about 120 years ago so the problem noted about deterioration doesnt effect all aluminum shoes,

 

I would also like to complement the restoration job done by David Robertson. As revealed to me prior to purchasing, the Edeophone appears to have rolled from a height sufficient to break off an arc from 9 to 12 o'clock, to a width of well over an inch, on the left hand side. As you can see from the photo above, you would be hard pressed to spot the repairs.

 

By the way it plays beautifully.

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Congratulations Jim, a nice addition to your stable. I notice it's only got five fold bellows and wonder about the air economy. Does it require a lot of squeezing? How many seconds does it take to go from zero to full extension with moderate pressure when holding a C chord, e,g,c above middle c?

 

I enquire because I too aquired an Edeo some little time back and it's wonderful except the air economy is not great compared to my other concers. Mine is six fold so just wondering how we compare?

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Steve, I agree that the Edeophone does not seem great on air economy when compared with other concertina models.. However, I suspect variables such as its bellows specifications can account for some of the difference. I ran the test you asked for. This is by no means a scientific test but a reasonable approximation for discussion purposes. I am defining, for purpose of this test, moderate pressure as the amount of pressure needed to create a sound that can be readily heard by a person with "average" hearing across a 20 ft by 20 ft room while holding down the "C" chord one octave above Middle C and extending the bellows directly horizontally to its fullest extent. All reeds on this Edeophone speak immediately.

 

On both Push and Pull it produced the full chord sound, on average, for between 7 and 8 seconds.

 

Out of curiousity, I performed what I belive to be a typical bellows tightness test I.e. holding one end while the other end fell free, vertically to full extension. On average it was 20 seconds.

 

I hope our bellows work as well if we ever live to be about 120 years old. On the compensory side, it has a sweet sound and it will instill in me a better bellows awareness.

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G'day Jim,

 

On both Push and Pull it produced the full chord sound, on average, for between 7 and 8 seconds.

Out of curiousity, I performed what I belive to be a typical bellows tightness test I.e. holding one end while the other end fell free, vertically to full extension. On average it was 20 seconds.

 

mmmm....on mine it takes about 5 seconds to full expansion and that's with an extra fold. Perhaps the set of the reeds just uses more air. I think I'll see what can be done about it (if anything) one day. The tone of course is gorgeous. It does have a bit of a leak too, my bellows tightness test takes about 18 seconds.

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