21 replies to this topic

[SteveS]

I've been offered a Lachenal 48 key Crane duet - nice looking box, undamaged rosewood ends, good 6 fold bellows, steel reeds - will need all the usual repairs doing before its fully playable, including a retune.

So I'm thinking of taking up the duet

Should be great for those super Finnish waltzes I enjoy playing.

Edited by SteveS, 28 November 2011 - 09:54 AM.

[Ruediger R. Asche]

I've been offered a Lachenal 48 key Crane duet - nice looking box, undamaged rosewood ends, good 6 fold bellows, steel reeds - will need all the usual repairs doing before its fully playable, including a retune.

So I'm thinking of taking up the duet

Should be great for those super Finnish waltzes I enjoy playing.

well congrats and welcome to our secret society. Naturally, Crane players assemble hooded in unpublished places (normally moist cellars in deserted houses in remote areas) at unpublished times (normally after midnight) and identify each other by unconspicuous tattoos whose design is (naturally) secret but derives from African voodoo mythology.

No, just kidding (am I? ). You may want to stop by here every once in a while:

http://www.craneconcertina.com/

and if you are looking for good and qualified instructions, I can recommend Mr. Crane aka Kurt Braun (also on this forum) whom you'll undoubtdly have come across already.

Edited by Ruediger R. Asche, 28 November 2011 - 11:05 AM.

[SteveS]

well congrats and welcome to our secret society.

Thanks - I'm looking forward to joining the ranks of Crane players.
I hope to get the duet at New Year when I next meet the present owner.
BTW great Crane website too - I'll post a pic when I get it.

PS I hope that learning a duet doesn't disrupt my EC playing too much.

Edited by SteveS, 28 November 2011 - 02:27 PM.

[Dirge]

PS I hope that learning a duet doesn't disrupt my EC playing too much.

ho ho!

[saguaro_squeezer]

well Steve, you can always play alternating notes in the overlap to keep your hand in!

[SteveS]

Here are a couple pictures of my newly acquired Crane duet.

48 keys
Crane & Sons, manufactured by Lachenal
Brass reeds

Looks like it could be in unplayed original condition - clean inside, reeds good condition, bellows & finish excellent - could benefit from new valves though. Estimated manufacture year 1900.

Now to fettle it to bring it up to spec and then to start playing...

Attached Thumbnails

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Edited by SteveS, 16 January 2012 - 03:14 PM.

[marien]

Estimated manufacture year 1900.

Nice pictures.

It may be older then 1900.
It looks older than a "new model" Lachenal Crane.
Does it have a serial number?

[marien]

well congrats and welcome to our secret society. Naturally, Crane players assemble hooded in unpublished places (normally moist cellars in deserted houses in remote areas) at unpublished times (normally after midnight) and identify each other by unconspicuous tattoos whose design is (naturally) secret but derives from African voodoo mythology.

Next meating of the Crane players will be the coming weekend - friday night - in my freezing moist cellar. The tunes of the day to practice will be "waiting for the sun" and "I am back from hell - they did not want me there". Don't miss it and don't forget your outfit. No entry without at least three Crane duets (of which just one may be playable) per person. Tattoos are compulsory and will be added to your body according to secret regulations of the Crane society - it helps to make yourself Crane-proof. I will put coffee, tea and special Crane drinks there for you on the table and me myself I'll have to be off for something more obscure (one of my gigs). All Crane players are invited. I am hoping that both of you will join the session. By the way - my address is a secret for those who did not yet pass the Crane driver exams organised by the Crane community.

[SteveS]

Nice pictures.

It may be older then 1900.
It looks older than a "new model" Lachenal Crane.
Does it have a serial number?

Thanks, I'm rather pleased with the 'tina and am looking forward to start playing (unfortunately I have another instrument on the resto bench right now that I must finish off - I hate to leave a job half finished).

Serial number is 60 - but is that in the Lachenal series or Crane's own series?

[marien]

Serial number is 60 - but is that in the Lachenal series or Crane's own series?

Wew - 60 - I think that is one of the oldest Cranes numbered by Lachenal.
Mine is nr. 532 and was said to be made in 1900 - no proof though.
One I know in France is nr. 350. Yours looks older (the model)

Yours may be gambled to be made before 1890(?).

Edited by marien, 22 January 2012 - 03:02 PM.

[SteveS]

Serial number is 60 - but is that in the Lachenal series or Crane's own series?

Wew - 60 - I think that is one of the oldest Cranes numbered by Lachenal.
Mine is nr. 532 and was said to be made in 1900 - no proof though.
One I know in France is nr. 350. Yours looks older (the model)

Yours may be gambled to be made before 1890(?).

Not so sure about 1890 - the handstraps have the patent year of 1896 embossed into them suggesting that it was made on or after that year (or that the straps were retro-fitted after 1896).
I'm wondering if Cranes had their own numbering series.

Edited by SteveS, 22 January 2012 - 05:58 PM.

[JimLucas]

Serial number is 60 - but is that in the Lachenal series or Crane's own series?

Wew - 60 - I think that is one of the oldest Cranes numbered by Lachenal.
Mine is nr. 532 and was said to be made in 1900 - no proof though.
One I know in France is nr. 350. Yours looks older (the model)

Looks a lot like my own Crane & Sons Crane, except that mine is missing the original hand straps. Mine came in a case with the Sally Army label. It is #135. It doesn't have the Lachenal name on it, but it does have Lachenal's "steel reeds" logo stamped into one hand bar.

As for sequences of serial numbers, I believe there was at least one earlier discussion, but the Search facility here seems to have become useless, and I can't locate it. What I seem to remember is that:

• The Crane & Sons instruments were made by Lachenal, but had their own serial number sequence, so #60 would be the 60th Crane duet made by Lachenal, with no other type of concertina mixed in among the 59 preceding.
• Lachenal apparently used separate sequences of serial numbers for the Cranes and Maccanns they made under their own name, so quite possibly the numbers for the "Lachenal" Cranes simply continued the sequence started for the "Crane & Sons" Cranes.

[JimLucas]

Next meating of the Crane players will be the coming weekend - friday night - in my freezing moist cellar. ... No entry without at least three Crane duets (of which just one may be playable) per person.

Oops!

I have the three Cranes, two of which are playable, but I'm performing that night in Copenhagen. I do expect to be finished before midnight, but even if I could hitch a ride with a winged crane, I don't think I could reach The Netherlands in time for the meeting.

I do hope to have a recruitment table set up at the next Scandinavian Squeeze-In, though. One year we had four Crane players at the SSI. I'd like to top that.

[marien]

Not so sure about 1890 - the handstraps have the patent year of 1896 embossed into them suggesting that it was made on or after that year (or that the straps were retro-fitted after 1896).
I'm wondering if Cranes had their own numbering series.

I guess you are right, 1897 may be a better guess.
The Crane system 's patent dates from 1896.
In the beginning Cranes have been produced by Crane in Liverpool.
Lachenal started to produce them (at the same time) for Crane (like yours).
Later, Lachenal used their own name - using the Lachenal label withoud referring to Crane (like mine).

Lachenal started to give them their own serial numbers.
So my guess is the same as Jim's - yours is likely to be the 60th Crane concertina built by Lachenal.

More about cranes is available on this site

[marien]

... No entry without at least three Crane duets (of which just one may be playable) per person.

Oops!

... I have the three Cranes, two of which are playable ....

Hey Jim

If it helps, I can exchange your jeffries Crane for a Crane that does not play ~{< : o )}=

Marien

[JimLucas]

If it helps, I can exchange your jeffries Crane for a Crane that does not play ~{< : o )}=

If you tried to do that, you'd certainly be sticking your neck out. But you're welcome to crane your neck for a better look.

[Crane Driver]

I've got a 48 with Crane & Sons label which looks a lot like yours - Lachenal serial no 256 on the insides. The right hand bar, which carries the Lachenal trade mark, also has a second number impressed into the wood - C & S 844, which I assume is a Crane & Sons number. However, my other Crane, a 56 'New Model', which a Lachenal-badged with serial number 693, also carries a 'C & S' number, partly obscured now by wear, which appears to have been 'C & S 08809'. I don't really know what is going on there, and I suspect no-one else does these days either.

Crane & Sons still exist today (trading as Crane Music) but don't have anything to do with concertinas. They were originally piano makers and suppliers based in Liverpool. John Butterworth, who invented the Crane system, was a piano tuner from Cheshire and probably already had a working relationship with Cranes when he devised his system.

Welcome to the club - there can never be too many Crane Drivers around!

[SteveS]

I've got a 48 with Crane & Sons label which looks a lot like yours - Lachenal serial no 256 on the insides. The right hand bar, which carries the Lachenal trade mark, also has a second number impressed into the wood - C & S 844, which I assume is a Crane & Sons number. However, my other Crane, a 56 'New Model', which a Lachenal-badged with serial number 693, also carries a 'C & S' number, partly obscured now by wear, which appears to have been 'C & S 08809'.

Mine has s/n 60 and 60 internally too, and C&S 413 impressed into the right hand bar.
It also has brass reeds.