I know I am ignorant of such things so I am asking you the experts for your opinion.

As I am looking for a replacement concertina I find quite a few with bellows papers. I must confess I don't really like them.
So....

What purpose do they serve eg. decoration/stop the bellows sticking together/other?

Now....

What happens and indeed *can you and how* remove bellows papers of new or old instruments without detriment to the bellows.

Or, should you remove them at all?

Forgive me if this is in the wrong part of the forum.

Sharron

SFAIK, they are purely decorative. As it happens I like them a lot. I would strongly recommend that you do not remove them from existing bellows because:

a) they are a part of the original instrument and I always feel iffy about tampering with something like this (as I have said elsewhere, I regard myself as a custodian, not an owner of an instrument that might outlive me by centuries).

b) following on from a) the next owner might like bellows papers

c) whatever solvent you might use to dissolve the glue holding the bellows papers in place might also dissolve the glue that holds your bellows together.

As to going in the other direction, I must admit that I investigated putting bellows papers onto my Morse, but my heart wasn't in it - see a) above, also the self-adhesive bellows papers from Marcus are a little too lurid for my taste.

Chris

It's a BAD idea to remove the bellows papers as they serve the distinct purpose of protecting the card and adjacent leather edges protected.

There are many ways to design and construct bellows. One of the most expensive and most durable ways is by sheathing the entire thing in leather (note that virtually all the top-of-the-line concertinas have solid leather-covered bellows). A substantial cost savings is realized by substituting fake leather (buckram) or paper for the flat panel fold areas.

If you remove the bellows papers (hopefully without damage), you will need to replace them with something to protect the card and other leather parts. Better would be to place another material (leather, buckram, another bellows paper) over the existing one.

Beware that some of the replacement bellows papers are "self-stick" and do not adhere well to the finish that many leather bellows have.

NOTE: The bellows papers are NOT simply decorations added on top of the bellows leather. There's no leather underneath, only a kind of cardboard. So if you remove the papers you'll have something that I suspect you'll find even less attractive, in addition to removing the protection that the paper provides. To get the plain-leather effect that you seem to want, you would have to replace the papers with similar trapezoids in super-thin leather (or paper, I suppose) of a matching color and finish.

If you had a professional do the entire job -- and do it right, -- I suspect the effort would be more than that to make a new bellows. So if you really hate the "papers" look, I think you should consider getting a new bellows made by one of the respected instrument restorers and let them keep the old bellows (or keep it yourself against the day somebody sticks a knife through your bellows and you need a temporary replacement ).

Well there you go. In my innocence having never removed bellows papers I assumed the bellows with papers were identical underneath to those without - the only bellows I have seen disassembled was a set that Rosalie Dipper was making, and I can testify that the papers are not of substantial structural importance in their bellows.

But my taste remains for flamboyant concertinas with amboyna ends, brass buttons, all the gold tooling the leather can carry, and lots of gold and green on the bellows papers. Away with these boring black-and-chrome efforts, let's see concertinas in their true elegant plumage!

Chris

I'm with you on that one Chris - the G/D Andrew Norman recently made for me is probably the concertina equivalent of a pink paisley kipper tie - red bellows, fancy burgundy-patterned papers... when I phoned him after it arrived he said that one of the guys that works with him "could imagine it being played in a harem"

On a less-than-serious note - don't underestimate how easy it is for a concertina with no bellows papers on it to completely disappear in photos taken from the front of a stage if you're wearing black and the lighting is "moody"... in which case you'll look like you're indicating the size of the last fish you caught if you're playing standing up...

I have some nice endpapers I got from a bookbinder supply which are glossy scarlet swirled on black. I've always thought they'd be great as bellows papers on an ebony-ended instrument with scarlet bellows. But, hey... instead of paper bellows papers, how about gold-tooled skiver (leather)? And where did I see those Lachenal bellows papers that were black, with a gilt "L" in a gilt frame, seemingly imitating what I just suggested?
Chris, do you think I should get the simple glass buttons on the amboyna Edeophone replaced with swirly Venetian glass?

Sounds like a perfect use for a HERRINGton concertina!

Yes Jim, no trout about it. (sorry)

Going off at a tangent, it would be nice for somebody to come up with a Christmas concertina kit - a set of tiny LEDs wired in series like Christmas lights, that you could position under the fretwork... Maybe coupled with Santa Claus festive bellows papers?

In a traditional bellows, where the bellows maker has elected to run the leather in the "valley" (for lack of a better term) up about 1/4 way up from the bottom of the trapezoid, bellows papers are used to cover the cards and the joints between the gussets and the edge runs of leather.

They have no structural purpose, but provide a good opportunity for design.

Many people who see a concertina with black bellows and black papers mistakenly assume there are no papers applied to the concertina.

Some concertinas, such as the edeophone on my bench now, the bellows maker has elected to run a piece of ~.020" leather in the valley and up the entire side of the trapeziod card, eliminating the cosmetic need to cover the joints between the card and the gussets and end runs.

Again, leather glued to the inside top of the bellows card has no structural purpose but is a good opportunity for design as it provide a nice contiguous black visage.

All bellows built in a traditional manner of cut cardboard have joints comprised of leather and linen whether or not they have included bellows papers in the design or not.

The decision to glue leather or paper to a bellows card is an expression of style and has no bearing on the longevity or utility of the bellows.

Bob Tedrow

If I saw that I think I'd faint clean away!

Chris

Hello all

While we're dreaming (maybe this post should be addressed to the concertina genie), I would like an Italian- made concertina with hemisperical ends sheathed in deep green pearl celluloid, the tape on the bellows edges also green, and the bellows papers bright red with black (watermelon-seed) spots. Just perfect for busking at a farmer's market.

Paul

Would this be to match something you were wearing Paul?
Al

Surely this calls for a picture..?

regs

Chris

I once had a big Accordion with a silver marble effect finish - not quite to my taste, but not too bad when the bellows were closed.

Opening the bellows, however, was a horrible shock - they were pink. It was a very nasty looking instrument.

Cheers
Tom

Ah well Tom,

Your accordion went by the philosophy that if you're truly big, you can wear anything?

I take it you don't own this instrument anymore?

And the color of your concertina (including bellows)?

Helen

Well I think I will leave the bellows well alone. Papers or none.

Thanks

Sharron

Thanks for raising a good topic.

Chris

the concertina equivalent of a pink paisley kipper tie

Sounds like a perfect use for a HERRINGton concertina


Well, a kipper is a smoked herring!!!!!. but keep the concertina away from the fire

Whenever I run across Ken Sweeney I admire the home-made bellows papers decorating his old Wheatstone English. They are old opened-out cigar rings! I think they look great, and think with envy on the fun of smoking all those cigars. I wouldn't dare smoke them around my house, though, unless I wanted to sleep in the barn!

-Eric Root

Or smoke in the house and leave the 'tina in the barn.

Well, neighbor, if this sort of things happens a lot, it might account for the small numbers of concertinas out there in comparison with guitars. (And concertina players, for that matter! )

Bob

Helen,



Could be. I'm average height (or maybe a little shorter) so I don't have much insight into this. Frankly, "not much" is about all the insight I want into the psyche of a large pink-and-silver accordion.



That's right. I changed to a similar size instrument in understated black-and-white, but now I'm trying the concertina. When I was a teenager I played the piano, so (I'm sure I'm not the only one) to play folk music I took up the piano accordion. It's a folk piano, right? Sometimes I wish that somebody had said to me "no no no, the harp is the folk piano".

Anyway, I switched to the concertina because of my inability to get pleasing sounds out of the bass end of the accordion.



It's a Stagi 30 button English. Plain brown bellows, wooden ends. My philosophy is "if you're a lousy musician, don't draw attention to yourself". Once, when I had the pink and silver monster and I was a worse musician than I am now, I joined an impromptu jam session at a festival. I was playing chords, relying on watching a guitar player's left hand (beause my ear isn't very good), using about 2% of the available notes and stumbling frequently. At one point I noticed that the melody had stopped and everyone was smiling at me - it was my turn to improvise a melody worthy of O'Carolan! I don't want this to happen again.

Hiya Tom,

Well,

Considering your trend: piano, piano accordion, concertina

to ever smaller instruments

I think you are on the way to the thumb piano followed by the harmonica.

Jaw harp and whistle (the type coaches use) might be next.

I think the concertina is more portable than the piano accordion, but I like both.

Have fun.

Take care.

Helen