Anglo Concertina Buyer's GuideAnglo Concertina Buyer's GuideMarch, 2007 Update
I have been making concertinas now for over six years, in addition to my 25 years experience in tuning and repair. Close to 200 concertinas have come from the Edgley Concertinas shop. Quality and attention to detail have resulted in the Edgley Concertina becoming the standard for tone and response among instruments in their class.
Nothing but the best quality hand made reeds is used with all concertina models. These reeds are made to Edgley Concertinas specifications to provide reeds as sensitive as the best vintage concertinas. All reeds are installed with leather gaskets to provide an absolutely airtight seal, so the maximum potential of each reed is realised. All reeds are “timed” to attain a very even balance of effort needed to sound every note. The same care is taken tuning each Edgley Concertina as Frank Edgley used when tuning the concertinas of every All-Ireland Concertina Champion residing in North America.
Edgley Concertinas are available with either metal or wooden end grills. The metal ends are made from non-tarnishing polished stainless steel to ensure that the metal grills will never tarnish or discolour. The wooden bodies of these concertinas have hand-rubbed finishes, in a variety of woods. Choices of exotic woods like cocobolo, ebony, rosewood, padauk, bloodwood, and bubinga are some of the woods available, as well as domestic woods like cherry, oak or curly maple.
Concertinas built by Frank Edgley are now in their third year of production. Due to increased demand in North America and Ireland production has been moved to a larger location. Edgley Concertinas are now being built in the historic "Walker Power Building" in Windsor, Ontario. Interested visitors are welcome by appointment.
Edgley Concertinas are the result of 20+ years of playing and repair experience, and the design and consultation with Harold Herrington of Dallas, Texas. In fact, Frank Edgley is probably the only repair person to have tuned and repaired the personal concertinas of all three All-Ireland concertina champions living in North America.
Edgley concertinas are made with the very best materials and components available. The body of the concertina is constructed of solid hardwoods, not veneered over inferior woods. The reeds are the very best hand-made Italian reeds, modified to my request to be the most sensitive and suited to the smaller bellows capacity of the concertina bellows. Reed pan design and choice of materials result in a very sweet tone, and volume which can be modulated for loud session playing, or quiet enough for song accompaniment.
The action is extremely fast. A top Irish concertina player, visiting the US with one of Ireland's most famous bands, last Spring (2002), stated that the Edgley concertina was the best and fastest concertina of its type he had ever played. The action is also very quiet, and matches or exceeds any other concertina, in this respect.
In terms of appearance, the Edgley concertina is very attractive. The wood is selected for grain characteristics. The wood is sanded with increasingly fine paper, up to 1000 grit. The wood is stained by an exclusive process, hand finished with a clear, satin finish so that the fine grain appearance is enhanced. A solid German silver end grill is available, as well as an exclusive Celtic lion design in solid cherry.
A hand-made custom fitted case, by Sean Fallon of Plymouth, Michigan, is available for the Edgley concertina.
Frank Edgley can be contacted by e-mail at FEdgley@cogeco.ca, or by phone at 519-948-9149.
Testimonials from owners of the "EDGLEY CONCERTINA":
January 2004.
Dear Frank,
I received the concertina in perfect condition. It was worth the wait. It is actually what I expected – easy to play, with a great sound. The keys are so easy to press, which really improves my playing. I cannot thank you enough for building this concertina for me. At the moment, I have two Wheatstones, which are nice instruments, but nothing to compare to the Frank Edgley design. You have improved my music and that makes me very happy. Looking forward to meeting you in the Spring.
Thank you again!
Yours sincerely,
Thomas Glynn,
Pompton Plains, New Jersey
Last year I ordered a concertina to be made by Frank Edgley & in just 5 months i'm playing this lovely instrument which looks & sounds as nice as my friend Warrens- Conner/Wheatstone. The bellows flow so nicely and the action / response is so Crisp & fast you would think you are playing an instrument a lot older than it is . It has Hand made Italian reeds which makes the tone so rich & pleasant to hear, I am so happy with it that I just couldn't put it down for three hours when i got it in my hands!! Thank you so, so much Frank Edgley, and I hope any one wishing to purchase a wonderfully crafted instrument will contact you at your web site. E. W.
I just received my Edgley, and I can't keep my hands off it. I never knew that triplets were so possible. After spending 5 years on an air sieve Renelli (with all crocked buttons), this is such a relief. I find I have to move faster to keep up with the speed of response of the new Edgley! Reels can be played with a lot more grace and all the notes sound perfectly. To put it simply, my sister admitted to me that now she "doesn't mind the sound of the concertina", and that is a Big compliment, Frank! I recommend it to anyone and everyone. I don't think I'll ever need to "upgrade" because these Edgley's are already at the top. D. R.
Just received my Edgley concertina from Frank, and what a wonderful instrument it is. Been playing it all week, and can't put it down! R.C.
From Hisako H., Japan:
Dear Frank,
Thank you for your lovely concertina! I'm really happy to have it so soon. I love its beautiful design and nice rich sound. The response is much much much better than my old one. It's more than I can believe! My musician friends all liked it when I played it at a pub session the other night. Some of them are also concertina players and they all praised it very excitedly. Frank, with this new wonderful concertina, I'm going to practice all the harder. Thank you so much, Frank!
Sincerely,
Hisako
October 2002 Update:
Dear Paul,
I am excited about this new concertina. I made it out of solid Zebrawood. It has been hand finished with a natural satin finish (no stain.) The handles are rock maple sandwiched between two layers of zebrawood. The bellows finish is garment leather, skivved thin at the edges. Straps are hand-tooled. The mechanism arms are stainless steel. The reeds are hand-made Antonelli's, gasketed and mounted with servo screws to the solid hardwood reedpans. Traditional brass adjustment screws are included.
Chris Droney playing an Edgley Concertina. Chris announced it a great instrument,
and would have no hesitation recommending it, which he did to several musicians
while I [Edgley] was in Ireland. Tim Collins, of the Kilfenora Ceili Band will
be the distributor for Ireland and is recommending it as the best of its type
to his students.
Photos courtesy of Frank Edgley