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Laurent Jarry in Montreuil, France laboitedaccordeon.fr One of my secret go to search places. Accordion specialist but he usually has some of the most amazing top tier concertinas available. I’m quite sure that my wonderful gold ended piccolo Aeola 28226 that came from him unrestored on consignment from a famous circus family is the only one in existence. And the advantage of getting a French instrument is that they are commonly tuned to A=435, French Continental pitch (versus A=452 High Philharmonic pitch) so you only have to slightly touch the tip of the reed tongue with the file to get to modern A=440 which doesn’t affect the voicing. Quick and easy with minimal play in afterwards. .

You can't go wrong with Laurent Jarry. My gold ended piccolo came from him and a friend purchased her 48 button tenor treble from him. No problems at all. Highly recommended. .

I probably shouldn't have used the word "ringing"... more like a silky sound... it does sort of ring through the instrument... very hard to explain... maybe it's just me but I find it greatly increases the expressiveness when playing. I do find the blocked reed chamber instruments do have better response hence the modification. I just checked the photos and the 18 guinea Wheatstone doesn't have the later blocking or any modifications but the Rock Chidley has cork blocking added; totally different, so I don't think this is it.

As a comparison between steel and brass... I have a few 12 guinea concert level Wheatstone trebles with steel reeds from the mid 1850s and a 13 guinea very high level presentation 1860 concert treble Wheatstone with glass buttons that surprising enough has brass reeds. You can barely tell the difference between this one with its brass tongues and the other steel tongue instruments. It is an exceptional high level concertina purposely built with brass reeds. Bright and responsive with great dynamics. It's the muffled cheap entry level brass reeded instruments that have given brass tongues a bad reputation. I would generally say that the steel reeds have a bit more response and dynamic range once played in well with all else being equal but brass and nickel reeds can perform just as well depending on other characteristics such as the wood used, construction, etc. and are more even over the entire range of the instrument. Brass can however be a bit fragile if played hard with tongues breaking. There is a lot of misconception about the early instruments. These are the ones that Regondi and Blagrove used and no one today can play like these prodigies. This said... To brag about the early ones... I especially enjoy the vintage instruments with what I would describe as a ringing resonance that I've never been able to figured out... they just sing... so silky and expressive... it is probably the wood they used and maybe even bellows construction / materials. Not sure. I've only experienced this in an exotic 18 guinea Wheatstone (glass buttons, gold trim, amboyna, etc.) and a Rock Chidley with striped rose wood and gold trim and buttons, both very high end, exceptional instruments. These are actually my currently go to instruments even above the best tort and amboyna golden era Aeola Wheatstones. So expressive, artistic and musical... Another note (sorry for the rant)... I've tried out concertinas that initially sounded absolutely horrible but after maybe 50 to 100 hours of playing turn out to be absolutely wonderful. It takes time for concertinas to play in. Also, some very old instruments that are beat up with honest playing wear often sound the best and come back to life the quickest even if they have sat unused for many years.

That's more than double chambers!!! Wow!!!

Thanks Wes. I tried to sign up to yumpu… they want everything. You can only see the first three ages until you create an account. I greatly appreciate the heads up. .

I have seen a similar pattern used by Wheatstone. I’ll check. I have a Keith Prowse that was made by Lachenal. It is basically a Inimitable with some extra features. i do plan on making some tooling like this but it will be at least another 6 months.

I use TE, TonalEnergy tuner app on my iPhone. It really does do it all and will accurately read the high and low notes. https://www.tonalenergy.com .

I’m curious… what is it’s measurement across the flats? I own a 25 key English piccolo that is amazing, not to mention rare and a 12 key miniature English that is the funnest little instrument to play! I think it has about a 12 fold bellows. Both are Aeolas like your’s.

Sold .

Hi Matt, I just sent you a personal message. It has no issues. .

I’m currently doing a vintage restoration on an early 3000s Rock Chidley: tiger striped rosewood, gold buttons, embossed bellows, etc. It sounds absolutely amazing! It’s fast, clear and has an interesting resonance that is hard to explain. I’ve only heard this once before from an 18 guinea Wheatstone. Correct me if I’m wrong… one could buy a Wheatstone treble for 2 guineas in the 1850s, a very good one for 8 and a concert level one was 12… so 18 was over the edge and this one has the potential of being just as good! Probably no time to finish it right now, but I will try to keep you posted. Any idea of a date for serial 30xx?

Thank you Wes. I’ll look at your website. Not a lot of experience, but I’m a big fan of Rock Chidley; amazing resonance and tone. George Case is wonderful too with their double chambered reed pans.

One more (there's always one more)... it's my first English concertina... Lachenal 38857. A year would be wonderful. Oops, another "one more"... Lachenal 157767, my first Anglo I'm building hang tags for all my cases putting the manufacture, serial No., date, and original owner's name or some unique characteristic. I have a few small maker concertinas that I adore: George Cases, a Cramer, a Rock Chidley, a Simpson, etc. If I don't know, I'm just putting "mid 1800s" on the tag. Do you have any idea on how to date these ones? Thanks for all the help.

Correct. My mistake. It is a 39 key. No air button. 19 on the LH, 20 on the RH.

Hi Wes, Thanks for all the help. I have a very nice Lachenal 49 key McCann duet, serial number 1663 in almost mint condition. Gut feeling is it is about C. 1900. Very clean... it even has the key for the case. Just needs a new case handle and will tune it to A=440. Please give me a circa year for it? Thanks.

Still available. I'm open to trades for a restorable English... Rock Childley, George Jones, Cramer, Simpson... preferably something unique.

I like the soft bag... I use one like this with a layer of foam in the bottom for day trips... otherwise I prefer the original cases... it's part of the vintage vibe... old wood hex cases with key latches for the mid 1800s instruments stored on their sides to prevent valve droop and the square leather cases for the early 1900s Aeolas, etc. I've built almost bullet proof flight cases out of plywood and resin with foam inserts and also used pelican cases but find them quite heavy overall; these are great for flying but generally I never let my box out of my sight.

Thanks Wes. Would you like photos or any additional info?

Could I please have the circa year for these: 25023 Lachenal Excelsior English 29815 Lachenal - Keith Prowse label English 39807 Lachenal Inimitable English Thanks

I got a small quantity of new BA threaded screws from Steve Dickinson as spares. They are most likely BA threads… BAtaps and dies are readily available on Amazon. As suggested, one can always tap it out slightly oversized and use a small metric or SAE bolt. Go slowly… backing out every quarter turn then forward again to clean the chips out… these taps easily break.

For years I used my eye to adjust the clearances. I developed a great feel for it. I found however, that if I looked at the reed even off at a slight angle, the tongue position appeared fine but sounding it determined it was off. Once the scope was perfectly set up to 90 degrees, looking perfectly straight down at the reed set on the flat glass, now I quickly see any misalignment with confidence. It was well worth the effort to construct the light box. I think tuning reeds is more of an art than a science… a little too much file pressure can misalign a tongue as often clamp screws are a bit loose or you can twist a very thin reed… I’ve even had a tiny filing burr hang over the side of a tongue on a very tight clearance reed and the scope instantly showed it up. A slight edge swipe with a fine file and the reed was perfect. It’s great for checking the gap for debris. It has become a wonderful, used all the time, tool. And I also agree that it would be great for removing slivers!

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Thanks wechruba. The reason I feel I need a camera with a light table is consistency. I am completely happy holding the reed up to the light and can clearly see the gaps with my naked eye but I find if I’m just off parallel a bit or the tongue is twisted, or a larger gap, etc. I can misjudge the position of the reed. I need to hold the reed fixed against a light table with the camera at right angle to get consistency. I’ve tuned and voiced lots of reeds and built a lot of reed tongues with very good results and measured up maybe 2000 reeds doing reed studies so know what good reeds look like all using the manual approach but think this will be a big upgrade. .