alex_holden

I believe there are a handful of modern makers building instruments as good as or better than the best vintage instruments. I presume by materials availability you mean things like ivory and rosewood; there are other readily available materials that look different but function just as well.

Thanks Wolf! Indeed, I'd be willing to quote to build an English. One problem (or so I am told) is that there is no shortage of good vintage 48 button treble Englishes at prices lower than I would have to charge to build a new one. I did get an inquiry about a bass English, but I don't think that one is going to happen.

The paper label on the bottom of the reed pan is something I've only seen on Lachenals. There is a longer serial number stamped on the inside of the bellows frame, looks something like 11881? It would help to see the action levers for additional confirmation. You can tell if the reeds are brass or steel from the colour of the metal (brass is more yellow) and the presence or not of rust.

Upload it to Youtube and copy/paste a link to it.

Is there a reason you need a 40 button rather than a 38? I had the impression the highest notes on a 40 don't get used very much.

I seem to recall Geoff mentioned that when Lachenal closed down, Crabb obtained some left over parts including action boxes. Maybe this is one of the instruments they built using those boxes?

I know someone who has a restoration project 46 button Wheatstone Maccann, 6 1/4" AF hexagonal with inset metal ends (in fact it looks a lot like your model 24). It would need quite a lot of work but the reeds look OK.

Well done!

Might be to do with where the pad is located on the action board, e.g. if the palm of the hand is over it?

That does sound odd. It's showing as 100-23=77 cents sharp on the table, 45 cents sharp in the box, so you're aiming for 77-45=32 cents sharp on the table to get 0 in the box. That looks like too large of a difference to me. Usually it's more in the range of +5 to +12. Of course if you're only adding solder to the tip and taking it away again, you can afford to experiment a bit without doing permanent damage to the reed.

The vent slot is 4x17mm. If you make it in two parts it's easier to undercut the edge.

What a beauty! 😍

The difference is it's holding the sides rather than the tip of the frame. Higher pitched reeds will go further forward than lower ones, so you'll need several of them with different widths or some way to adjust the width. The Crabb type works for all (common) pitches. A hard plastic version would probably work ok. It should 2mm or less thick so you can file the reed while it's in the holder.

You can see my holder below, based on the design Crabb used. It's actually a bit too narrow for Jones 'broad' reeds, but works well with Wheatstone/Lachenal/Crabb/Jeffries/Holden reeds. The key thing is that the holder keeps the tip of the reed approximately centred and slightly behind the front of the vent slot. You push the reed frame forward against the tip of the holder while operating the bellows. The tip distance doesn't vary much with pitch, but the width does. The left hand side of the holder is mostly there to hold it in position while you file the tongue. The flap valve is very simple, it's a rectangular hole about 20x25mm with a rectangular piece of 3mm plywood over it, hinged on one side with a piece of thin leather.

You could be right, it does look like sticky tape.