Geoffrey Crabb

Studying the picture, I almost certain that this is an early picture of Billy Hartford aka Bill Bullen, a professional exponent of the concertina and the piano accordian. I knew 'Bill' for many of his later years and certain facial features in the pictures remind me of him. He was a contemporary of Bert Greene and, together with a George Crathern, often played at events as a trio. The sound of three 81 key duets playing the different parts of a piece was something to behold. The instrument being played is a Wheatstone Maccann Duet and that on the table, a 12 key miniature English. I will try and search out some later pictures of Bill and post them. Geoff

Hi Peter, As Stephen has said, Crabb instruments were supplied to J E Dallas and most other instrument dealers for a considerable number of years. Your query is interesting in that normally Crabb numbers never exceeded 5 digits, however, during the late 1930’s there is possible evidence in the existing records that the year was included in some numbers*. Unfortunately, it seems that for the period 1935 –1941, the instrument details were recorded on poor quality cards, only the last one of which has survived today. *This card shows that instruments made between Feb 39 – Jul 40 had the usual ID number preceded, I presume, by the year number. The first two instruments incidentally being ‘48 English’ for J E Dallas, the numbers being 399435 & 399436. Taking this into consideration, if the number of the instrument in question (889360) has been misread and the first digit is perhaps a 3 then I feel sure that it was made in 1938. Most Crabb instruments made for dealers at that time were generally made down to a price and although the reeds were originally of the best quality, savings were made in the construction and external finish. Picture of a typical dealer supplied Crabb 48 Treble English of the period. Geoff

It is interesting that, from a cursory glance through the records for the period 1889-1895 when John Crabb was still supplying Jeffries with 'unbadged' instruments, it appears for every one Bb/F, three B/F# instruments were being made. Obviously there was a greater demand for these at that time. Why?, who knows? Like Stephen, I would say that a 50 key Anglo would have been made to special order and any original allocation of notes to buttons outside the 'core' would have been the choice of the purchaser. Geoff

Hi Geoff, Having the benefit of the makers (Morse) still about I would seek their advice directly. Geoff Crabb

Hi Mike I apologise for delay in response to your query. I have no idea as to the tonnage required to form the crimp, not a lot I would have thought. I use the pictured press, which is really only regarded as a ‘light’ version, as this is how we always did it finding it to be the quickest way. Over the years I have seen others attempts which have been successful. Always using some sort of forming tools the pressure being applied by various methods including the use of a large vice and various design of screwed clamps. I have often been asked why the crimp is not formed in one go to all the edges, using appropriately shaped lower and upper tools. Apart from the need for a much more substantial press, with hand made carcass components, there is no guarantee that the parts will be identical i.e. size or perfect shape*. I cut and fit the tops to match the actual shape /size of each instrument and therefore the individual crimping of each edge ensures that overall, each crimp is of equal width from each edge of the top. * The shape may not be a perfect hexagon, octagon etc. but that imperfection is usually slight and not apparent to the eye. If you manage to get replacement tops laser cut, I would be interested to see/hear about the results. Geoff

Ben I have replied directly to you. Geoff

Hi Henrik, No secrets. The bevel or 'crimp' (as we call it) is formed a side at a time using suitable forming tools in a press. Whilst it is possible to form the crimp in one go to each edge of a top in brass or nickel silver it is best with stainless steel, to work around an end plate several times gradually forming the crimp until fully formed. Here are some pictures. Crimp Upper tool - common to all shapes. Crimp Lower tool - one of these is required for each shape/size of instrument. Tools set up in press. Overall view of press. The lower tool shown is suitable for 6 - 8 inch hexagonal instruments and is an original from 1860 and still in use. The working surface of the upper tool is polished but with stainless it is advisable to place a piece of bushing felt between the endplate and upper tool to avoid marking the surface. Geoff

Whoops - Pushed the wrong button too early. See following attempt.

The attached notes on levers may be of interest. Geoff

Thanks Frank. devinomatic, the tops are polished stainless steel so they are quite easy to clean and of course resist acid attack. Dan, The size is 7.25 inches across the flats, one inch bigger than a standard hex size. By careful planning and consideration of reed and chamber size required to meet the criteria required for this instrument, the action can be comfortably accommodated. The fretwork (grills) are hand-pierced, I am afraid that I have never gained proficiecy in using motorised saws. Here are some pictures of my method. Piecing blade used in Fretsaw frame The set up Closer view The pattern being worked in the above pics, the right end of a 48 key Treble Eng (Crabb Pattern). PS. The white coat was for the picture. Geoff

Just one amendment to the the quote (with Robins permission), the pans in this instrument are not orientated. Due to a larger size, 7.25 inches across the flats to accommodate the larger reeds and chambers, there is no short lever problem and the pans are fitted traditionally. At Robins request I submit some more internal pictures. Left pan - lower. Left pan - upper Right pan - lower Right pan - upper Left Action Right Action Geoff

Hi Stephen, I remember that some of the early 'in house' instruments had these 'crimped' reeds. It is sometime now since I was fully engaged with tinas and the memory gets a bit vague now and then and of course you are right in the use of the accordian type reeds in the majority of May Fairs. Regarding the Crabb pricelist, yes this would be onward from 1930 when the '& Son' was added. The content however was the same as previous pricelists right back to 1900 except for the addition of the 'Triumph' reference and 'T' model numbers. A Butterworth type was however made in Hex and Oct from the turn of the century. I shall, hopefully, be over to Kilrush in August so maybe we shall meet again after many years. Geoff.

Hi Derek I do not know why your email was returned but I offer the following: From the records, 8577 was made in 1897. However there is a slight anomaly with this instrument in that I would have expected it to bear the J Crabb stamp in a smilarly shaped cartouche as Gregs, a typical John Crabb Anglo of 1890. The H Crabb name in an oval cartouche was in use from 1903 until about 1926 when it changed to H Crabb & Son until closure. My supposition is that the instrument may have born metal hand rests originally. It was a common problem that rough usage of the instrument resulted in these handrests being pulled away resulting in damage to the end plates or at least the right one and this was replaced at some later date. As stated above this repair could have been done anytime between 1903 and 1926. Wood hand rests are now common to many early and most later instruments. I have entered the details and picture of your instrument on the database, thanks. The Crabb family business was established in 1860 and continued till 1989. It is unlikely that your instrument was supplied originally by Vickers, probably it was sold as a used instrument. The number on the bellows is indicative of a Vickers repair job number and may relate to a new bellows (probable as lack of papers) at some time or other repairs. The majority of Vickers repairs, reed replacement etc. were carried out by Crabbs. I hope this meets your enquiry. Geoff

I was recently asked for information in relation to Cranes of Liverpool and offer that information in addition to Wes’s contribution and hope my ramblings are of some interest. Around the time of introduction of this type of duet, the Cranes business was styled as ‘Crane & Sons’ circa 1898, there is no reason to suppose that the ‘Sons’ did not subsequently trade as ‘Crane Brothers’ It has been established that a Patent application No 21,730 for the key layout and allocation of notes for this type of instrument was submitted 1st October 1896 and granted 1st October 1897 to John Butterworth, a piano tuner, of Macclesfield, Cheshire. Although the instruments sold by Cranes were called the Crane Patent Concertina the evidence does not confirm that they were the actual patentees. Of course it is possible that they acquired or bought the patent rights from Butterworth and it is interesting that he was a piano tuner and Cranes were a major distributor of piano's. Also Macclesfield is not that distant from Liverpool or Manchester where two of Cranes many branches were located so it is possible that Butterfield was in contact or even maybe employed as an agent to service Crane supplied pianos in the Macclesfield area and approached the company to sell his idea. I believe that Lachenals involvement, like many others, was that of a manufacturer approached by Cranes to supply a particular type of instrument. At the moment I am not aware of evidence that Crane & Sons were manufacturers in their own right. It is also probable that Cranes already had dealt with Lachenal to supply English type instruments. Although it is assumed by many that the name Crane is synonymous with a *duet type concertina some English type instruments, although rare, have appeared with a Crane label. * It will be noticed that I have not used 'Duet' (capital D) in the above as Crane & Sons advertised the various models of the subject instrument collectively as: 'Cranes Patent English Combination Concertina' I think that one maker (Who ?) first adopted the 'Duet' name to describe such an instrument and this was protected therefore others making similar concertinas chose/had to adopt a different name to avoid patent problems. I personally tend to refer to instruments with the this key arrangement (Crane and Triumph) as Butterworth types. It is true that Crabb were making instruments of the Butterworth and MacCann type by 1900 following the gradual and final withdrawal of Jeffries Anglo custom. Although protected by patents, I believe that the small output of Crabbs, mainly one-off orders, was of no concern to Wheatstone, Lachenal or others and that litigation to halt production would have proved more costly than effective. Early Crabb price lists refer to duet type of instrument as 'Double Action' concertinas, the name derived from the 'Double' concertina, a Wheatstone inception. The 'double action' term does cause some confusion as this was also used to describe the use of press and draw reeds. Crabb Double Action concertinas of the Butterworth system normally had the five columns of keys closer together than the original patent as used on the Lachenal built Cranes, the Crabb spacing being that common to the English. Also the keys were not arranged in curved rows but as chevrons. It is evident from the Crabb records that the name Crane had been adopted generally to describe these concertinas and instruments of 35 to 80 buttons in various ranges and keys were made. With the closure of Lachenals, Crabb would produce instruments with the ‘patent’ (wide, curved) layout as required. Geoff Crabb

Just an addition. The 'May Fair' was produced in three models, The 30A, an Anglo in C/G. Hexagonal 6.25 inches across the flats. The 30E, a 30 button English. Hexagonal 6.25 inches across the flats. The 36E, as above but including missing accidentals and a wind button. Hexagonal 7 inches across the flats. Although most of these instrument seen, used Accordian type reeds, some were made to standard internal design using 'individual' reeds where the steel tongues were held in place by displaced alloy reed frame material. An ingenious method that made each reed very light weight. Unfortunately these reeds, which are seen in some other Wheatstone models, were screwed in place somewhat cancelling the weight gain. Geoff.

Well done Bob. Geoff

Actually, I think it is one button short on the inner row of the side showing ???? Geoff

Hi Wes, yes it is a labour of love with MsWord but all the hard work was done some time ago and now it is a case of copy, paste, delete or add and is quite easy now. It also allows me to add notes etc. where I want them. I am sure that others will welcome you making the software available. Regards Geoff

Hi Brian, the attached may be of help. Regards Geoff.

Hi Charlie, Yes several were made, the last in 1972. Here is a picture of one made circa 1950 by my father. The family made this type of Duet from around 1900 and although specialising in the larger instruments, the records / plans show that about 55 variations were made of 35 - 80 buttons with various ranges and other base keys e.g. Eb,Ab,Bb etc. It will be noticed that generally the key spacing and position on Crabb versions depart from the 'Crane' (properly Butterworth) original design as used by Lachenal, the Crabb being based on that of the English spacing. If requested, instruments would be made with Crane spacing. Regards Geoff.

Hi all, I have attached the keyboard layout for a Crabb built 80 Key (79 + Wind key) Crane Duet. It opens as a Word document. First time I have done this, so hope it opens OK. Geoff

And another from my own archive. Date unknown but shows the diversity of instruments made by Lachenal at the time. Geoff

Hi wakasaobama, As far as I know, the Ball Beavon company was in existance from circa 1880 - circa 1915. They were dealers trading in musical instruments and various sundries. As far as is known they, like others, did not make anything but commissioned items to be made and sold them under their own name. I have, for example, several tuning forks stamped Ball Beavon and came across this example of needles for a Gramophone retailed by the company. It should be considered that Crabb was perhaps one of several that supplied concertinas to the company. Hi Paul, No probs, I have sent a PM. Regards Geoff

Hi all, A general note first. All Crabb numbers should be regarded as an identity (ID) number rather than a serial number and must not be considered as a guide to the actual quantity of instruments produced by the Crabb family. It was common practice for all early Crabb instruments, whether for direct sale or supply to dealers etc. to be marked in pencil, internally, with an ID number. At some time?? this practice was discontinued and either a name stamp or the ID number was impressed into the internal woodwork and/or underside of the top in metal-topped instruments. It was found that pencilled numbers were being erased prior to resale to conceal the source of manufacture. Crabb instruments for direct sale have always been named externally, either impressed or engraved into the right hand metal top or on wood top models by the attachment of a name plate to right side. From about 1900 the ID number would usually be displayed, as above, on the left top of the instrument. Crabb instruments from 1895 can be accurately dated to the year and for those before this date, an estimate can be given. To Wakasaobama The earliest Crabb records that indicate instrument (ID) numbers are for 1895 starting at No 8452. From other production records that exist before that date and based on an average yearly rate of production I estimate that your recently acquired Ball Beavon No 8426, if made in the Crabb workshop, would therefore have been made in 1894 by my great grandfather, John. Although wood top Crabb models were fairly common, the fretwork pattern of that time was usually the same as metal top versions. The fretwork on the instrument in question is unfamiliar to me but that does not mean it is not a Crabb. Occasionally a simpler pattern was requested by dealers to reduce the price of some models. For the record, can you tell us what Keys and Temperament the concertina is tuned to? Geoff Crabb.

And that was extra deep Pete Geoff