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nicx66

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Posts posted by nicx66

  1. For what it's worth, my correspondence with Alex has been cordial and yet professional, always transparent on his part. I, on the other hand, have been a typical, non-committal, prospective buyer, looking for the best deal. He has listed a treasure trove of fine instruments dating back to the 1870s, for sale, at a reasonable price. Any brick & mortar shop would charge significantly more, sometimes double, for a comparable instrument. 

  2. You may want to consider the position and shape of the hand rests, height, width, distance from the buttons/keys, etc. I believe that Frank Edgley has designed an adjustable hand rest and others have experimented with ergonomic hand rests. To me, the saddest posts on the Buy/Sell forum are from people selling their instruments due to arthritis. It breaks my heart every time. 

  3. On 3/31/2020 at 5:57 AM, alex_holden said:

     

    I've seen some nice ones where they rip the board in two and bookmatch the halves, so it looks approximately symmetrical. There's no reason why you couldn't do the same thing with a concertina end board.

     

    A-bookmatched-Honduran-Mahogany-guitar-b

     

     

    There was a Wheatstone on eBay this last 12 months that was clearly book-matched on the ends, per what Alex is describing in his response. It was a 48 key treble that was quite early per the serial number. I believe it was auctioned here in the US, but I am not positive. It was rosewood though, with similar delineation between the light and dark sections of the wood.

  4. Does anyone sell full sets of Jeffries reeds? I know of at least 2 makers who built new concertinas with vintage Jeffries concertina reeds, so the value is measurable in a dollar amount . Sorry, I know this does not answer your question because I do not have the technical knowledge of a reed-maker, but it is very interesting.

  5. I have read on these forums that hide glue is what was used historically and works best in that it allows future bellows replacement to be possible using the original frames. I just attached a pair of bellows to my Tidder concertina 2 days ago, believe it or not. It worked great. Clean-up was quite easy with a cotton rag dampened in hot water. I was originally going to use a PVA, Titebond 2 as it is the type that I am most familiar with. I decided to go with the hide glue in the end after reading some posts on this forum that said it is easier to reverse with heat.  Good luck with your Wheatstone!

  6. Thank YOU! Greg, for your advice, patience, and workmanship. These old instruments need a craftsman to bring out the best in them. The price-point too!  I know that it is tacky to talk about the money, but your service is so far above and beyond the $15 that I paid you. Those F# reeds are so very important.

  7. I have a vintage brass reed anglo and I love the tone. It dates from around 1901 and has reeds similar to the type that Jones used.  The original tuning was 70 cents sharp of C/G so I had it professionally serviced and tuned to C#/G#. Brass reeds are sensitive to any drastic changes from the original tuning, so bringing it to C/G was not an option. I have had 2 reed tongues crack and need to be replaced.  The issues were related in my case. A cracked reed caused it to go out of tune by about 30 cents. Replacing it was easy and painless, thanks to Greg Jowaisas. The response on the brass reeds is great and for a band setting, the volume is perfect and it blends beautifully with other instruments.  It would be interesting to see a modern maker do a brass reed anglo. I have heard only good things about Chris Algar. While I have not bought an instrument from him, he has been helpful in answering some inquiries and always very knowledgeable. Good luck on your purchase.

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