malcolm clapp

I don't think there are any hard and fast rules about where a concertina rests; whatever one is comfortable with, and experimenting can be useful. I must admit that I rest an anglo on my right knee if I'm reading music or playing something complicated or unfamiliar, but for tunes I know well I tend to hold the instrument at around chest height with arms extended, moving the concertina around as I play. (I recall a conversation with a respected player describing it as "theatrical style", as opposed to his "classical style", one end seemingly firmly attached to his knee or lower thigh. On a lighter note, one of my "party pieces" is/was to play anglo with the concertina behind my back while standing. Actually, a bit lower than what one would describe as my back, leading to a few "bum notes"....

Or possibly a Chemnitzer???

Easier in most cases if you temporarily remove the pad. Gives your fingers a little more space to manoeuvre.

The OP mentions a South African connection with this instrument. I'm wondering whether some of the anomalies could have been the result of a rebuild by a repairer in that country, of whom there have been quite a few over the years. I have seen several examples with, shall we say, creative modifications undertaken by local repairers. The term "frankintina" could indeed be applied to some of them, though no indication of quality (or lack thereof) implied. The instrument in question seems from the photos to be in amazingly good condition for one of that age. It would be interesting to know whether a rebuild was done during the OP's ownership, or earlier, perhaps in South Africa, and by whom? A little more provenance could hold the key....

Are you sure, Alex? My calculation would favour A/E as more likely. That said, I note that the concertina is housed in a Salvation Army case; a fair number of SA players played Ab/Eb instruments (as the SA recommended) and even published a tutor for that pitch. So possibly the push reed that "sounds a C#" could be closer to C than C#, making it an Ab/Eb instrument. Just supposition. Who knows how the ravages of time may have effected this poor thing, and a sample of just one reed cannot be accepted as conclusive imho.

An apology may be needed here. My memories of research from 40+ years ago are now a bit vague, and I may have been a little confused regarding the names, relationships and locations of various Linton-Gay family members. Somewhere in a large cupboard full of concertina memorabilia, I believe I have more accurate information which I shall endeavor to dig out in the next day or two and post here. So please don't take anything referred to in my above posts as accurate until I can correct the errors. Some errors now corrected in my earlier posts , but still a work in progress..... In the meantime, perhaps anyone else who has any information regarding the Linton-Gay story can let PJ or I know. Thanks for your patience.

Yes, this actually happened. Somebody in Tasmania tracked down Walter's descendants and we had an exchange of letters briefly. Incidentally, Walter reverted to the family's original surname of Gay rather than Linton, partly to disassociate himself from his playing days during which he suffered some degree of unhappiness, details of which I won't share here. And thanks, PJ, for the copy of the article as requested.

Hi, PJ, Sadly, I can't locate my collection of Australian Concertina Magazines; is it possible for you to let me have a copy of that article as it may jog a few memories. (Is that the article I contributed???) I recall that I had some correspondence with Charles' grandson, who's father Walter emigrated to Tasmania in the 1950s, so it may be Walter's concertina that you now have. The one I briefly owned came from the widow of one of Charles' other sons living in Somerset UK, and resold to (then) collector and dealer Phil Inglis. I believe that it eventually found its way to Neil Wayne and later to the Horniman Museum collection.

Hi, PJ, That duet looks to me like a Linton system. If so, then each row of 4 buttons should play the same note, but in different octaves. Perhaps you can confirm that this is the case (or otherwise). I owned one of these briefly some 40 years ago, but although the fingering appears logical, I would not call it intuitive, and it never really caught on with players outside of the Linton family. For more information about Charles Linton, see Concertina Newsletter issue 11 page 20. https://www.concertinamuseum.com/FreeReed/FR11.pdf

Glad to have been of assistance. Good luck with further renovations if needed.

I may be wrong, but I would suggest that it is likely the right hand reed pan is incorrectly positioned by 180 degrees. The reed pan should have a letter R and/or the 4050 number at the corner directly behind the badge cartouche on the face plate. The bellows frame should also be marked similarly at the same corner. If this is established, then there might be several reed pairs that have been positioned incorrectly, including the superfluous D as mentioned in an earlier post, so a bit of swapping around may be needed to correct things to the standard fingering as shown in Don Taylor's post above. I hope this helps..... Good luck.

I assume, David, that you are referring to the high end of the G row. I have struck quite a few C/G anglos of various makes that have an F natural instead of a B on the push in this chamber. Some would appear to be the original factory reed, while others have clearly been after-sale (and comparatively recent) replacements, so one must assume that the failure of the high B was not an uncommon headache for players and makers alike over many long years. This may, or may not, be relevant to the OP's problematic reed responses, but could be a contributing factor. The dimensions of the chamber do not always suit the difference in reed size and air flow to cater for two reeds pitched this far from one another, being B push and F# pull. Such a difference is virtually imperceptible with lower pitched reed pairings, but seemingly not so at the higher end of the range. In theory, F push and F# pull would be a more balanced combination. While I'm not convinced that F natural would be much more use than the B6 to the majority of players, at least it might be better than having an annoyingly silent reed as David is experiencing. Of course, the limitation of fitting a slightly longer reed may well be the size of the chamber, and the cost of a replacement reed may well be unjustified, but could be worth considering.

Possibly not what you are seeking, Chris, as not specifically Lachenal parts, but the London dealer J. J. Vickers was offering a brief list of spares in their catalogue from the mid 1930s, (bottom of page 4). http://www.concertina.com/pricelists/dealers/Vickers-Pricelist-c1935.pdf Probably just a coincidence, but that particular catalogue would date from around the time that Lachenals closed....

I seem to remember that Marcus anglos used a similar lever set up, though it has been a while since I last saw the action mechanism of one of these, so I may be mistaken.

I was once told at a folk club by an audience member that the more he had to drink the better my concertina playing sounded.... Rightly or wrongly, I shouted him another beer.