Patrick McMahon

The first one that looks like the reeds are glued in, you will probably find they are waxed in. If they are, you can probably get them to pop out using a fine screwdriver carefully, without much disturbance of the wax. I would normally do that, and then replace them exactly where they came from, and re-melt the wax to reseal the reed with my favourite old solder iron, which I can keep at a low temperature. I'm amazed that it's so badly out of tune though. It doesn't look old or worn. It looks like a very nice example with hardly any use. I would re-check the tuning before making any alterations. Maybe check by ear as well as electronics, just to be sure no mistake is creeping in. Here's a link to a virtual piano, if you want to check by ear : http://virtualpiano.net/

When you test each button as I said, you might hear a feint popping sound, as the pad is sucked back onto the hole. That would tell you for sure it's a loose pad. Edit : if the above doesn't flush it out, another way of testing is to test each button one after another, WHILE pulling on the bellows. The offending pad would probably stay closed, and not give a note.

It certainly would. Best way is to identify which key or keys are not letting the bellows open properly. Press one key at a time, and smartly open the bellows. That should tell you which ones. Then take the ends off, and press that key or the lever to raise the pad, and then just poke around at the pad, to see if it's intact and firmly glued in place. ( which it probably isn't) If the whole pad, or a layer, has not been glued properly, it just needs a little glue to set it in place. Once you've checked one, it's easy to check the others, while you have the end off. If you can't see any problem, you might be able to feel that a pad is loose with the tips of your fingers.

It sounds like Greg has put his finger on it. Bellows won't be stiff now and then, they will be stiff all the time or not at all. So it's nothing to do with the actual bellows. ( which you can easily check by operating them with the air button fully pressed ) If it's now and then, as you say, it's probably one of the pads partly delaminating. On squeeze, the air would push it away from the hole, but on draw, it can suck it against the hole, and close it, If the pads are made of more than one layer, that can easily happen. I would identify which note or notes it happens on, and have a look at those pads.

Money can't buy me love. But it certainly can buy politicians. You have to ultimately blame the voters for electing them though.

Like the fabulous mountain ash trees that they cut down. The early Aussies were worse than the Americans for laying waste to national treasures. But they couldn't tell the future, and life was a struggle.

To be sure, to be sure !!

Noticed this on Ebay. "1854 period Wheatstone "Duett" concertina in original repaired box" Not something you see every day. http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/1854-period-Wheatstone-Duett-concertina-in-original-repaired-box-1-note-duff-/182368607345?hash=item2a76041c71:g:Tz4AAOSw-0xYO1Kl 1854 period Wheatstone "Duett" concertina in original repaired box

Love the animals. But where is the cane toad and the box jelly ?

Reading the notes below the video, he says that the composer was a lutenist, and the piece was composed for the lute. I agree it sounds dead right on the concertina. I would love to see the look on Henry vlll's face, if someone had played that to him on such a totally unknown instrument. The sound is marvellous and I agree it does sound like a piece written for organ. Although I would like to hear it played on the lute, to be taken back 500 years in the imagination.

I think the English Wanglo is a great name.

My initial interpretation was that the reeds are accordion style but mounted on brass plates, instead of aluminium. That was a guess, but it would be an interesting development if they were. Of course, how they are attached to the wood is as important as what they are made of. They show that the reeds are single, not double, and fit in a dovetailed slot. So maybe they are traditional concertina reeds in every respect. That's what comes over from the pictures, so why don't they make it a bit clearer? They could have just said, reeds made in the Wheatstone/Jeffries style, or in the style of vintage concertinas from England. That's how I would market them. But maybe the actual reed tongues are accordion reeds, with the brass plates custom made. I'd love to know. Edit : After watching a few of the videos, they seem to have a good authentic concertina sound, and describe the vintage ones as having traditionally made reeds.

Well, the proof is in the sound. And while the valves on the old set might be worn out, I doubt if that goes for the reeds. Unless they have been tuned time and time again, the steel is probably as good as when new. I've always found melodeons with Czech reed ( i.e. Delicia ones ) to have a very nice tone. Admittedly not as "bright" as Hohner ones, although I would put it as less harsh. But a very "juicy" sound that I find superior. Of course, what sounds good in an accordion might sound less so in a concertina. I don't know the answer to the thickness question though. If the metal is thinner for the same note, I would have expected the opposite, a less bright sound. But that's just a blind guess. It would depend on the contour as well.

Hi, agranderandonnee, A bit of vital information is where you are located, as it's easier for people living close to sort out a deal.

It's apparently fairly common in high-end harmonicas (because of the issue with warm breath causing condensation), but I haven't heard of anyone using it for concertina reeds. I'm planning to try it myself a bit further down the road. That's interesting. But with harmonicas, it's only competing against brass, not carbon steel. I suppose you could use carbon steel in harmonicas, so long as the owner always used some sort of warm air dryer after use. But that's not likely to always be practical, as they chop and change instruments so often. I made a reed out of a stainless razor blade once, and it worked ok, but sounded very wooly. But it was probably too thin for it's size, so it wasn't a good test. I vaguely remember a tv program on the bronze age, somebody saying that early bronze was similar to steel in strength, and much stronger than brass. I wonder if it would work better than brass as a reed?

I might, but not with a lot of confidence. It would depend on the arrangement of reeds fitted. In lots of accordions, three reeds would be a combination of two middle frequency reeds, and one an octave lower. So if you can clearly hear a lower reed mixed with middle reed/reeds, then you have identified one reed, and just need to decide if the higher note you're hearing is from one reed or two. You might be able to detect a tremelo, or "beating" sound coming from the higher reeds, which would indicate more than one reed. So in that case, you could be reasonably sure that you have two middle, and one lower reed, adding up to three. Of course, that might still be wrong, if the lower reed and higher reed are slightly out of perfect tune, you might get a tremelo happening between the low reed and the higher one. I'm not too sure about that. It's often easy with accordions, they usually have a diagram showing the reed combinations available on the register buttons. https://image.shutterstock.com/display_pic_with_logo/890524/508656988/stock-photo-fingers-playing-accordion-keys-retro-photo-508656988.jpg But if there was no bass reed, it would be hard to discern for sure whether you were hearing two, or three middle register notes.

"BGK Beschäftigungsgesellschaft Klingental makes accordions under the Silvetta brand name: piano accordions, chromatic button accordions, and diationic accordions (Club, Wiener, German, and Schweizer Örgeli) It is a "Schaumanufaktur", i.e. part of the factory is open to the public." I looked for a translation and apparently it means "employment company Klingenthal". Probably the same factory that makes the Scholers and Galottas, just putting different names on them for different companies. Triple reeds is very unusual. I would want to see inside, unless you are sure you can tell from the tone. In the absence of stops, it might be hard to be sure. But the fact that it's unusual wouldn't make it more valuable, or more sought after. It's unusual due to a lack of demand.

I think there's less to worry about re rust on reeds than there used to be. I'm 66, and when I was a kid, our windows were regularly completely frosted up on the INSIDE in the mornings in winter. No double glazing or central heating back then. It's hardly surprising that steel reeds got rusty. But in today's conditions, so long as you avoid storage in a loft or cellar, or car boot, for extended periods, I doubt if reed will suffer much rust. I would guess that playing a cold concertina wouldn't cause any bother, as any moisture would evaporate in seconds with the warm air whizzing about. Makes you wonder about stainless steel though. Has anybody ever tried it as reeds? I'm guessing it must give poor tone, otherwise it would be ideal. I have one with silver nickle reeds which never corrode, but the tone is just the same as brass, and I'm guessing the durability is much the same. It has had one replacement with a brass reed, in approx 150 years, so not too bad. (I'm guessing the others are originals)

To be honest, if I were in your shoes, I would buy a melodeon, rather than go down the triple reed concertina route. Triple reed and double reeded concertinas will always be low on quality, and harder to play than the equivalent melodeon. If you like the sound of two or three reeds, you can get fabulous quality in melodeons, but just very much lower-ended concertinas. I mess about with both, and am pretty poor at both, but the melodeon is a doddle to play compared to the anglo concertina, and has a bigger sound with easy to play basses and chord buttons. I choose the concertina purely for it's tone, of a single reeded traditionally made in the English style concertina with "real" concertina reeds, or one of the modern ones that get pretty close to that sound, using single high-quality accordion reeds. If that's not the tone you're after, I think it's a mistake not to consider the melodeon or button accordion.

It really doesn't matter who makes it. It's done to a pattern that's common to virtually all of the concertinas coming out of East Germany after the war. They were nearly all made in or around Klingenthal in East Germany. I have one that is just branded Klingenthal, and that's not uncommon. Other names are Scholer, Galotta, Bandmaster and Barcarole among many others. Some of the production was moved to China, without much change in quality or design. They might be branded Boorinwood or Stephanelli now. The quality isn't high for any of them, but then, they are cheap to buy, and often good value S/H, if you get one that's playing well. I personally think that you get the best value by buying an antique English made one, if you are going to keep it for years. But in the end, it's down to what you like the feel of and sound of, if it's playing well.

Tradwinds Ted : Thanks. Beautifully explained. It must be, as even I managed to get some of it !!

No problem : If you can't find e flat, use D# http://www.concertina.info/tina.faq/images/finger3.htm

Or, the sound of silence.

Just to add my own confusion to the mix, where is tenor in all this? The usual English is described as a treble. I have a Lachenal with added deeper notes described as a tenor-treble. Baritone is lower than tenor. So if you are saying that a lower D/A would be baritone, that makes a standard D/A tenor? Is that right? Which would make a standard C/G what? Tenor as well? So what does that make a standard G/D ? Tenor or baritone? And does the English treble cover the same range as the anglo 'tenor' ?

Mainly, don't put it in an attic or garage. They don't like the damp, any more than the wet. If you have a REALLY expensive concertina and want to keep it mint, get an old knacker to practice on.