RogerT
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Posts posted by RogerT
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Yes, thanks both. In fact I have some black fabric bought about 30 yrs ago from a haberdashery and used in my long ago abandoned dark room. It's about the right thickness so at the moment that’s what I use. I am curious about the doeskin so I might give that a go…
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Hi, yes to both. But I’m pretty sure the old bushing material used was thinner than 0.85mm..esp having checked the stuff I’ve recovered.
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Hi Theo, I got my supply from Fletchers … I wasn’t sure which of the two thinnest felts were appropriate so ordered the thinnest two..😀 but still they aren’t thin enough, and the stuff I got from Concertina Spares is the same stuff. The first time I encountered this problem I just thought it was a fluke, but it isn’t. So I've Obvs got the wrong stuff… the thinnest bushing cloth on Fletcher is 0.85mm
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…so anyway, piano bushing felt doesn’t seem to be the right material because it’s often too thick either to bush the upright buttons or to line the bushing plate without reaming the holes.
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I’ve found that the thinnest piano felt I can get (less than 1mm) is too thick to line the bushing board. On my own Lachenal 32, which wasn’t bushed I reamed the holes. However, instead enlarging the button holes (on client's instruments) I prefer to find a suitable material. As it happens I’ve got some thinner material (black) that does the job. But I'm curious to know if anyone has other suggestions. The original felt is thinner than the thinnest piano felt I can get my hands on. In fact piano felt is often a bit thick for button lever bushes too, and if the button doesn’t gimbal a little bit on the lever it easily sticks in the button hole.
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On 1/8/2022 at 9:48 AM, d.elliott said:
I bought a miniscule weight of the wire, or so I thought, and ended up with enough to circumnavigate the globe! I shall be leaving some to my daughters in my will. What they will do with it, I just don't know. I little does go a long way
Hi Dave, what kind of a spring making jig and or process do you use? ……actually I’ve now found other posts with spring making jig etc.
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I thought I’d comment on this, because inconsistent reed volume is an issue I encounter now and then. One approach I take is to remove the pan and operate it face down on my (foot operated) tuning table, with a soft hand held cap to block off the end of the chamber (a folded wedge of craft foam), and pressed down with the other hand. I use sheets of craft rubber with apertures cut to form a gasket on the table. This way I can see what’s going on with the reed (a bit easier with the reeds facing upwards, but also v quick to inspect the inner reed). Volume can be affected by simple things like…the reeds are dirty, or the gap isn’t optimal, or the valve is slow or stiff. Changing the valve can miraculously alter the volume. Sometimes it hasn’t been fitted correctly, grazing the chamber, or isn’t sitting flat when closed, or is stiff with age. New valves or repositioned valves solve this. Also the reed might not be tight enough in its slot. The point is, there is quite a lot that can be easily checked with this approach, and often the solution presents itself.
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15 minutes ago, wes williams said:
Roger,
We'd estimate 16812 as circa 1871.
Thanks v much!
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Hello, I’ve got a 48key steel reeded Lachenal EC with brass inlay, serial #16812. Are you able to date this for me please?
picture attached.thanks!
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The CG ‘Tina has *some* similarity with the BC melodeon, in that players of the Irish style Anglo ‘Tina tend to play the bottom part of the D and G scale on concertina C row, then switch across to the G row when you need the F# and upper notes. And the BC is played mostly on the C row, so the D pull scale and push G scale on a C row transfer quite well to the BC. Obvs you are doing different things with the accidentals. Whereas the C#D is a new (ish) game. You can access the D scale easily, although it is now on the push and you don’t have the nice runs you get with a BC, and the G scale is like playing in F on a BC (or CG Anglo). It starts in the pull. Having tried all of these things this is my experience anyway.
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It might be worth taking a look on the forum Melodeon.net where this subject has been debated many many times. There is no clear and particular answer. C#D, BC etc are 'semitone' systems.
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I like that last bit of advice…
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Thanks. What’s the 5CC layout?
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Is one better than the other, in a comparison between these two duet button arrangements? I've searched the archive here so if there's already a thread on this subject..can someone point me to it?
I've had a close look at both button layouts and I can’t work out if one is more 'logical' than the other, although I repaired a Crane recently and thought perhaps that felt sort of natural under the fingers. Sadly I didn’t have a Maccann there at the same time.
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Many thanks
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I have a lovely Crabbe duet (with Crane button layout), largish, metal ends, octagonal, serial number 9538. Can anyone either suggest a date or point me to where I can establish this? Thanks
PS…I quite like the Crane layout.
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Hi, I have a Lachenal EC 48, student, brass reeds, serial #44249. Any idea of the age would be much appreciated. Thanks
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I mostly position the pads by lifting the end on and off, but in desperation one time I used a variation on Franks method and made an end hole jig from a thick bit of card and using a hole punch.
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Getting the pads to stay put and centred on the holes can be a pain. I put a tiny mark on centre of the pad so I can check the alignment from the other side.
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53 minutes ago, wes williams said:
We'd estimate anglo 87898 to be circa 1886.
Thanks very much!
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Hi, I've been restoring a Lachenal 20k Anglo, steel reeds (although it’s been retuned to GD..not by me). The serial number is 87898. Any idea of the approx date of manufacture would be helpful. Thanks.
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“the plate is inserted from the outside”.
oh, that’s a nuisance. If the bolt won’t come out I’d probably still dig it out as described. If I was going to rebind the bellows I'd just work a channel on the outside and repair. But you could still get it out from the inside of the frame as well. I had a Lachenal where the bolts wouldn’t come out…and I had to cut them to get the end off anyway. This was how I tackled the issue. The main thing is to avoid damaging the flat edge of the frame, because obvs this has to be perfectly flat to seal with the action casing, and if you start drilling or cutting with a hacksaw blade or grabbing with pincers, you may easily wreck the edge/top of the frame. Anyway, that’s how I would tackle it. If it won’t come out your choices are limited. And the amount of wood I removed was tiny.
I should also add …these screws shear off really easily…so even if you do get to turn it,,it may shear off lower down (been there…done that..).
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1 hour ago, Jake Middleton-Metcalfe said:
I would recommend trying to grip that very small amount of protruding thread with some very small pliers and just wind it out.
Quite right. My solution is for when it absolutely won’t come out.
French Polish
in Instrument Construction & Repair
Posted
The problem with using a rubber to finish a concertina end is that the polish tends to get snagged in the fretwork. Mark Lloyd-Adey (concertina spares) told me he sprays on the shellac to get a good finish, and this is how I do it, and it gives consistently good results and is much faster and easier than using a rubber (well, I find it easier…I use a rubber to finish old melodeons so I do know how to do basic French polishing). I have an air brush (I don’t have a compressor..just a big can of air). And the trick is to dilute the button polish or shellac with meths…but you have to experiment to get the right dilution. And obvs do it in a ventilated place, wear a face mask and do not light a match nearby. I think you can actually buy spray cans of shellac in the US but I couldn’t find any in the UK. I think my air brush cost about £25. You don’t need anything particularly fancy.