RogerT

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!

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.

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.

I like that last bit of advice…

Thanks. What’s the 5CC layout?

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.

Many thanks

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.

Thanks

Hi, I have a Lachenal EC 48, student, brass reeds, serial #44249. Any idea of the age would be much appreciated. Thanks

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.

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.

Thanks very much!

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.

“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..).

Quite right. My solution is for when it absolutely won’t come out.

Assuming (in your case) the plate is inserted through a slot on the inside of the frame…which is how it works on a Lachenal….I peeled back the chamois on the inside and cut a channel down to the plate and beyond, to where the bolt ends, just wide enough to extract the bolt, with the plate attached, but leaving the rest of the frame in place. I then reinserted the plate and screwed in a new bolt and patched the slot with epoxy putty, making sure to turn the bolt to stop it adhering to the putty. A Dremel was the key tool…I used an engraving bit to machine the slot (the same diameter as the bolt). I smoothed the putty (Miliput) after it had set with some other Dremel bit. My aim was to remove the minimum amount of frame, so that the slot for the screw plate still functioned. Once the chamois is replaced the repair is invisible.

Best guess is the pad has twisted on the end of the lever. I would not bend anything in there. It’s v easy to reposition it. Try a little strip of tape to hold it in place to test this theory, before you use some glue on it. Obvs leave the little leather washers etc where they are to keep the button at its current height. As Graham points out, wobbly pads aren’t good. I often use (liquid) hide glue on the pads as this sets hard and holds the pad where it should be…though you might not want to use this…use white glue as others advise.

I’d not seen this thread before. Excellent description etc. So the little screws on the end of the frame actually undo? I’ve tried a couple of times but always found them too tight, and assumed they're somehow fixed in for good. And then sourced reeds from elsewhere.

I was going to ask about the threads on 19C made concertinas. In fact thread standardisation came in earlier than when many concertinas were made. So…did makers just have their own thread taps and dies …which didn’t conform to any standard (like, say, BA)? Other than buying old bolts, which may or may not have a viable thread, has anyone ever tried making bolts, with a small lathe and suitable die?

I have a screwdriver with the end filed, both with a pointing slot, as in the photo above, and a crochet hook slot in the side. I then push the spring into its hole, and use the same tool to hook the spring to the lever. For me though the game changer was a set of tiny drills incrementing in small steps, plus a miniature spiral drill. I then measure the spring diameter with a digital vernier gauge and pick a drill of a suitable diameter, and quite often make a new hole if the spring doesn’t want to stay put in the old hole. The spring should push fit nicely and not want to come out. I tried various other solutions but this is the one that seems to work. I nicked the idea from this video. You see him using one of these drills at 3:35. It took me a while to find the right tools…but good ole eBay came to the rescue….

Here's my 32 key, actually quite a nice player now after a *lot* of work.

This video shows how dies are made from the steel rule stuff...in this case for shoe parts.

Reviving this old thread... I’m still trying to find the leather used for making concertina valves...the white stippled stuff. It’s lighter, thicker but springier than accordion valve leather. I might be able to get some samples from Russells, but on page 4 of their catalogue they have various leathers. ‘Sueded Persian Pallets' sounds promising....but then so do a few of the other descriptions. I was put onto Russells by an organ builder. Didn’t think at the time to inspect his collection of leather... https://www.russels.com/files/resources/specialist-leathers.pdf

Hi Theo, ah yes, I have some of their sheep leather. What card do you use when making the pads?