RogerT

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…

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.

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

…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.

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.

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.

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.

Thanks v much!

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.