rcr27

Well apparently Joseph Higham had a music shop/factory in Manchester. Not sure if he was a manufacturer.

If I’m the seller I’d rather put the item on eBay so that the buyer can buy it from there. Yes there are some ebay and paypal fees, but it’s a safer way in my opinion since eBay protects both the seller and buyer. Same thing if I’m the buyer; I’d ask the seller to put the item up on eBay. I’d rather do that than being a victim of a scam to be fair. In terms of shipping, I use parcelmonkey.co.uk to book a service, they provide many services (royal mail, parcelforce, DHL, dpd...)at a cheap prices. I always used that and never had any trouble, at least in the UK.

That’s exactly what happened to me as well when I was selling an accordion, but WE didn’t ring me. Somehow (a miracle perhaps) I realised that I didn’t send the correct amount so I went back to the shop to fix that, and then they told me “don’t send money to someone that you don’t know” and I got my money back... The scammer wanted me to send money to Nigeria! Can’t believe how close I was to lose money...

English or anglo?

(Sorry for the late reply). God it was a tough one... hopefully it wasn’t glued, but it just seems that this concertina has never been opened before since it was manufactured.

At first I just tried to pull it in a gentle way just like anyone would do, but then after realising that it didn’t come out I applied more pressure and still didn’t come out. I don’t really want to be very aggressive as I’m afraid I could brake the woodwork or the chambers. The concertina itself has old pads, old and dusty lever arm spring , old valves... it seems that It’s never been restored before. It’s s a steel reeded Paragon model circa 1908. It has a crack on one end too, so it’s definitely not been well looked after.

Thanks for your suggestion. Im unsure about the chamois leather, but I will take a picture of it tomorrow. There isn’t really any signs of glue whatsoever, but I can’t find any other explanation.

Hi, I recently purchased a Lachenal EC which needs a bit of restoration and tuning. I am unable to remove the reed pan from the bellows frame on both ends; it feels as if someone has glued the reed pans to the frames... Anyone knows a possible reason a solution for this? It’d be very helpful.

Interesting. I like the Lachenal t-shirt, although I would make the logo a bit bigger in my opinion. I’d also love to see a Wheatstone logo. Very nice.

Hi everyone. Never really planned to sell this concertina, but I thought I’d just put it up for sale to see if someone is interested. I’m not in a rush to sell it either. It’s a Lachenal 48 key english concertina. I’m not too sure if it’s the actual inimitable or not, but regardless of that, it plays beautifully. It has brass reeds and it’s fully restored and tuned to concert pitch A=440Hz so its ready to play. Cosmetically, it’s in really condition, very little to none signs of wear use whatsoever. The bellows are in excellent condition with a nice compression and no air leaks at all. Comes in a very nice handmade wooden case. If you are interested please message me for the price. Postage within the UK is at £14.99 special delivery. Can ship worldwide at the buyer’s expense. I could possibly consider trade ins.

Not sure if it’s an actual inimitable or not, but yes it has brass reeds and a lovely sound. I forgot to ask Chris Algar about the history of this concertina.

Yes that’s website that I looked but still couldn’t find any mention or pictures of a concertina.

That’s the only bit of information that I found about him, I thought he was a maker or restorer. I’ve had a Lachenals in the past labelled Wheatstone and Crabb, who obviously were makers, so I thought Higham could have been a maker. I find it interesting that Lachenal concertinas had different labels; wouldn’t that be sort of “ilegal” nowadays?

Hi all Does anyone know anything about Joseph Higham and his relation with concertinas? Not long ago I acquired this beautiful Lachenal English concertina from Barleycorn Concertinas. What draws my attention is the fact that it has a “Joseph Higham” label on. I’ve been trying find some information about Joseph Higham manufacturers and I can’t really find much that relates him with concertinas, other than he had a music shop/factory in Manchester? Is not uncommon to see Lachenal concertinas badged under a different name or manufacturer. Nevertheless this concertina plays beautifully and even looks like the inimitable, just with brass reeds. The serial number is 19082.

That looks beautiful! I’m guessing is in concert pitch? Just out of curiosity how much would you ask for it?

Sounds really good to me, I never played a duet but I would imagine the difficulty of the instrument is the coordination of the left-right hand like an accordion or piano?

I’ll have a look now, by the way is yours a 35 key?

Is this question directed at me?

Hopefully the seller wasn’t a diehard person and we sorted out the return already. He clearly doesn’t know anything about concertinas and yet he said the description was correct when there wasn’t any description at all! Thanks very much for your offers, although I returned the concertina already, I might buy another concertina from an auction in the next couple of weeks/months, and if I need new spares I will let you know as I want to get some experience repairing.

The good thing is that you could check the condition prior to buying it. If only I had the opportunity to know what the condition of the condition of the concertina was I wouldn’t have bought it at all. Mine is even worse, almost unplayable and too much air leaks. It pretty much needs a full tlc with new everything (new fretwork, buttons, valves, pads, springs, bellows, straps... etc). As much I want to get some experience with restoring concertinas the best thing to do is just return it as I wouldn’t be able to restore it myself and it would cost me more than concertina itself. Yes the EC Crabb that I posted was a Lachenal labeled Crabb. I part-exchanged it with Chris Algar for another concertina, but at least that one was playable and worth the price.

No I made an offer of £325 for it and the seller accepted it (he wanted £400!) I didn’t “bid” on it but it ebay marks it as if I bidded, and £99 is due to the starting price of the auction. A bit confusing I know

How much did you buy yours for?

Seems to be rosewood I doubt it’s mahogany. I paid £325 for it and restoring it would cost me a lot of money and time because there is a lot to do. But even if I restore it and then want to sell it, I could only sell it for around £500, so I’d be loosing money. I’ll just return it hopefully eBay protects the buyer.

What a joke... what seemed to be an ebony ended duet with metal buttons ended up being a dark rosewood with dirty bone buttons and in poor condition ? Deteriorated straps, cracks in the fretwork, keys producing 2 sounds, air leaks, very out of tune... and so on. Incredible how the light in the picture made this concertina look so different. Anyways I’m not even going to bother opening it, I’ll just return it as Im sure nobody in here would want this thing. See the pictures: