Seth
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Everything posted by Seth
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It seems the Lachenal I’m restoring plays slow, almost like the air flow is being restricted. The reeds are very responsive on the tuning table but seem slow when I’m the instrument. The only thing I haven’t changed yet are the old valves which seem thicker than others I’ve seen. My guess is these valves are part of the issue. I can switch to a hybrid reeded instrument and play as fast as I want, but this Lachenal actually forces you to slow down. I’m going to change the valves and see what happens. I cannot see any other reason for this. Learning as I go... Cheers, Seth
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I have a 46B MacCann in my small library of concertinas waiting restorations. It mainly just needs new bellows, but still will need other maintenance and tuning as the Restoration always uncovers. Seth
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Here is my MacCann. 1665 or 1655? Seth
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Bill Crossland
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You can buy the plates on this forum for 10£ and add them to your own bellows. Bill has them laser-cut. I just got some in the mail last week. Seth
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That one’s been listed for a while. Wish it was an Anglo. Starting to think I may have to just make my own mini if I want one. Seth
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Re-seating buttons on Renelli anglo
Seth replied to jpshafer's topic in Instrument Construction & Repair
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Re-seating buttons on Renelli anglo
Seth replied to jpshafer's topic in Instrument Construction & Repair
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I noticed during my documented Lachenal 79,001 Restoration that it’s pretty much stopped letting me post any pictures unless it cut them down to nothing. I noticed that there is a limit to pictures and I’m a visual poster so should I use a photo hosting site? Photobucket? Similar??? I’ve been a member for two or three months and mines already maxed out. I noticed when reading old posts I often find good information for the things I’m researching and folks originally attached a photo to explain something but it’s now gone. My guess is folks remove them as their attachment limit fills up leaving some old posts with dead photo links. Just noticed a lot of that so it got me thinking about photo hosting sites. Cheers, Seth
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Just about finished with 79,001. The reeds are the last thing to do. Haven’t decided whether to keep the plain straps or go with black. Seth
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I’m going to cut a black set too and see which contrasts best with the concertina.
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My First Restoration with Real Concertina Reeds
Seth replied to Seth's topic in Instrument Construction & Repair
Thanks Alex and Bill, I will await the PM with info on the plate. I have a pretty nice tuning rig and I think there is room on it to add one of these plates, if not I can modify by moving the accordion reed part to the side. I have a Bastari bellows and some square ones left from Herrington’s workshop so could always make a second tuning rig if it doesn’t fit on the other one. -
My First Restoration with Real Concertina Reeds
Seth replied to Seth's topic in Instrument Construction & Repair
Thanks, so it’s long enough for most reeds. What about the smallest treble reeds, as a few are smaller than the 23mm of the slot? Thanks and I’ll email Mark, I need some spares anyways for the next restoration. Depending on how wide and long the reed plate is it might fit on top of my accordion jig without any mods. cheers, Seth -
My First Restoration with Real Concertina Reeds
Seth replied to Seth's topic in Instrument Construction & Repair
That’s great, I’ve seen those before. I just need the metal part as I already have a spot on my accordion tuning bellows that I can fit this plate jig to? Ive seen old ones that have the same fixture. How long and wide is the air hole under where the reed sits. -
My First Restoration with Real Concertina Reeds
Seth replied to Seth's topic in Instrument Construction & Repair
MIne has a slot with a slide with a spring action to hold the reed in place. I’m not sure I could put a concertina reed in it but I could create a jig that would fill the slot that would fit a reed. Maybe I should just cut several sizes of a dovetail slot board in the shape an accordion reed so it will fit the jig. -
I messed up the spring wider I made from the old craig rewinder so I’ve made a new one inspired from Alex Holden’s jig. This one works just fine. The working end prototype was made from Mopane but the permanent one will be of aluminum or brass. The working end also can be removed so several different ends can be made to fit onto the winder. Cheers, Seth
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My First Restoration with Real Concertina Reeds
Seth replied to Seth's topic in Instrument Construction & Repair
Can you post a photo of the jig you have? I have an accordion reed tuning jig that I figure I could make a fixture to fit onto it for use with both reed types. here is mine. -
My First Restoration with Real Concertina Reeds
Seth replied to Seth's topic in Instrument Construction & Repair
The valves seems pretty soft and supple and I don’t see any curling on this set. I did notice that the air holes under the pads are smaller than my other Lachenals but I don’t think this has anything to do with it. I have a few more sets I bought to restore so I’m going to swap the reeds with another set that has pristine looking reeds and see if it makes a difference. I need to make a jig for tuning reeds. I have a proper setup for accordion reeds but not concertina reeds. Cheers, Seth -
I made the new bellows for the 5 fold Lachenal that some folks have been following on Instagram. It’s the first one I’ve restored/built of the few I’ve messed with that didn’t have accordion reeds. It’s the same one that had the leaks on the other post. Now that’s fixed and the thing is extremely airtight, enough so that I can hold it vertical with the bellows extended and it stays upright Here comes the issue and I haven’t done any reed tuning yet although the set sounds close it needs some tuning. All the buttons play but it feels like a little bit of a struggle playing the thing. It doesn’t seem like it takes a lot of air to get a note to play but the reeds do seem slow. Not sure how to explain it but feels like I need 2-3 times the pressure to play it and it feels like the bellows use air very slow. I still have a lot to learn so I’m getting in after it but I don’t want to mess with the reeds more than necessary. Cheers & have a great weekend, Seth
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Ok, I fixed it and realized there was another one doing the same thing but ever so soft that it couldn’t be heard over the problem note. It was the springs on both. Where the spring connects to the action rod and is bent into the U shape to wrap around the action rod, the U shape was too deep and the spring was rising above the action rod just enough to barely get pushed down when the end was tightened down.
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I have thought about this. I got one for Christmas that works WiFi with my phone. Now if I can find it is another story. Cheers, Seth
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Thanks, I did remove the nasty old baffle and the little tabs it was glued too. I can’t really see where it’s touching but it’s so subtle you can barely see it. The fulcrum is one of those bent U shaped wires, the cheap method in the budget Lachenals. I did notice it was sticking up higher than the others so I tapped it a bit deeper to lower the action rod. That helped a bit but there is still that looseness right at the moment the screws are tightened fully so something is pressing on the button, rod, spring but it’s not visible through the fretwork. It’s fine on the pull but on the push you hear that note slightly leaking and harmonizing with the other notes being played. I’m going to try Alex’s idea of leaving the button off next. If that doesn’t remedy it then I’m going to replace the action rod and fulcrum with a modern one. Thanks for the ideas, I was stumped. Seth