Oberon

Could it be possible that the label is damaged and they say '(pa)TENT' under lachenal and just misread both?

Joe Bane's and Gypsy Princess! A lovely pairing indeed, and reminds me I should give Cormac Begley and Jack Talty's record another listen soon. Well done, both on your playing and the instrument build!

Aw man, I'm sorry to hear this. There are so many instrument makers and repairers closing up shop lately, it's really worrying. Though, no doubt you've earned the rest Dana, and your work is just such a magnificent legacy. I often find myself just holding my Kensington and looking at it and admiring everything that went into it. You've made things of utter beauty and exceptional ingenuity and I am so proud to own one. It's easily the best concertina I've played out of many. Out of additional curiosity, will you occasionally have spare parts still perhaps? Or maybe I could aquire some before the machines are retired? I wish you all the best on this last run and look forward to yammering on about my Kensington Concertina for many years to come. Thanks so much Dana.

It was a few months lead time a good while back, but that's the nature of orders! When there's a lull and there are few orders, the lead time is short, but once they pile up it'll extend deep into the future. Pretty common for any hand made instrument that is made for a per-order basis. So yeah, sometime last year Dana had a shorter lead time, but since it seems he's gotten more orders, that certainly will have changed. I mean look at this thread for an example of that too; the OP said it was only a handful of months or so for Willy to get them a concertina but anyone who subsequently put an order in found it would take a year. You just gotta jump on those orders when the queue is short!

Not to deviate from thread too much more, but I highly highly recommend Dana's Kensington Concertinas. They are a true gem, beautifully serviceable and woefully underrated and I wish more people played his boxes, mine is the perfect concertina for me and I've been through a lot of the things. But back on discussion, I can't wait to try Willies concertinas some day. Hopefully I can just get a trip out to that side of the country some time in the near future and try one out in person. I've been following his progress for a long time and I really really like what I see. His aesthetic for componentry and outside the box engineering is really compelling

Liberty Bellows is just a retailer and repairer, they don't produce any instruments. The instruments they sell as far as concertinas go is Stagi brand stuff, and the occasional wheatstone I think. Makes in the United states would be Bob Tedrow, Dana Johnson (Kensington Concertinas), Wim Wakker (concertina connection) and Crook. I don't think there are any other makers of concertinas in the United states. It depends a bit on what country you live in I suppose but there are options for stand in concertinas while you're waiting.

I adore my Kensington. It has a modified Jeffries layout, where the first button is C# both ways, but Dana will do a conventional Jeffries layout as well. Truly amazing concertina, criminally underrated. They are stellar, highly serviceable machines and sound somewhere in between a Jeffries and a wheatstone linota to my hear

I love his aesthetic and how he imbues every bit of his work with it. His lever work and wood finishing really does something for me. I watch his Instagram for new updates whenever they pop up and he does seem to update it a fair amount: https://www.instagram.com/crook_concertinas?igsh=MWE3Zng3bjE0eGpvMw==

I'm not buying myself, but I do think it's worth mentioning which model this is. Is this an Eiru silver or gold? I feel confident it's an Eiru in general which would make this an amazing deal for someone. Hopefully you have a quick sale! Edit- I think it must be a silver, the badge kind of looks like it.

I don't know what the cost might be, but AC Norman makes a small English Concertina model if I recall correctly. They might be a very manageable size for a young'n and worth looking into Edit- found the photo I was thinking of. Attached below:

He acknowledges it is a flutina in his post, it didn't seem like he was mistaking this with a concertina but just demonstrating his interest in repairing it and it's similarities to concertina repair. And indeed, it does have some striking similarities in parts of it's construction and some parallels may indeed exist with concertina repair. I wish good luck with your repair sir! Though you should also grab a concertina at some point, as they are different beasts overall even if there are some similarities.

Hm, have you tried the Amazing Slow Downer? It's an app for iOS and Android, I'm not sure if it's a desktop application too, but it may be. I'm pretty sure it still functions with Apple Music but I could be wrong. Before, it worked splendidly with Spotify and I loved it, it basically taught me how to play, being able to create loops, change pitch/transpose, change speed, it was essential. I say 'it was' because Spotify blocked their access and now I can no longer use it for all the streaming music I had. I can only use downloaded music, but that still works just as well for the music I own. Last id checked it worked with Apple Music and I just couldn't justify the switch back from Spotify only for that functionality, it would represent too much work. If it still functions for Apple music though, perhaps give it a shot?

I play predominantly Irish trad and I also had a similar quandary. I started by being interested in Anglo concertina, found it challenging but interesting, but kept coming up against insufficient concertinas that held back my growth. I tried an English, realized I liked the Anglo more and upgraded to a faster hybrid which really made all the difference. Buuut I get obsessed with instruments and once I got the notion of a B/C accordion in my head I sold off my concertinas for a button accordion. I absolutely loved it, and I'm glad I dipped by toe in. Eventually though, the call of the concertina returned, and again I obsessively hunted. Fast forward some years and I've gone back and forth a number of times and since I don't make a ton of money, I could only really afford to have one nice accordion or concertina at a time. I more recently owned a Castagnari button accordion but concertina called for me once again and I sold it off to fund a Kensington concertina, which I have found for certain is *the* concertina for me. Absolutely stellar. But now I also have a B/C box at the same time and that's the thing- the moral of the story is; maybe try both and see how you feel! They are different beasts with similar functions. I would say that concertina or button accordion both helped me get better with playing the other. The function of each row on the concertina (not the accidentals row) is very similar to the rows of an accordion (B/C and C#/D accordions are typically used for Irish music, for different reasons, C/F is not commonly used). You'll get something out of either of them and you'll grow accustomed to how the bellows movement works overall. Good instruments are expensive and are hard to keep if you're not particularly financially secure, but if I could do it again I'd prioritize keeping both and sticking it out, because I had lost time I could have spent learning either box I couldnt keep. Some folks can only focus on one instrument at a time, and that's totally valid too, but for me, it was better to have them both around so when my obsessiveness kicked in I could put that energy into really learning.

I had just gotten back from a trip to Italy (my partner and I are ocarina makers and there was a biannual festival we attended in Budrio) and feeling in the mood to explore some new instruments, I had been thinking about things I would like to try. There was this junky little first act toy accordion in my partners music studio and I messed around with it a little. I found the push pull nature of the little accordion fascinating and challenging and started contemplating what a better version of this thing would be like. Instead of coming to the most logical conclusion of taking up melodeon/accordion (yet), I thought to myself 'isnt there this sort of small version of the accordion that pirates and sailors are often depicted with? What's that thing called?' and that was it. I found a 'Tidder' (I think they're actually Mayenburgs according to AC Norman) 20 button, I was super excited about it, but found it was really slow and plodding, even from a beginner standpoint. It was a real trial to work with even though it sounded lovely, and I was missing that important C# for Irish tunes I was into, so I sold it and kept trading up until I got an old AC Norman Saxon/Gremlin that blew my mind and really enabled me to improve as a player. I no longer own it, but it was a great step up for me at the time. There's a lot of other details and elements that shifted about over the years following, I had a fair number of concertinas pass through my hands and eventually also took up b/c accordion, so my main two boxes are a Kensington C/G and a 1930s 3v Double Ray B/C. I love these bisonoric instruments so much and am always so grateful for that silly little first act accordion and for my partner for having the thing hanging around.

Just for reference, here's a couple concertinas with leather covers on finger rests that are currently available from Barleycorn: https://concertina.co.uk/stock-selection/english-concertinas/amboyna-wheatstone-48-key-treble-8080/ https://concertina.co.uk/stock-selection/english-concertinas/rock-chidley-48-key-baritone-8350/ Around 2017 I'd asked cnet for the reason why my lachenal had this uncomfortable metal ridge on the edge of the finger rest, and a few folks suggested it was due to it originally having leather as a covering, with the metal ridge providing some sort of creep preventative or additional point of fixation. I'd since seen a large number of old concertinas with the leather rest coverings over the years and got to try one with the leather still in tact (or replaced, I couldn't tell) and I found it much more comfortable for my thin skin and bony fingers

I think Dana's wait time is actually pretty low (like maybe a few months? Less? More?), if you haven't checked yet, so if you can't find one second hand it's definitely worth going direct, plus you can pick between two fret patterns and keys without the price changing. Plus whatever he's making at the moment is now doubt going to be the best work he's done

Ive owned 12 different concertinas, a couple EC's but mostly Anglos. Ive tried a number more than that over the years, but I ultimately obtained a Kensington earlier this year and I suddenly didnt want any other concertinas. It fits my needs and playing style perfectly, so Im wanting for nothing more at present. Truly a magnificent instrument and Dana's work should be talked about just as much as Suttners and Caroll's, which Ive also tried and find that theyre of course all amazing but just different. You never know whos work will fit best with you, but man, I do wish Kensingtons got more press. Its criminal I tell you! But anyway, I think its super important that folks try as many concertinas as possible. Theyre expensive instruments (with even trinity college boxes costing hundreds) for sure, and the button box's closure has made the experience of trying concertinas out in america much harder, but its worth trying as many as you can. I started on a 20 button 'Tidder' (the name has been potentially debunked, but I digress), and traded up over and over until I got where I currently am and I do not regret the journey at all

I've seen a fair number of those name plates on post war wheatstones, so that's not so unusual to me. The value of these concertinas depends on their playability and internal condition. As standard, 6 fold bellows and 30 buttons is bound to be of interest to the Irish traditional music crowd, (the metal ended one has 9 folds and presumably more than 38 buttons!) but 5 fold bellows is a bit more restrictive, so the value of the black one might be less than the metal ended one. Post war wheatstones will not likely fetch as much as a pre war model, but if the metal ended model is in good playing condition and it's in the keys of C/G, I've seen them go for over $2,000 USD. But you'd have to confirm the keys they're in for sure. Bb/F is not as valuable on the market as C/G for example It would be work taking photos of the reed pans too, if you feel you can take the boxes apart carefully (and don't leave them open for too long mind you, do a bit of reading on the subject of disassembly before hand). Wheatstone had a number of different assembly methods for their reeds at this time and that too affects value.

I wouldn't say it's worth less than 2000 rand. With the exchange rate vs the dollar, that'd be less than $110 USD. If the concertina is in good condition, decent in tune, bellows free of holes and no damage, it would be sensible to expect greater than $300-$400 I think. I've seen mediocre to awful lachenal 20 buttons go for more. It always depends on the market your advertising in. I've played 20 button wheatstone linotas before and I enjoyed them significantly more than the lachenals I've had. It just always depends. Jacko, I'd suggest listing it for sale on eBay and allow it to be internationally ordered. The South African market is not like the rest of the world when it comes to concertinas. It's raining post-war wheatstones in South Africa, you're more likely to get more for your sale if it's advertised to the US or UK or Europe. I personally wouldn't settle for that low of a number but just bare in mind that 20 button concertinas do not fetch nearly as much as 30 button instruments.

This post is 20 years old. I'm not sure that this concertina is in the possession of the original poster at this point, though stranger things have happened.

I don't mean to detract from your sale but it's worth noting that these brand new and direct from Concertina Connection sell for $459. Your listed price is higher than that. Is it modified in some way?

Isn't this kind of dependant on what kind of concertina the OP has? What if this is a hybrid and does not use support blocks for the reed pan (ie- integrated reed pan and action board ala Morse, or a bolted on reed pan like a Norman)? In those cases I suspect you could in fact rotate the ends as the reedpans in such concertinas are affixed to the ends alone and the ends are mounted to the bellows frames and as a result the reedpan interacts with nothing else in the bellows frames. I do wonder about screws though. If the machining of the screws was not consistent (which is probably less likely to be an issue on more modern instrument?) then perhaps it would be ill advised. In any case Im not sure how good an idea it is to try, but I can think of a handful of concertina brands where it should be possible to rotate them without concern for reedpan support blocks.

For reference regarding whether the Lachenal had been serviced, In another thread, quoted above, the OP states Greg Jowaisis recently went over the Lachenal, so perhaps we can assume it's been adjusted to the best of its ability and the OP is on action replacement as the last conceivable component that could increase speed. Maybe the bellows route would be more useful than action replacement, but the difference in price isn't too extreme to the best of my knowledge. A very good new bellows set would run what, maybe $500-600? I have no idea how much Greg charges for a new bellows, but by the time you've invested $500 for bellows and maybe $800 for new action, and the Lachenal can maybe fetch $2500-3000 (depending on the model), you could indeed upgrade to something newer and faster. Kensington would be a stellar option at that price, and there are other Concertinas around $1000 more (OP is in the US, so USD is the currency)

He currently doesn't offer traditional concertina reeds, which is a stated requirement of the OP. While his instruments are amazing, they feature accordion reeds at present. I do believe I recall him saying something about making a traditional reed instrument eventually but I am not sure of when that would be. Traditional reeds made by a 3rd party would also likely be Harmonikas, a Czech company that makes a 'traditional style's reed (a riveted reed on a single reed shoe, which is what the ICC Vintage features, as does the Edgley Heritage I believe) and a clamped traditional reed, much like the reeds of old (used on the Eirú Gold and Silver, I think). Those two Harmonikas reeds have some differences from typical traditional reeds though, and I lack the quotes to bring up the data but a probe through the forum will yield those results for sure. Something about venting profile if I recall correctly.

While action can help to a certain extent to increase the speed of playing, to my knowledge it's moreso in the reeds themselves. The quality of their make and responsiveness will govern what you'll get out of them in the end. The speed your finger can come off a button and how fast the pad closes is very important for response time, I think, but it only goes so far if the reeds are what they are. Lachenals can sometimes be very good, but they are all over the place in terms of quality. Anecdotally I've heard that some are really fast, most are just good, a lot are not so fast. And in terms of getting what you put into the box back, the reed quality will still determine whether you'll get a return on your investment. Then there's this other element, the idea of altering an antique and the moral question of modifying history. I reckon some would just tell you to find the right instrument for the job and sell the Lachenal along. I personally couldnt say if it should go through that modification unless I knew how fast the Lachenal was already, but I do think it's worth going for a newer concertina that's built for the task if you can afford it and just send the old boy back into the world to be enjoyed for the speed its built for. Just all my opinion though! *Dodges flying bottles*