Squeezebox Of Delights

That's very interesting! Who'd have thought that a free reed instrument company would branch off into nose flutes... There's an incredibly informative set of articles about the history of the swan brand nose flute here, if you wanted to have a look: http://nose-flute.blogspot.com/2012/07/about-swan-logo-part-i.html

Looks Stagi or Bastari to me, unless it’s a later Chinese model. Do you have any idea of its age?

I've emailed him twice, once last January and once last August from a different email address, and never got any response. I was wondering if my emails were somehow sent straight to his spam folder or something. I'm still in need of certain parts though, so I'll probably try again sometime soon. Maybe you have to be ordering something from his website?

I always wondered if they were talking about Chemnitzer concertinas, which do seem to just be referred to as ‘concertinas’ in certain parts of America where Anglos, Englishes and Duets are less common.

Yeah, I have seen a good few pretty little Anglos like this, but no miniature ones. I wonder why? It’s kind of a shame it is so expensive, because no-one in their right mind is going to pay that much for an old German concertina.

Just saw this on eBay, and decided to post it here because it looks quite interesting. It appears to be a very convincing German imitation of an English-built miniature Anglo, of which I have never seen the like. If it wasn’t out of my price range I’d consider getting it just to have a look! Has anyone experienced one of these instruments before? Is it as unusual as it seems, or am I just not very experienced in imitation Anglos? https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/RARE-SMALL-ANTIQUE-SOPRANO-20-KEY-ANGLO-SYSTEM-CONCERTINA-IN-CASE-GERMAN-MADE/373338999692?_trkparms=aid%3D111001%26algo%3DREC.SEED%26ao%

The Wren is pretty poor in construction; it is basically everything you’d expect from a cheap Chinese-made instrument. I’ve never had a look inside a Phoenix, but I’d expect that it is much better. The Wren has accordion-type reed blocks, which makes it quite long, while the Phoenix seems more traditional in dimensions, making me think it has flat-mounted reeds. The Wren also has nasty fabric/paper/plastic bellows with shallow folds and sharp corners, and they have a habit of collapsing in on themselves when you pull them out too hard. The Phoenix however looks to have more traditional

Looks Stagi to me, but I’m not sure.

Out of interest, do you think you could post photos?

It'll definitely be a Lachenal, quite a basic model but nice all the same! I'm not an expert on the value of these things, but concertinas seem to be on a scale of Expensive to Incredibly Expensive, and, depending on the condition, it'll probably be on the cheaper end. It doesn't look in that bad condition, but it's hard to tell with the bellows closed.

I know it’s not exactly a concertina, but I’m currently practicing my restoration skills by consolidating a very old, very broken, very basic Lachenal case. I’m literally just glueing it back together, plugging the holes, painting in the old horrible white glue marks, putting a new lining in, making new straps etc. etc., but it’s quite fun. I think I will also modify it a bit, as it is of the standing-up sort, which I know isn’t ideal for concertinas.

So I have a couple of old Lachenal concertinas I am working on, one with steel reeds and the other with brass reeds. One steel reed and one brass reed have a sheared bolt, and one brass reed shoe is entirely missing its tongue. Does anyone know how to get hold of replacement reeds/tongues/bolts? I have tried Mark Lloyd-Adey twice (once in January, once in June) but he hasn’t responded, so I have pretty much given up on that. Thanks!

I am no big fan of Ed Sheeran and Adele myself, so I don’t have that much experience with that sort of music, but a three row C/G anglo has every note in a chromatic octave at least once, meaning you can play almost anything on it. Traditionally it would be used for jigs, reels, etc. etc. but I find it no more difficult to play ‘Summer Nights’ or ‘Wake Me Up’ than ‘Garryowen’ or ‘English Country Garden’. In short, as long as the tune is not ridiculously complicated, it should be possible.

Fascinating! Kind of like a free-reed hurdy gurdy...

If it’s anything like a normal 60 bass, it should have two rows of single notes, one row of Corresponding major chords, one row of corresponding minor chords, and one row of corresponding dominant sevenths, going along diagonally. The diagonal chord columns go up in a circle of fifths, and if there is a button with a dimple in it, it is C. That way, you get the I, IV and V chords all next to each other, so you can play accompaniments with your left hand quite easily. as the right hand, it looks like a melodeon, but that’s all I can say. I’m a piano accordionist myself (don’t k