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    Mike Harding's bass concertina

    in Concertina History

    Posted

    4 hours ago, SIMON GABRIELOW said:

    What a deep voice ( concertina I mean😊... A wonderfully amusing little performance. And that super deep..gruummmmbling note at the end🌝😊!!

    Thanks! Well I needed a concertina to go bellow my bass voice! 😂 it’s hard to be heard over this when you’re singing un-amplified.

    Mike Harding's bass concertina

    in Concertina History

    Posted

    Hello! I'm making this post about Mike Harding's bass concertina because I have recently bought it from him! some of you will know that I've been trying to buy a bass concertina for a while. This is also my first concertina that's not a hybrid. 

    Its Wheatstone 23578, so made around 1904. its a 29 button G-bass with the low G# tuned down to F natural. Here's a video, I hold up the ends at the end so you can get a better view. here's me playing a tune I wrote.

     

    • Like 11

    Dating A Lachenal From The Serial Number

    in Concertina History

    Posted

    15 hours ago, wes williams said:

    There are missing Wheatstone ledgers between December 1891 (to 21353) and May 1910 (from 25000) so you could do a rough calculation, but the owner of Wheatstone (Edward Chidley Snr) died in 1899 and the business passed to his sons (Edward Jnr and Percy) who made major changes to the manufacture, and the firm also moved to West Street in 1905, which would both upset a simple calculation.

    Its says on the label:

     

    "15 West St Charing X Rd" 

     

    so probably around 1906.

    Restored Wheatstone Bass

    in Instrument Construction & Repair

    Posted

    On 12/22/2015 at 5:52 PM, SteveS said:

    Here is a Wheatstone 29 key bass I've almost finished restoring.

    All that's left now is fine tuning.

     

    I've made new ends for this 'tina - the original ends were smashed.

     

    This 'tina has large resonance chambers giving it a very rich bass sound.

    Single action.

    Low F in G# position of right hand.

     

    Serial number is 24699 - so made in 1909.

    post-1950-0-31250700-1450824662_thumb.jpg

    I have obtained one almost Identical to yours! Ill be posting about it soon.

    • Like 1
    • Thanks 1

    Dating A Lachenal From The Serial Number

    in Concertina History

    Posted

    48 minutes ago, Bassconcertina.net said:

    I have just acquired Lachenal 23758 which is a 29 key English G-bass. It used to belong to Mike Harding. How old might it be?

    oops, never mind, I was told it was a Lachenal but it's actually a Wheatstone. I didn't see the makers label on the Right-hand side. still does anyone know how old it is?

    Converting double action to single action.

    in Instrument Construction & Repair

    Posted

    3 hours ago, d.elliott said:

    If you want to try this out then use a couple of the low notes valves on each side in place and working, these will act as internal 'gulper' valves. all you need to do is remove the chamber side reeds and tape over their reed vents. I don't think you will gain much in volume, but definitely in weight loss (most of use want that- certainly according to my wife). The main benefit will be responsivness in play. My own bass has a single internal gulper port & valve about 30mm in dia.

     

    Picking up on Alex last comment, for me this would be an experiment, or at most a step on the path towards getting a proper SA instrument with it's much bigger reeds. Any such mods would need to be reversible. Please also consider that many of the DA Basses have relatively shorter reeds with weighted tips, all of which have an impact on responsivness.

    Thanks! do you think the chamber side valve would need to be removed too?

    Converting double action to single action.

    in Instrument Construction & Repair

    Posted

    4 hours ago, d.elliott said:

    I now have a single action bass, and a single action baritone. I sold my double action baritone to get the SA version. The lag in closing one valve to open another on a small reed instrument instrument is acceptable, but on a big reed instrument not only are the areas of leather so much greater, if add the effect of the heavier leather plus again the size & weight of the reed and it all becomes bit like a plumb pudding to play. The longer and heavier valves tend to stand off the reed pan more, especially the non-chamber side of the reed pan. Remove the valves and all that (except the reed size) goes away. My Wheatstone SA baritone is comparable in responsiveness with my either of my. Wheatstone trebles.  

     

    I would never revert back to a DA baritone, having aid all that you can make terrific improvements in playability and responsivness on DA big reed instruments by judicious choices of valve leathers combined with valve springs. it can be a bit of an art form but so well worth the effort. I would always advise optimising what you have before spending lots of dosh on replacement. 

    Thanks a lot! Do you think a conversion from DA to SA would work?

    Converting double action to single action.

    in Instrument Construction & Repair

    Posted

    35 minutes ago, alex_holden said:

     

    I doubt removing half the reeds would help much in that respect. The only benefit I can think of is that you can do away with the valves, which might make them slightly louder and faster.

     

    I think some of the reasons a single action bass that is designed that way from scratch may be faster are:

    The reed chambers can be narrower, which gives you more space on the reed pans for longer reeds in longer chambers.

    Some of them have double-decker pans, which also helps to fit in longer chambers.

    If the reed chambers take up less area you can potentially make an instrument with a smaller cross sectional area (double decker pans help with this too), which increases the pressure you can generate in the bellows for a given amount of physical effort.

    By do away you mean get rid of right? Or replace, add helper springs? I suspect that if the valves are just removed the reeds will be really slowed and breathy. Do you think plastic accordion valves, helper springs or new leather accordion valves would work on a a double action bass concertina? Thanks!

    Converting double action to single action.

    in Instrument Construction & Repair

    Posted

    6 hours ago, alex_holden said:

    You mean remove half of the reeds, block the wind slots of the missing reeds, remove the valves from the remaining reeds, and add some air intake flap valves? Yes, but I'm not sure why you would do so. It would reduce the weight but not the overall size of the instrument.

    Thanks! I want to do it because a double action bass can be slow to speak and quiet compared to single action. I don’t have one yet but I’m curious.

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