david robertson

Or perhaps somebody got ripped off? Buy-it-now price around a quarter to a third of its actual value, seller with zero feedback... I just hope the buyer took steps to ensure that it was kosher before parting with any cash.

Partly it's my Morris background - I've always had to compete with a herd of melodeons, so every last decibel was vital - and partly it's because I've never found a satisfactory way of cleaning them!

I've restored dozens of these, but I can honestly say that this is one of the best that has ever passed through my hands. The restoration includes new 7-fold bellows, new pads, valves and dampers, and new phosphor-bronze springs. All chamois seals have been replaced (bellows ends and reed pans). The rosewood ends have been reamed and bushed to eliminate button noise, re-finished in French polish, and furnished with new straps. Finally, the instrument has been tuned to modern concert pitch. The serial number, by the way, is 154011. It looks very handsome, and more important, it plays superbly - loud enough for Morris, fast enough for the most ambitious Irish-style player. I'm asking £1900 (with donation to C-Net if sold). Just drop me a PM if there's anything else I can tell you, or if you'd like to visit Norwich to try it out.

I'm not saying it is definitely a scam, but I'm pretty sure I remember this description and these pictures being on eBay some time within the last 6 months. The 24-hour listing also rings alarm bells. Approach with caution...

Yes, I know they're as scarce as hens' teeth, but please has anyone out there got a pair of Edeophone thumb-straps (or more precisely, the metal components of the straps) that they'd be prepared to sell?

This concertina has now found a new home in France (curiously by way of a contact in Ireland!) Thanks to everyone for their interest and comments. David

The area round the thumbstrap doesn't really take much stress. The load is distributed through the spacer post right down to the action board - the other two screws are just to locate the thumbstrap and stop it rotating. However, now that we know that most of one end is conspicuous by its absence, I'm sure I'm not the only one who can't wait to find out the exact nature of your cunning plan!

You say that the ends are damaged, but not how badly. Replacing ends in their entirety is, as Theo suggests, pretty much a degree-level project, but if it is just a case of a few gaps in the fretwork, these can be repaired with a modicum of skill with a scrollsaw and a good deal of patience. Start with a close-grained, dense hardwood, and cut it (or cause it to be cut) into slices a couple of mm thicker than the ends. Now is the time to have lots of fun with a light box and some tracing paper. Being cut by hand, concertina ends are not perfectly symmetrical, but you can usually find areas of good fretwork that you can use as a guide to the piece that needs replacing. You will probably have to adjust your tracing, using hand and eye, to fit the gap. When you are satisfied with the shape you have drawn, use your printer/copier to make a copy on white paper, stick it onto your slice of timber, and cut it out on your scrollsaw. Using PVA glue, stick the new piece into the gap, leaving the edges a little proud of the old surface. If your replacement piece spans the curve of the raised end, you can simply sand it to match the curve when the glue has dried. Unless you are endowed with superhuman woodworking skills, you will almost certainly find that there are niggling little gaps in places between old and new timber. This is where a 2-pack black resin called Loctite 4105 comes in handy. It cures in seconds, can be easily sanded, and accepts French polish - which, if you sand down the repaired end assiduously, will render your repair invisible (unless, of course, you look at the inside!) Good luck!

This is a really lovely Crabb with an interesting provenance. Made in 1947 (SN 10192), it belonged to the late Cathy Scott, who played alongside Harry and Ivy Crabb, not forgetting Tommy Williams, in the North London Concertina Band, which Harry ran from around 1960 onward. Geoffrey Crabb has kindly sent me some pictures of the band, showing Cathy with the instrument on her knee. He has asked me not to publish them, since he hopes to use them in a book at some time, but I will gladly provide prints for the new owner. He also tells me that Cathy and his mother would often perform duets together at various functions. Now to details. As I hope you can see from the pictures, the instrument is in lovely condition. All I have done to it is to replace all the wearing parts (pads, valves, springs and bushes), polish the buttons, and check the tuning. The layout features an outlying Bb on the right hand, while on the left, there is Bb an octave lower, a G below that, and, under the thumb, a low F which rattles windows and rearranges your internal organs. The ends are made of polished Duralumin, and the same material is used for the levers. (In the immediate post-war period, brass was scarce, but Duralumin much easier to come by, I guess because it was commonly used in the aircraft industry.) You might think that this would make it a lightweight instrument, but you'd be wrong. In fact, it weighs in at well over 4.5lb - more than 1lb heavier than my 38k Jeffries. The 8-fold bellows are in outstanding original condition, with bright, sharp gold tooling. And last but not least, there are the reeds, which are everything you'd expect of a Crabb - loud, lightning fast, and with a miserly appetite for air. If you'd like to try it, just send me a PM, and we'll arrange something. I'm asking £1950 - reasonable, I think, for such a rare combination of condition, provenance and performance.

Sorry to join the thread so late, but I finished the restoration of a baritone ebony-ended Edeophone for Chris Algar a few weeks back - he may still have it. Regards, David

You could remove the old papers very carefully with minimal amounts of water and an infinite supply of cocktail sticks, but frankly, life's too short. Leave the old ones alone, rebind the ridges, and then paste new papers over the lot.

I had a similar problem on an Edeophone restoration recently, and in this case it was caused by several of the ribs which divide the reed chambers starting to come unglued at their outer ends. I have no idea why this should cause a tinkling sound, but on a couple of big reeds, it did. It may not explain your problem, of course, but it's worth checking to see that the ribs are firmly attached. If not, apply a little PVA with a toothpick, bridge several ribs with a spare piece of wood, and clamp to the reedpan.

I had a similar problem on an Edeophone restoration recently, and in this case it was caused by several of the ribs which the reed chambers starting to come unglued at their outer ends. I have no idea why this should cause a tinkling sound, but on a couple of big reeds, it did. It may not explain your problem, of course, but it's worth checking to see that the ribs are firmly attached. If not, apply a little PVA with a toothpick, bridge several ribs with a spare piece of wood, and clamp to the reedpan.

Was it a scam? Marien tells me the seller claimed that his name was Remus Obada. I rest my case.

I think this one falls under the heading "Approach with extreme caution". First, the seller has zero feedback. And second, most of the text is lifted from my listing of a Wheatstone about a year ago.

I think you'll find that the blocks that have been "turned round" are actually installed as they should be. Their primary function is not to reinforce the corners, but to support the reed pan. If they are not glued into the corners, it is because if they were, they would foul the clamp screws of a reed - so do check before you prise them off and glue them back in the wrong place!

All good advice so far, but one more thought to throw into the mix: are the reeds firm in their slots? A slightly loose fit can make a surprising difference to the enthusiasm of the reed, and if the instrument has been stored in a relatively humid environment, the reedpans may well have shrunk a little when you gave it a nice warm home. If you find that this is so, simply cut narrow strips of gumstrip and shim the slots with them. Don't make them too tight, though, or you risk squeezing the edges of the reed shoe into contact with the reed tongue, which will silence it completely.

I'm feeling a little bewildered (something I find happens with increasing frequency these days). Less than a couple of weeks ago, this mahogany-ended 30k Lachenal failed to attract a starting bid of £900 on eBay. A couple of days ago, the same seller listed an identical instrument (possibly the identical instrument) with a starting bid of £1200 and a Buy-it-Now price of £2500. Now I recognise that boundless optimism can be an admirable character trait, and they do say that hope springs eternal etc. But surely in this case, hope would have to gush in a fashion that would defeat the best efforts of Red Adair and his team to contain it?

It's back, and this time it's brought a friend!

Anyone recognise this one? Short listing, and a buy it now price of $1500... mmm, what's that funny smell?

One more victory for the C-net neighbourhood watch! Well done, everyone!

Quite apart from the zero feedback and the short duration, how is it that an alleged registered business seller has no other items for sale? There could be a perfectly innocent explanation, but it looks to me like a sound case for calling Rentokil.

Good thought, Theo - the fretwork certainly looks too home-made to have anything to do with Boyd. Any thoughts on the 31/31 layout?

I don't know a lot about Duets, but isn't 31 keys per side, like this one, a rather odd layout for a MacCann? When I saw the HB in the cartouche, I immediately thought "Harry Boyd" - but surely the fretwork is too crude to have been produced for a dealer who was supposed to commission top-quality instruments?

I have just acquired an unrestored Wheatstone treble from 1865, serial no. 18031. Looking it up in the ledgers, as you do, I find that where the buyer's name is normally found, there is just the name Wheatstone, and there is simply a dash through the price column. Does anyone out there have any idea of what this means? (I've already tried Steve Dickinson, and he doesn't.) If they hadn't got a specific order to work on, would the workers perhaps have been instructed to knock out a standard treble for stock? Two pages earlier, in the same ledger, there is an entry in which "C. Wheatstone Esq." is listed as the buyer, and there is neither price nor serial number, but simply the description: "A Double unison". Can anyone tell me what this is? Would this one perhaps have been made for demonstration purposes? Or given that "Esq", could this one have been made for the man himself? All contributions, speculations and wild surmises gratefully received. David