david robertson

If you'd like an idea of the restored value, keep an eye on the similar one that Chris Algar has listed on e-Bay at the moment, here. Chris is the top specialist concertina dealer in the UK (possibly in the world), so he may well command a slightly better price than you or I could, but it will give you a guide. As for restoration costs, it rather depends on whether you just want to make it playable, or make it like new. At a minimum level, it will need new pads, valves, straps, probably springs, possibly chamois seals, and re-tuning (it will almost certainly not be in modern concert pitch). By the time-honoured method of sticking a wet finger in the air, I'd say it would cost you around £250 - £300. If you want to replace the brass reeds with steel, you can add around £4 a reed. So yes, it's worth restoring, but don't expect to retire on the proceeds!

Alarm bells started ringing when I read the description of this rosewood 30-k Lachenal. It's almost identical to this description of a metal-ended 30-k that was sold about 10 days ago.

Hard to see from the close-up picture, but it reminds me of the kind of damage done by wood-chewing wasps rather than woodworm (furniture beetle). Either way, it doesn't look like the board is worth saving. At least it's not as bad as the Lachenal Inimitable I once bought from Peru (no, really!) It looked fine until I took the ends off. Then I realised that most of the end frames consisted of veneer on the outside, a wafer-thin sliver of timber on the inside, and not a lot in between. In addition, one particularly industrious bug had chewed its way right through the closed bellows, from one end to the other.

Well, it's 1924 (late best period) and probably needs some work (retune valves etc). It looks to be a nice one. ^4 buttons is usually something of a downside. Assuming it's a tenor-treble extended up and based on recent prices for Wheatstone aeolas, I would hazard it to be worth about GBP1800 (to allow for the work). However you'll note there are a few assumptions here and I wouldn't normally do this because the market sets the value (i.e. if someone wants it enough and there is competition it may fetch more). Sounds a bit light to me, Paul. I just sold a late-ish (1949) extended treble Aeola to a friend for £1950. (Steve Dickinson suggested £2000 to £2500.) Admittedly there seems to be some doubt about the range of this one, but it's clearly a cracker, and if it was refurbished 20 years ago, it may well already be in concert pitch. I did actually suggest a word with Chris Algar a couple of days ago, but my reply seems to have got lost in the ether. I also suggested that there would be several readers of this forum who would be happy to pay £2000 for it - mainly on the grounds that I would expect it to fetch at least £2500 when restored.

Good old PVA! The ribs are usually quite flexible, so you can open up the cracks enough to insinuate a little glue with the aid of a toothpick. Then bridge several ribs with a piece of scrap timber, and clamp it.

One thing worth mentioning is the difference between the 'cheapest' design models. A few months ago I repaired a Lachenal basic tutor model (mainly recognisable by the lack of a decorative rebate around the edges of the ends) with rosewood ends. I now have a very similar concertina with mahogany ends, virtually identical apart from one very obvious omission, the cheap steel end bolts are tapped straight into the timber of the softwood bellows frames instead of having a threaded metal plate; this is a very bad thing! I think you'll find, if you look more closely, that even the cheapest steel bolts screw into little threaded plates. The difference is that on the cheaper models, the plates are not mounted on the edges of the bellows frame, but pushed into slots on the inside of the frame - you'll see them if you lift the chamois seal. You may also see evidence of their presence in the form of bulges in the binding leather on the outside of the bellows frame. Very often, a seized bolt will turn the plate in its slot, pushing through the timber and causing the said bulge.

And this one: 280194433122 , basically a complete rebuild of what appears to be the same model played to death, went for nearly the same price.... i would say someone will have buyers remorse very soon. krazy. Curiously, they were both bought by the same person, based in Ireland (so I doubt if he had a chance to inspect the better of the two, in Portsmouth). If he's dealing in them, it's hard to see how he's going to make money at those prices. Normally, I'd have expected Chris Algar to hoover them up, but those bids really were a bit out of line with the market. Let's hope he's just an enthusiastic player/collector, and that he'll now stop buying (but preferably not before he puts in a ludicrously extravagant bid for the 41k metal-ended Lachenal I'm selling at the moment!

Popi?

I wouldn't even think about removing the lever. Being a riveted action, you'd have to pull out the pivot post too, which is fraught with possibilities of damage. Much easier to remove the pad, so that the button will rise right out of its locating hole. Then you can see if there's any miscellaneous cack (technical term) in the hole or around the pin, as well as checking if there's enough play in the bushing (where the lever passes through the button) to allow the button to remain vertical when pressed down.

Well, I'm the restorer and seller, and as far as I know, there was no South African connection. I can certainly promise you that I didn't paint it! The evidence is that this is how it emerged from the factory. I guess it was cheaper and easier to paint it than to cut and apply the red gauze that they used to use. Steve Dickinson had a look at it last Friday night, by the way, and pronounced it "quite nice" - which, given Steve's usual attitude to later Wheatstones, I take as high praise!

Happy New Year everyone! Forget the January sales - why not treat yourself to a very nice Aeola instead! I'll be putting this one on eBay, but as is my custom, I'm giving c.netters first crack at it. I've heard it said that post WWII Wheatstones had an inferior tone, largely due to the plywood ends, but that certainly doesn't seem to be true of the metal-ended kind. This one, dating from 1949, has a sweet tone and a very light action. In spite of having the extended range, it is not heavy, since the levers are of duralumin, as are the larger reed shoes. It has new pads, valves and straps, and has been fitted with new felt bushes. The 6-fold bellows are excellent, and the ebonised frames have been newly French polished. It is in concert pitch, plays faultlessly, and comes in its original leather case, still in good serviceable condition. It's not from the so-called "best" period, I know, but it's still a fully restored Aeola for £2000 - and I can guarantee you won't get one for less in the sales! If you're within reach of Norwich, please feel free to come and have a squeeze. If not, please ask any questions you might have, and I'll get right back to you.

I'll be putting this one on eBay in the next week or two, but I thought I'd give c.netters first crack at it. It's a 38k Lachenal in C/G, with nicely figured rosewood ends. It has all new pads, valves, springs and bushes, and new chamois seals on the reed pans. The bellows are in outstanding original condition, with no leaks or patches, and none of the usual scuffing - even the gold tooling is in good nick. The ends have been refinished using my usual technique - French polish waxed with very fine wire wool - and fitted with new straps. The serial number is 84252, dating it to around 1903, and it comes complete with its original box, still with key! I believe this instrument was originally made to special order - the A/F on the right-hand accidentals row, for example, had been moved from its usual position on the far right to the far left - but I have restored the conventional layout. More pictures are available on request, and if you're within reach of Norwich, you're welcome to come and try it. I'm looking for offers around £1500.

Thank you all for your help and support. It's good to know that we can beat the scammers!

Can't explain it, but I have just complained once again to eBay. If they have unilaterally removed the spoof bid(s), all they have achieved is to give the scammer a much better opportunity to offer a quick "sale" for cash. I just noticed that the copy of my complaint sent to my own address came from "eBay Member: bramblejam" rather than from the eBay Safety Centre. Does this mean that someone is intercepting complaints, or am I just being paranoid? I forwarded it to the spoof@ebay address to check it out. Watch this space!

Can't explain it, but I have just complained once again to eBay. If they have unilaterally removed the spoof bid(s), all they have achieved is to give the scammer a much better opportunity to offer a quick "sale" for cash.

Good point. Dave R. or Andie, is #48877 indeed the serial number of the original instrument? If so, did your (Dave's) original eBay listing include those additional photos? Or did you email them to individuals who asked for more pics? The pictures were in the original listing.

[quote But how did the scammer get pictures of the reed pan? I'd love to read what the scammer's responses have been. They were in my original listing - the scammer didn't use them all. Too expensive for him, perhaps?

Assuming that Cocusflute is the current high bidder at £4100, the distressing thing from my point of view is that someone out there was prepared to bid £4000. Given that I sold it for £1500, I'm starting to feel a little hard done by! Of course, it may just be that someone else from this fine community has also put on a silly bid! The serious point is that the listing is still there more than 36 hours after at least two people have told eBay that it's a scam. Really disgraceful.

First thing I did. Posting a warning here was the second. Even if eBay remove it promptly, it may be back. The last time this happened to one of my listings, it showed up four times more in quick succession, with a new user ID every time.

Don't even think about bidding onthis Edeophone. The pictures and the description have been ripped off from my original listing in September of this year. The concertina is currently in Australia, with a very happy new owner.

Dave Elliott recommends a fibreglass pen - it's like a propelling pencil, but with a bundle of glass fibres instead of a lead. (Available from Maplins.) It works well on light corrosion, but does leave a blizzard of tiny bits of glass fibre in its wake - wear gloves, and try not to breathe in! I find that a shim and a slip of fne wet & dry works well. If rust is actually fouling the edge of the reed, fold your wet & dry 90?, slip it under the reed, and very, very gently clean the edge with the vertical bit. You need only very light pressure - apply too much and you may bend the reed.

As just about everyone else has said, there's more to it than meets the eye. As well as your card-felt-leather sandwich, you'll need new sampers (the little leather discs that go on top of each pad) and new leather grommets to go on the lever arms. You'll also need to buy or borrow a wad punch - you'll only need one size to tackle any Lachenal Anglo, though a little pad trimming may be required here and there to clear the frames of the action box. If I were you, I'd also replace all the cross-drilling bushes in the buttons while you've got the instrument apart - and it would probably benefit from new felt damper washers under each button. I'm not sure why you should do one pad at a time - personally, I find it a lot easier to put new pads in place when there aren't old ones on either side. You can then do whatever minor bending of the levers is needed to achieve uniform button height with a pair of long-nose pliers, but make sure you hold the button down while you do it. If, after all that, you're still really determined to make your own pads, send me your address, and I'll send you enough 2mm, .18 density all-wool felt for your Anglo. Because of minimum orders, I had to buy enough to last the rest of my life, so I can spare you a little!

If you have the original purchase documents, it would be great if you could share the dates with us too - being able to associate serial numbers with verified dates helps a lot with dating in general.

Anyone care to hazard a guess as to the provenance of this one?

Curiouser and curiouser! Now I find that on the left hand middle row, index finger end, I've got Bb/C# instead of the normal F/C#. The F has popped up on the extra button on the inner row, along with a G# on the draw. What is interesting, if you're feeling particularly nerdy, is that the variations from the normal layout are nearly all marked in faint pencil on the reed pans, which leads me to speculate that the buyer, or perhaps a later owner, specified them. And finally, why the hell is the whole shooting match tuned very consistently and fairly accurately (allowing for the ravages of time) a semitone flat? (The box effectively plays in B/F# - which is why, when I first tried it, I assumed it was a Bb/F instrument.)