d.elliott

You will always get a better stab at the serial number by looking at the inner face of the bellows frame. Stampings on the reed pans often have digits machined out or obliterated by chamber walls., Some instruments also have their stampings under the pad board, but these can be less easy to read. Dave

So you mean the bounce of the Anglo the brightness of the metal end and the power of the steel reed in the original design of reed frame. This would be the specification for virtually any dance musician, playing for English Morris, Scots or any other traditional dance etc. The reason I belabour this is that you might reduce your range of choices (and end up paying more as a consequence) by seeking the 'Irish Sound' when you are looking for a traditionally built Anglo, steel reeds, metal ends and strong bellows, irrespective of it's period of manufacture.. I hope that this helps you. Dave

I think that we are probably touching on the differences between the sounds generated by the established concertina reed as designed and developed by the original manufacturers and that generated by the accordion reeds in their double blocks. Possibly compounded by the use of MDF and other current materials that some of the reproduction concertinas utilise. After that its all down to the skill of the player, their interpretation of the genre and bellows control. I know that Jeffries are supposed to be the 'gold' standard, in my experience they have stronger reeds, metal ends and heavier bellows, presumably for power brightness and the 'Jeffries Honk' However Jones, and Crabb ( metal ended) plus the Wheatstone and Lachenal are all up there too. After all the first Jeffries were Crabb and the Jeffries design owes a lot to Crabb.

Not wishing to be provocative, however I am intrigued by what is meant by the 'Irish Sound' in concertina terms?? Dave

I might suspect home made pads, and the grade of leather on the pad facing. but do check the spring condition, and the action set up. One potential cause on the pads with short levers is the state of the cross bushing through key's transverse hole. If it is too tightly packed so the arm cannot rock in the cross hole then it may be that the pad is not being held closed by the full force of the spring. The other point to consider is the key's travel. When fully pressed into the concertina action box the key head should be around 2 mm above the action box end cover. when the key is released it should lift by a consistent 3.2mm on all keys, if the overall set is too high and the travel exceeds say 4mm then you can get the key binding and the same effect of air passing the pads will become a problem. You should also check the pad board for cracks or screw holes etc. and also around the padboard for shrinkage from the frame Dave

actually bellows papers are available on solid black paper , contact concertina spares

As far as cites is concerned have a statement of instrument age.

I also wondered what value this new Facebook page would add, did not this forum start as an Anglo specific forum, then develop in to a more general concertina forum?

Its good to see innovation on making good reproduction bellows papers, however, from my experience, black background papers are beat on paper that is black all the way through, otherwise you get an amateurish white border to your papers from the cut edge. This white looks very stark between the black of the printed face and the black of the leather, it tried inking or staining it black after cutting, it was just messy and still did not look very good. Dave

Stephan, not screwed but maybe you will end up poorer for the experience. It is almost a truism that anything can be repaired if you throw enough money at it, and have a friend who knows what to do. Dave

Given what you describe, I would suspect the valves too. A word of warning, when you change the valves you can get changes in tuning as well as response, that's why it is considered to be best practice to change valves before final tuning. Other reasons might be the set on the reed gap or restricted pads, you need around 3.2mm of key travel on a traditional instrument to ensure that the pads open enough to get the air through. Finally does your instrument have baffles fitted behind the fretting? If you have and you have not left enough air space between the fretting/casing and the baffle again you could be choking the instrument. Dave

There are several indicators of the grade of a concertina. 1, the use of rosewood, metal or ebony on the ends not just plain mahogany 2, the complexity of the fretwork 3, keys (especially metal keys) being bushed with felt where they pass through the fingerboard 4, round the face of the action box, the machining of an ogee trim. 5, the number of folds on the bellows 6, steel tongued reeds as opposed to brass 7, the pattern chosen for the bellows papers 8, Dave

I have a Tidder English pattern, the stamping looks the same, and the style the same

The new David Copperfield based film due out autumn this years stars a 20k Anglo

As with Steve S above, This the way I was taught to play bass too, its the only real way a big heavy instrument can be managed. My Bass is a single action G Bass, not the heaviest of the breed but heavy enough