Daniel Hersh

Another possibility would be to find some other players who are at your level and have your own occasional sessions where you can play the tunes a bit more slowly and support each other's efforts.

The next San Francisco Bay Area concertina players gathering (our first in over a year) will be on Sunday December 8 from 2 to 5 pm at the home of a local player who lives in Albany, fairly close to the North Berkeley BART station. Players at all levels of all types of concertina are welcome. We typically start with a round robin where everyone who's interested can play a tune/song each for the rest to hear, or show off a new instrument, or whatever. The rest will be informal and unplanned, with several rooms in the house available for small sessions or discussions. We can have a "for sale" table if anyone brings concertinas or related items they're trying to sell. Those who attend can to bring snacks to share. New this time: I will bring a Jedcertina (which I recently purchased from Peter Smith, who is on c.net) in case anyone wants to try one out. For more info, PM me or email me at hrshsand "at" earthlink.net.

The next San Francisco Bay Area concertina players gathering (our first in over a year) will be on Sunday December 8 from 2 to 5 pm at the home of a local player who lives in Albany, fairly close to the North Berkeley BART station. Players at all levels of all types of concertina are welcome. We typically start with a round robin where everyone who's interested can play a tune/song each for the rest to hear, or show off a new instrument, or whatever. The rest will be informal and unplanned, with several rooms in the house available for small sessions or discussions. We can have a "for sale" table if anyone brings concertinas or related items they're trying to sell. Those who attend can to bring snacks to share. New this time: I will bring a Jedcertina (which I recently purchased from Peter Smith, who is on c.net) in case anyone wants to try one out. For more info, PM me or email me at hrshsand "at" earthlink.net.

All true, but I would add that Lachenal reeds can vary in quality even within one grade of concertina. I have a 20-button Lachenal with simple-fretted mahogany ends that has very responsive reeds, and I have played Lachenals with complex rosewood fretwork that had pretty bad reeds. I agree with Ken that it might be best "to find someone in the UK who will do right by a beginner and sell you a known quantity in need of work." I know that Barleycorn Concertinas will occasionally sell unrestored instruments. They might be a good bet for this and they may be able to tell the reed quality on what they're selling (if the bellows are in good enough shape to try out the reeds).

Good advice here from Don. It sounds to me like the notes (different notes on push and pull) from just one button are sounding all the time, probably because the pad isn't closing as Don said. Might be because of a deteriorated sleeve, but it could be a spring problem. I don't think this is a valve problem. And Dave Elliott's book won't help you with this kind of concertina.

Yes, that's what I mean. I would like to know the occasion too.

Yes, that would help. And I wouldn't worry about the valves until you have replaced the button sleeve tubing.

Bastari and Stagi are basically the same. But some Hohner-branded concertinas were made in Italy by Bastari/Stagi and others (more recently) were made in China. In my experience the Chinese Hohners are worse than the Italian ones.

The hats - at least they seemed strange to me.

From eBay Germany. If you can't see the picture below, here's a link: https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/UggAAOSwhilZa3t1/s-l1600.jpg

I agree with all of this - I just wanted to answer the original question as a courtesy. To the original poster: you wrote, "I'm not sure what condition the reeds are in, but judging by the state of the rest of the instrument I'd just assume they won't work." Have you tried playing each button, one at a time, on both push and pull? That will tell you whether each reed "works".

I agree with those who say you should work with your existing reeds first - but to answer the original question, here's a source for new reeds: https://www.harmonikas.cz/en/dix-concertina-1#obsah .

Added Blackthorn in the Intermediate/mid-range category.

Thanks for posting - I haven't seen quite one quite like this before. I'm curious about the dimensions. I'd guess it's basically a six-sided German-made bandonion.

Does this work any better for you? https://www.facebook.com/edwinaguckian/videos/10157321259608550/ .