Marien

Frances, It is a Crane conertina (what else...), If it is not a Crane, I will eat my shoes. Usually the Crabb pattern is not with curved rows of buttons. Maybe somebody did not like the V shape button rows and replaced the action board and ends? Or is it a lachenal with replaced ends? Or did Crab make one like this on demand? I wonder what Geoff will tell us about this concertina. Marien

I saw this old asthmetic one in an auction that looks unusual to me. It has metal buttons. The metal hand rest looks like jeffries but I think that it has the lachenal kind of hooks and lever kind of action. Anyone who has an idea who made this?

Geoffrey, There are 73 buttons on my Crabb crane. I think you know the instrument. Is it button variety number 32 in your list? Thanks, Marien

The low F makes sense and it makes me think of tunings used by Salvation Army players. They play a lot in Bb and F. If you play simple songs with 3 chords in C(CFG), in F(FBbC) or Bb(BbEbF) the low F is very useful for chords. Also good in tunes where G is the basic melody chord where you sometimes go down one note to F - like in Irish music in D you sometimes play a C on the last count of a line. Like Kurt has low F's on his cranes, this low F is also on my 71 key Crabb crane, on the key under the thumb (anglo players would call it the drone).

Thanks for the replies, Rudiger´s method is what I used for a younger concertina bellows. I used very flexible and thin goatskin leather, I took from it an old women´s glove, cut small pieces to cover the edges and skived it with a sharp fiddle making knife. It was the perfect material to cover small openings in the corners of an old Lachenal bellows, and afterwards the repair wasn´t visible at all. This is less then is needed for the torn bellows I was talking about. There Dave´s coment is more appropriate. The bellows I was talking about is about 100 years old and it is still the original one. I guess that some day my concertina skin will have to be replaced. Leather lifts and strange fluid masks will no more be of any help. Marien

Suppose I have a leather bellows with torn leather which is not air tight (okay, I have), i can make it a beautiful patch work on the in- and outside. I once did but new holes came up when pushing the newly patched bellows - the air creating another route to escape from the dark without noise. Is there a way to prepare the leather - to strengthen the old leather and to make it air tight again? I once heard that (for calf skin drums or banjo heads) you can use oil that horse people use for horse hoofs. It should make old leather flexible and stronger, it works for my old Djembe, but I am not aware of how this could affect air tightness. Is there anyone here who can tell if there is a method to make old bellows air tight again, or is the advice simply to replace the bellows? Marien

The antique instruments esp. are prone to sudden failure. I remember playing a dance a few years ago when the right hand strap gave out and I had to suddenly improvise a repair. I had some thick waxed thread on hand thankfully and was able to stitch a solution together and save the day. Better to anticipate this kind of problem and fix it before disaster happens, but that takes a special kind of forethought that rarely takes action in my case. Since then I've repaired a few of these old hand straps, so I should be good for awhile. True what Jody sais, old concertinas may have surprises and it is not funny on stage, but these old instruments (I think) mostly have more character than new instruments. Mostly it is an organic part (holes in torn bellows, hand straps, valves, pads) but it may also be a pivot post or pad that starts leaving his position while playing. I think these surprises can be minimised by having it checked and serviced regularly...

How long I have been playing my concertina, well I have been playing my concertina for hours... Over the last four years I exchanged cheaper instruments for better ones. I will stick to my current play list of concertinas - wheatstone (anglo), lachenal and crab (crane duets) and jeffries (jeffries duet), I'll let them sing until they have to be fine tuned and serviced again. Marien

I am not sure about this but reading this made me wonder: Is it possible to buy one with steel reeds and to replace the steel reeds with brass reeds from two cheaper ship wreck english concertinas? Would that be a problem to do so? Regards Marien

David, The bellows are original - 8 fold is written on the Wheatstone invoice from 1934....

This one is a strange anglo shape, on ebay, a german box as far as I can see... http://www.ebay.com/itm/1800s-CONCERTINA-SQUEEZEBOX-ACCORDION-/231007020979?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item35c91767b3#ht_174wt_1141 I am wondering about the age of this "instrument". Would it be home made or something from Saxony before 1900? Marien

To answer your questions... The Linota concertina is tuned C/G, it has the Wheatstone layout with a C drone. It is loud and responsive. Surprisingly, while it has ben stored for 75 years, it is in concert pitch, to my ear it is in tune with my 30b linota. All of it is original, so must have steel reeds (you can hear that). It is `like new` concertina that has been waiting for 75 years in its case to be played (in a dry place in the house). It is a lovely concertina, the only expected maintenance I would suggest is replacing pads and possibly some valves. Some asked for more pictures, will try to add them later today.

NOW SOLD I am selling for a friend – a fine Wheatstone Linota anglo concertina with 40 buttons, The serial number is 33297, which dates it on 31th of May 1934. The seller is the son of the first owner who received it from Wheatstone in June 1934. Unluckely he died during the second world war, and the concertina has not been played since. It was stored safely in its leather wheatstone case, and the pictures show it was kept in good shape. May need new pads and valves, Looking for offers in the region of 4000 pounds. PM me if you are interested. Marien

I will start new topic for this 40b Linota

I contacted the seller and asked for the tuning. The answer was sorry - we are not selling this item. A scammer hacked the ebay-account and put a buy it now price and another email address in the listing. So it is definitely a scam, although the seller is a reliable ebay seller. Marien

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Vintage-C-Jeffries-anglo-concertina-/400511152611?pt=UK_MusicalInstr_Keyboard_RL&hash=item5d405331e3#ht_1722wt_1161 Where did I see this kind'a offer before? Trying not to be boring.... Marien

back again... http://www.ebay.com/itm/Wheatstone-C-G-Anglo-Concertina-Rare-to-Well-Done-/171056323221?pt=UK_MusicalInstr_Keyboard_RL&hash=item27d3c05a95#ht_235wt_1141

I am selling a Hohner C48 2 x 24 button english concertina - rarely played. As I hardly find the time to play this english concertina, it searches a good house where it will be played and not just be stored in its gig bag. Details: Wooden ends - A suitable beginners instrument It is in concert pitch, it has 48 white keys - playing smoothly and sounding okay on push and pull. It has an air release key. The bellows is air tight. The condition is very good - like it just left the factory, the Hohner gig bag is included Shop price is 400 UK pounds. Asking 200 pounds. PM me if you want pictures or if you're interested to buy Marien

To me it seems it all depends on the chords you want to play. If you play Irish music in pubs, you may be satisfied with a D, G, A, C, A minor or E minor, and you will rarily find a tune in F. If you are not using more chords than that, then this 42b Crane is just enough for you. Other music traditions may use other chords. For folk tunes in F you may want to switch the Bb chords as well. Some traditions (such as SA music, Klezmer and music from brittany) have a lot of tunes in Bb. But the chords B and Bb are the ones missing on the left hand side on this 42 button concertina. This also holds for other jazzy chords in A, Bb and B. The are not on this box, unless you are going to inclkude right hand buttons in chords, which limits the freedom of melody play on the right hand side.. If you want to play more freely with chords you will walk into the limitations of this Crane.

Hi Dean in France No matter if it is for the first steps into the world of Crane concertina or for an experienced concertina hero, I think you will need more buttons than 35 to discover the possibilities of the Crane. How many buttons is the limit? Well it is personal of course, but you need more if you want to do chords play on the left hand side for every note. If the lowest note is a C, then you will find the lowest B and Bb on the 3d row, If you want to play a chord in Bb, it is nice to have enough higher notes on the left hand side as well. For this reason I would personally not go for a Crane with less than 20 buttons on the left hand side, and I would go for 25, On the right hand side - two octaves need 25 buttons (they will ne there if there are 20 on the left side). So much to say that I think the 48 is the smallest for my chord play. I am very happy with the 55b crane (25 on the left en 30 on the right). But of course another playing style - for example - playing one single note at the time - may have other preferences for the number of buttons. Best wishes, Marien

it´s one of my favorite lachenal types, I expect it be responsive and the tone maybe mellow, like on my 30b rosewood lachenal. But, you may buy a lot of work as well. All reeds may need to be tuned. It may need replacement of pads, springs, valves and also the bellows. It may be good to check and justify the action. Also, it may need work on the action plate and reed chambers to make the box air tight. These are all jobs that had to be done to make a playable concertina out of the 30b I bought via ebay in 2004. But I don't regret it at all. After repairs it may be a very fine instrument...

Maybe you can use these brass pins? the diameter is 1mm and length is 6mm. http://www.ebay.de/itm/261175409386?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1423.l2649#ht_1156wt_1399 The shop has them in different sizes± http://stores.ebay.de/DN-68?_trksid=p2047675.l2563 Marien

Three hours ago these two concertinas have been in a removal from Scotland to USA. It looks as if they know how to hack ebay accounts... Here they are (for how long?) http://www.ebay.com/itm/Vintage-C-Jeffries-anglo-concertina-/290891547732?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item43ba7cc454 http://www.ebay.com/itm/Rare-Vintage-W-Jeffries-English-Concertina-Original-Leather-Case-c-1920s-/290891547821?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item43ba7cc4ad

Here are the latest 2 scams, how often will the same concertina be re-offered this week? Any members in Dundee who would like to play these concertinas presumably at Sam Lee (the seller)'s address,10 Panmure street in Dundee, Scotland? http://www.ebay.com/itm/Vintage-C-Jeffries-anglo-concertina-/321100710159?_trksid=p4069.m2059&_trkparms=aid%3D111000%26algo%3DREC.CURRENT%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D27%26meid%3D6678426176054347269%26pid%3D100039%26prg%3D1011%26rk%3D1%26sd%3D321100710159%26#ht_1363wt_1156 http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Rare-Vintage-W-Jeffries-English-Concertina-with-Original-Leather-Case-c-1920s-/321100710242?pt=UK_MusicalInstr_Keyboard_RL&hash=item4ac3180162#ht_1600wt_1300 Miss them!

"It would be like two Wheatsones appearing in the middle of the Sahara Desert." Why not? Theoretically it is possible - two wheatstones inside a camel, one in each hump...