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Marien

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Everything posted by Marien

  1. Ross, It makes sense, good point about the hand size. My question was from an interest to play a very small anglo concertina - as a gadget to impress audience that it is possible to make "real music" out it. A smaller concertina may be equipped with unfoldable extention hand rests to increase playability. So to me it seems that - like you mention - the reed size of the set c/g reeds that should fit into the reed pan.
  2. I was wondering - what is the smallest possible size for a 30b concertina? Jones already made small size anglos with 20 buttons with individual reed frames. Looking at the Marcus traveller it's 5 inches across flats, with 22 buttons. Can it be done to put a complete C/G 30b in the same size of concertina - or even smaller?
  3. Ben, J.E. Dallas was a dealer for Lachenal concertinas - he is referred to here. Is the concertina a Jedcertina? (JED stands for JE Dallas) Can you show us pictures of the concertina? Marien
  4. That would be a rash decision until everything is clean and you can see what you are dealing with. A large part of that mess could be moth debris form moths consuming the felt from the pads. I see nothing in the photos so far that would not be restorable. There is some white powder, which could be funghi - not sure, and I am working slow to remove that on a safe way - not to damage anything, including my health... I found the maker´s label, 80% plain white, and after a gentle rub it showed a part of the maker´s name text P.....LEY on top. The P will be an incomplete R. Also parts of `LONDON`, the street name is unreadable. This indicates once more that it is a Rock Chidley. Well, you may be right, not to be afraid of little moths and other insects. It would be a waste to throw away a historical concertina that´s maybe 150 to 170 years old. My impression is that parts have been made with a very high precision - all levers are in place and moving as they should (of course it is in need of new valves, pads and springs). The position of the buttons and the button holes in the fretwork - it's all constructed very precise. So I will take my time for cleaning first. Thanks Marien
  5. Thanks Chris, It looks like it's an action of a Chidley concertina indeed. In the meanwhile I removed some dirt and it has a serial number 2223 and there is an R stamped in the right side in the wood (one of the six pieces of the rim of the end plate or the action board).
  6. Marien That looks mighty unpleasant - please wear a face mask if you disturb any of that detritus. You never know just what may be lurking in there. Steve You bet, it may be very unpleasant to inhale or to touch these white micro monsters. when I took it out of its plastic bag, I saw far too much of this prehistoric mold powder. In stead of restoring I guess it is a better plan just save some parts, clean them in quarantaine and get rid of the rest....
  7. Nicholds used a distinctive action post design which you can clearly see in the example in your link. Like a Lachenal with a slotted post, but unlike Lachenal has an opening in one side of the post. Thanks Theo, I only looked at the fret work. I overlooked the posts, and you are right. The posts are open on one side. The picture shows not only that it needs more than an average clean, but it also shows the posts. So it is a Nickolds... Marien
  8. I think that the ends are originals. I agree that this could be a Jones - i guess an early one. The ends are cut out of 1 solid layer of rosewood. May also be a Nicholds. This concertina is a real shipwreck, not for playing. (the other and came in 4 parts). I bought it on a flea market just for the complete set of brass reeds, and it has been taking a rest in the same plastic bag I got it... In fact, it is nearly complete and I am thinking about restoring it. But at this time most of the inside is on the outside. After a good clean I may find some more numbers, signs and texts on the reed pans or the baffles. Hoping to make more pictures later today.
  9. This is a very old english concertina I bought in Wales last year. The action has pivot posts, but unlike lachenal's the tops are rounded. The fretwork is different from what I know. Does anyone recognize the fretwork pattern?
  10. This must be one of those Maccannicle responses....
  11. why make it hot? It will not shrink a lot in cold water. I had an unwanted experience with stiffening leather. It (not intended) got wetter than wet can be and it stiffened badly after drying. In the end I threw away this leather coat. So I'ld try the following keep the leather long enough in cold water until it's soaken wet put the wet leather on a flat surface - i.e. a glass plate avoid wrinkles and folds put a heavy glas plate or flat stone on top leave it there for a long time (until the leather has fully dried)
  12. It's not just the lady fortune problem, my Crabb Crane would be jealous, I am allowed to look at this Wheatstone concertina, but not to touch it.
  13. Zooming in on picture one shows that the auction is not riveted but hooks and levers like in lachenals. Would a wheatstone have this lachenal kind of action?
  14. Marien

    scam or spam?

    wow, ebay is fast, it already disappeared...
  15. a wheatstone octagonal treble on ebay. I am passing on this one, I am just wondering about the `buy it now price only` phylosophy. The seller has positive feedbacks, but these buy it now offers always ring a bell, especially when message windows are popping up alarming the buy it now price... Any ideas about this seller?
  16. That would be interesting, if anyone has the time. For what it's worth, some of my Jeffries Duet experiences. My Jeffries Duet is basically tuned in C. I'ld say it invites to play in "on the white keys" scales C, D, E, F, G, A, B and in Bflat. With keys on the outer row it is relatively easy to vary scales from minor to major. With the low "white keys" on the inner row and "low anglo positions" on the left hand, it is easy to find the lowest bass notes for the "white keys". The way I play is to know where to find every accidental by head and by the things hanging on each side (the ear). once knowing where to find the accidentals, it is easy to start playing scales on the "white keys", But it needs more thinking work for keys starting with an accidental - especially when there are more sharps and flats - such as a scale of Gflat. The farther the scale is away from C, the more complicate to play. Having 5 flats in this scale - it makes a quite irregular fingering position scheme. Compared to a Crane I'ld say that the Jeffries is my favorit for a number klezmer and folk tunes. It has all the possibilities to play the basic bunch of chords used in folk music. It is less sootable if you change scales within one piece of music, such as repeating a theme in C in Csharp within tunesthe same tune. If there are other scales involved - such as playing jazz, classical music or klezmer and folk tunes in specific "black key scales" - I'ld prefer a system that is less centered around C, such as the german B- or C-griff. Also the Hugo Stark system (used by Wim Wakker's for his C2 duet) seems easier for switching keys, although I think I prefer the overlap of keys on a 5 row C-griff accordian - such an overlap gives you more positions to play the same note, and reduces your thinking burden as well as reducing the complexity of double crossing fingers. Running out of time now, Hoping this helps, Marien
  17. isn't that a quatre mains concertina?
  18. Spindizzy, Jeffries Duets are fully chromatic, but there are some favorite scales. It's easy to play in C (like the white keys on the english) or Am. Some scales are difficult to play. The jeffries duet has 4 rows on both sides. The center (middle 2 rows) have all the keys of the C-scale. The outer row is basically accidentals (like on an anglo). The inner rows contain octave keys and some accidentals as well. All> To return to the topic... As I play with other people I am not interested in "old pitch" and other tuning deviants... It should be concert pitch to many players I guess.... Marien
  19. Hi Warren, No idea, this beats me by description... can you upload a picture? Marien
  20. I once replaced bellows but it helped only half way to chase away the bad breath of previous owners. The problem is that tobacco air settles in every corner of the concertina. This asks for cleaning reeds, action plates inside the bellows, replacing pads and valves++. But I was lazy and sprayed a neutral kind of deodorant spray inside the bellows. It helped to chase away the bad smell (or it damaged my smelling abilities). Apart from tobacco - there is the fungi smell - it is a completely different story about mold, eating leather and hide glue, spreading through the entire concertina to make it difficult to solve this problem. Chorine may be an agressive and far to wet way to attack a concertina. There is a biological way of atacking fungi. Mould can be killed with cinamon. Maybe it can help to open up the smelly concertina, put cinamon powder on every part - keep it dry of course - after a day clean the powder. I have no idea what cinamon does to steel reeds, but I guess that it is far less agressive then chlorine....
  21. Wow, this old german tina went on ebay for 686 GBP, much more than I had in mind... For this one the price seems to depend more on the historical interest than the technical quality and playability. Anyone here who is the lucky winner of this old beasty? Marien
  22. Myrtle, For what it is worth - a few thoughts. This kind of concertina is on an old 1856 painting - with the square buttons and limited number of buttons. The fact that there are 4 in stead of 5 buttons on the inner row may suggest that it is really old - it does not follow rules like having 5 buttons per row... Like others already mentioned - this looks like a very early German concertina made - first half of the 19th century. The rectangular shaped concertina already existed before the hexagonal shape came in. it is possible that this one has been made later - but it as one of the oldest concertina models. J W Moffatt "minories london" was an instrument dealer in London, putting his stamp on instruments he sold - I guess that he did not make these instruments himself - there is quite a range of instruments with his stamp on it - such as concertina's, violins, guitars, horns and clarinets. Moffatt also is mentioned as editor or seller of the book: Instruction Book for the Improved German Concertina, (London 1852-1855) as I read on this site. The bellows looks as being old, and the stamps JW Moffatt make me think that it is old and not a reproduction - although the leather straps and the ends have a fresh look. Hoping this helps, Marien edited to remove typo etc.
  23. At this time one copy of the bourree receuil is for sale on www.ebay.fr. Last week there were two, but one is on its way to my home...
  24. Chris, There are much possible varieties in tuning a concertina. My old wooden German square concertina-like bandoneon (3 row, 32 buttons) is the smallest size bandoneon, so I have been told by a bandoneon maker. The two outer rows are basically a G/A concertina whereas a 20B anglo concertina would have G/D. The 2 inner rows are comparable to a "normal" 20b E/A concertina. Those intervals are quite the same but there are some key deviations, check a bandoneon lay out and you will see the lowest three rows on the right hand side. Those basic keys on my small box are still available on bandoneons with 144 buttons - as part of the key layout. Marien edited to add the following link: Here is a link to the bandoneon key layout. The part on the right below (3 rows) are the same as the layout of my right hand side, the rest of the buttons - well- I do not have them...
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