SteveS

Here is a picture of Salvation Army Major R.A.Carter with his huge Lachenal 81 key MacCann duet. The picture is from 1938. Apparently only 3 were ever produced.

Thanks Stephen!!

I've just read an article about a forth-coming TV production on the Franklin expedition of 1845 to find the North West Passage. The article discusses various items that have been recovered from the expedition. At the end of the article there is this tantalising sentence: “Bits of accordion, pipes and books have been found. These are touchstones to those lives and they have incredible poignancy.” Was it a concertina or an accordion? Some years ago I read an account of the Franklin expedition and efforts to retrieve artefacts and find and examine the f

That's my Wheatstone 29 key bass

Here's the note layout for my 29 key Wheatstone bass:

Thanks everyone for your contributions and suggestions.

I've pretty much got all my tools in place for making most part of a concertina. The final set of tools that I need to make is a set of valve punches. My thought is to use lengths of tube of various diameters and squash in a vice to the shape of the valves, grinding down the edge (as with wad punches used for the pads) so as to make a sharp edge. What have makers/repairers done in making valve punches?

Any chance of a button/note diagram?

When I was a student in Leicester (1977-1980) I had the chance to buy a bass concertina I'd seen in a junk shop. I'd been playing concertina maybe 6 months by then and I didn't really appreciate the rarity of the bass. My regret is that I didn't buy it. I should have lived on beans for a couple of months and have given up the beer for the duration thinking back.

This approach was adopted by Rock Chidley - holes in both reed pans with valves to ensure flow of air on the pull.

Here in Italy we paid €12.35 on a package of delayed Christmas presents with a declared value of £20.

I've been thinking for many years to build myself a low bass using harmonium reeds. I'll put my thinking cap on.......

I have used rabbit skin glue for bellows work.

I've had a Crane duet for some time and I'm thinking to set about learning it. I have 2 tutor books - the Bulstrode tutor and the Salvation Army tutor. They are both different in their approaches to tutoring While the Bulstrode spends a lot of time on exercises for the right hand before introducing the left hand, the Salvation Army tutor starts from the 2nd exercise with exercises for both hands. While I'm sure the Salvation Army tutor has been used successfully to train many Army officers to play, I like the approach that gets both hands working as soon as possible.

Looks like someone has made replacement ends for this, and to keep costs down was very handy with a drill press.