SteveS

It looks to me to be 5 fold bellows. With my repairer's hat on - the bellows may have seen better days, so replacement may be needed. Also the left side has smashed fretwork - repair of amboyna ends is very difficult repair to get the woods to seamlessly match before finishing. There also appears to be radial cracking around the raised ends of the right hand end - this could be structural, especially if the underlying substrate is ebony and that has started to decay (I've seen ebony before held together with Scotch tape). And who knows what the internals are like.

I'm sorry to hear of Norman's passing. I first met Norman at Newcastleton folk festival and hearing the pipe marches that he played - it inspired me to play Scottish music. Later when I lived in Edinburgh, I occasionally met him at sessions, and members of Jock Tamson's Bairns, in Sandy Bells and other music venues. We met up too at Edinburgh University's Teviot Row which hosted many of the events of the Edinburgh folk festival. At one point I almost bought a concertina from Norman - and I may have fettled one of his 'tinas. I have warm memories of hearing him play - he was one of the few players that really inspired me and my style of playing for dance music.

Here's a video - https://youtu.be/pZZ5nhog9Nk

Thanks Stephen, for your reply. This BT I have is super instrument and a great player, but has some terrible wear/cosmetic imperfections - I am considering repairing those. The instrument is obviously well played - and being in what looks like A=435Hz pitch, I wonder if it has spent some of its life playing 'on the Continent'. Is it possibly a Grock concertina? We'll probably never know - it would certainly fit with Grock's era - although from the films I've seen Grock played Lachenals. I'm considering full restoration, but given that it seems to be in A=435 and looks like it may have been fully retuned before, I'm considering leaving it in that pitch - I'm not sure whether the reeds would take a retune to A=440.

Price reduced to €3400 This is a lovely instrument and plays well. You won't be disappointed. An instrument like this will cost well over €4000 from a well-known UK dealer (and you'll have additional VAT and import duties to pay into the EU - at least another €1000). This instrument is in Italy, so no VAT and duties to pay within EU. PM me for more pics and info.

Any interest? I'm open to offers.

I received notification from eBay a few days ago that I'd sold a concertina I'd advertised there. The concertina is in Italy with me, and the buyer's shipping address is in UK. The buyer has apparently paid in full but the funds are being held by eBay in what looks like an escrow function. I wrote to the buyer pointing out that to receive the concertina in UK he will be liable to a considerable amount of VAT and import duties (thanks to Brexit). IMO, although I priced the concertina fairly, the additional VAT and import duties will result in it costing more than it's worth. I wrote to the buyer asking him how he wished to proceed, and offering him the option to cancel the purchase if he wished. He didn't reply to that message. A day later I sent him another similar message, to which he replied about 8 hours later. And here is the curious part - he replied in Spanish. Not being a Spanish speaker, I ran the message through Google translate, and the content of the message made no sense in the context of the messages I'd sent him about proceeding or cancelling the purchase. I asked a Spanish speaker I know and they couldn't understand the message either. This has me wondering: - why pay in full for the concertina and not at least follow up on my messages with a relevant response? - is this some variation on the empty box scam? - is the eBay escrow function some kind of scam? I've written to him again asking for clarification - in English or Spanish - and have so far not received a response. Generally I'm feeling uneasy now about sending the concertina - I'll give him one more day then I'll cancel the order.

Price reduction - €3400

I have a flutina and the one thing that really got me stuck was the fact that the instrument plays in the opposite sense to the one-row melodeon - that is a push note on the one-row is pull note on the flutina. A project I have in mind is to make new reed pans and arrange the reeds so that it plays as a one-row melodeon.

bump

Having made both flat and raised ends, raised ends are harder to make and much more labour intensive.

I am selling another instrument from my collection. This one is metal ended 56 key Tenor-Treble Aeola - s/n 26236 Newly serviced and tuned to A=440Hz. One thing that's unusual about this concertina is the low D#3 on the left-hand side is tuned to a Bb2. Showing the signs of a life well-lived, the instrument plays well - as expected from an Aeola. The price reflects the cosmetic imperfections. Located in Italy. Price €3750 €3400 Ed: I've uploaded a video https://youtu.be/pZZ5nhog9Nk

Bump I have the brass receiver plates. What I'm after now are 2x vintage (patina is a bonus) thumb strap screws for an Aeola.

Hello everyone I am now offering concertina repair and restoration services to the EU. All types of work undertaken. Since I'm based in Italy, EU players can avoid the crazy import situation to/from UK as a result of Brexit. Please PM with your details of your repair requirements. Steve

Hello everyone I am now offering concertina repair and restoration services to the EU. All types of work undertaken. Since I'm based in Italy, EU players can avoid the crazy import situation to/from UK as a result of Brexit. Please PM with your details of your repair requirements. Steve