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SteveS

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Everything posted by SteveS

  1. Wheatstone 56 key extended Treble concertina. This was my session instrument for about 10 years until I upgraded to a Tenor-Treble. I haven't played it in many years so it's time to let it move to a new home. It is a fine workhorse of a concertina and will ideally suit a player transitioning to a better quality instrument, or an experienced player looking for a backup session instrument. This concertina has riveted reeds - and has amongst the best reeds and action I have ever played. It's fast, loud, responsive, and has a wide dynamic range. It's an amazing session instrument. It does have issues with the ends - being solid rosewood and not a laminate, the ends suffer from cracks, but this is cosmetic only and does not affect the playing at all. I once asked Steve Dickinson about repairing these - his response was if it's playing well then not to bother. This concertina was serviced back in around 1992 by Colin Dipper, and I've recently touch-tuned it - it's in A=440Hz. No serial number, but my estimate is this concertina was made around 1880. No case. €1300 Located in Italy.
  2. Wheatstone Aeola 60 key English Baritone concertina - serial number 25873 This is a rare 60 key baritone concertina in need of renovation. Requires all the usual consumables: pads, valves. Also a retune and the metal work polishing. Currently tuned in old pitch. It also has a low F in place of the G# on the right hand side. Includes original case. £3500 Located in Italy. (This was previously listed last year and I withdrew it - I have decided to relist this 'tina)
  3. Lachenal Non-Pariel Treble English concertina - 48 keys, amboyna ends, gold buttons - in need of restoration. Restoration will require all the usual serviceable items: new pads, valves, retune and action set, as well as new thumb straps. This concertina plays very well with fast response and with good volume. It will make a super instrument for someone transitioning from a beginner/tutor concertina. There are a few sticky buttons, but otherwise plays very well. There are issues with the ends. There is some loss of French polish where the thumbs and finger nails have impacted the ends. Also on the right hand end, there is a small area of loss of amboyna veneer. There are also some hairline cracks to the amboyna. These issues are cosmetic only and not structural. Does not include a case. €1200 Located in Italy.
  4. Lachenal Treble English concertina - 48keys, metal ends - in need of restoration. Restoration should comprise all the usual serviceable items: new pads, valves, retune and action set. This concertina plays very well with fast response and with good volume. It will make a super instrument for someone transitioning from a beginner/tutor concertina. Once restored this will be a super instrument giving many years of musical pleasure. It also has provenance, and includes an invoice from Wheatstone dated 1942. Includes a case. €1400 Located in Italy.
  5. 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.
  6. 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 few graves of sailors entombed in the tundra. I don't recall reading about a concertina, although I think I recall that both ships were equipped with a harmonium.
  7. Thanks everyone for your contributions and suggestions.
  8. 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?
  9. Any chance of a button/note diagram?
  10. 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.
  11. This approach was adopted by Rock Chidley - holes in both reed pans with valves to ensure flow of air on the pull.
  12. Here in Italy we paid €12.35 on a package of delayed Christmas presents with a declared value of £20.
  13. I've been thinking for many years to build myself a low bass using harmonium reeds. I'll put my thinking cap on.......
  14. I have used rabbit skin glue for bellows work.
  15. 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. For duet players - what have been your experiences of learning duet? Of using these tutors specifically? Of training right hand only or both hands from the outset.
  16. Looks like someone has made replacement ends for this, and to keep costs down was very handy with a drill press.
  17. Definitely a Rock Chidley - one identification diagnostic are the bird's eyes cut into the fretwork.
  18. My new Wakker Parnassus Tenor-Treble. One mod is I substituted the D#3 for a Bb2 on the left side.
  19. I made a 1 row melodeon at a workshop conducted by Emmanuel Pariselle about 5 years ago. Emmanuel runs melodeon construction workshops in France and UK in which he guides the building of 1 row or 2.5 row melodeons. Well worth attending one of these courses if you'd like to know how to build a melodeon - and the resultant instruments are extremely good.
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