Alex West

Sorry Peter, All of mine are 26 key or above. Some may be suitable as a beginner instrument but all are more expensive than a 20 key would be. I'll send you a PM with some suggestions when I'm back home in a few days Alex West

I got this case from a yacht chandler a good few years ago. I've a feeling they were made in Italy but with a Netherlands distributor. I had to add the padding but they were around £70 if I remember rightly. Plywood frame, leather clad, very robust

Arktrav This attached PowerPoint file won't be identical to your layout I'm sure but might give you a clue and a starting point. The stave represents the treble clef and the note values from G2 upwards) are as you get from a Peterso tuner Good Luck! Alex West 32 Key GD Jeffries.pptx

Arktrav On a 30 key instrument, the C row is the same on "most" CG instruments. There are likely to be some variations on larger instruments for the buttons outside the core 30 key pattern. The G row on a CG is not the same as the G row on a GD. The lowest notes and highest notes (little finger) are almost certainly different values and the whole row is an octave lower on a GD than on the CG Wheatstones tended to be a lot more "standard" than Jeffries, but variations are possible, particularly on the accidental row or at the upper end of the range either as custo

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Indeed Richard - my mistake. The G makes perfect sense Alex West

OK - All of the other keys I checked have the equivalent of A5 there - apart from the Bb/Fs which all have a G there when I would have expected a Gsharp. Apart from one Bb/F instrument which had a C in that position Alex West

And I've just checked my records on Jeffries CG instruments - yep, they all have A5 there. I'll take a look at the other Jeffries in other keys for which I have maps and see if it's the same equivalent Alex West

George Yes, the Ab/Eb is still available. I've attached a file with some more information and pictures and if you send me a PM with your email address, we can talk further. There's no drone under the left thumb with a 27 key instrument, and even if there was, it would typically be Ab/Ab. It would be possible to swap a couple of reeds around to get a Bb drone under the left little finger, or there's space to add an extra button and a couple of reeds to get a drone but that's a job for one of the makers I'd suggest Alex West C Jeffries AbEb.docx

I thought that might be the case Ciaran but the element of doubt put me off bidding as high as you were obviously prepared to risk! With the cost of a new set of bellows, you must be getting close to the top end price for a Jeffries Duet though, add in the tuning of 102 reeds... Brave man! Alex West

Joachim I used this method specifically to be able to re-use the leather end binding without damaging it. The pictures below show the edge binding I wanted to save and the new bellows built around the old leather. If you want to make a completely new bellows, then you don't need to take such care. If it's a vintage concertina, then it may well be a water soluble glue or a glue softened by heat. In my experiments, it came off without heat or water. In fact it may have been less messy as the old glue turned to powder when I ran the feeler gauge along. In a newer conce

Joachim I'm not sure how good your English is or how Google will cope with the translation but here goes! I have done this so it's possible but I won't say it's easy and it is not without risk. It might be more easy or more difficult, depending on what the concertina is and how the bellows leather was glued to the frame. In my case, it was a vintage concertina and there was a layer of cloth glued to the frame and the leather was then glued to that, either using a starch glue or a rabbit skin (or similar hide) glue. Basically, I peeled back the chamois gask

Did anyone else see the Jeffries Duet which went at auction today at Sworders auction house? According to the declared condition, it sounded to be a bit of a wreck which makes the hammer price of £1,300 plus a buyers premium of 30% (inc VAT) a bit of a surprise. I don't see much change out of £2,700 to get this to playing condition and if it was bought by a dealer, that pushes the value up towards £3,000 which is surely a bit steep for a 51 key Jeffries Duet - even with the history of this one Alex West

I suspect you mean Alex Holden, Dave. I've made new reed tongues but only to fit existing shoes. Alex H makes his own shoes (as do Steve Dickinson and Colin Dipper in the UK and possibly others I've forgotten) Alex West

Robin I had exactly the same issue with a Lachenal New Model Duet which I restored. As Alex H suggests, the local jeweller helped me out and it wasn't too costly either Alex West