Alex West

It would be worthwhile speaking with Robin Beech in Montreal. He's a regular at the Montreal music sessions and plays a D button accordion and an English concertina Alex West

Very sad to hear this Robin. I met Paul at your house and also saw him at Sidmouth a few years ago. A good friend and a great loss Alex West

Wes Williams knows more about the range and variety of vintage concertina keys than I do so perhaps he might give an opinion. Bb/F and Ab/Eb are common flat keys, arguably suitable for playing with brass bands so why not Eb/Bb? (albeit in one of the old high pitches like A=454 or higher) Having said that, I've heard of and had in my possession an instrument in B/F# which was apparently a known variant. High pitch Eb to A=440Hz D would be possible, but you'd have a lot of metal to remove from the root or a bit of solder to add to the tip (which isn't terribly successful for the high reeds in my experience). You might have to look carefully at the profiles and stiffnesses after the changes Alex West

I agree with what Tiposx has said, if you want to get from C/G old (high) pitch to C/G with A=440Hz. To get to D/A from C/G is sharpening by a full tone, not flattening. If the original tuning is from C/G in an old, sharp pitch, then it's not such a big step, but the top reeds are going to be very thin. I'm confused by you saying that your C/G instrument is currently 50 cents sharp of Eb/Bb. That would indicate that the original instrument keys are Eb/Bb? Alex West

BrokenBox The clamping bolts can often be interchanged from other scrapped frames. If you don't have any, then what I've done in similar situations is drilled out the old broken bolt and drilled and tapped for a 10BA or 9BA bolt. Whereabouts in Scotland are you? I'm in North Ayrshire and might be able to assist with advice if nothing else Alex West

Theo I don't think I have a smoking gun, but I have had through my hands a 26 key Crabb with similar looking bellows leather, papers and action. The levers look to be steel? "Mine" had a Crabb number inside which made it more easily identifiable. Geoff Crabb confirmed that the papers were readily available at the time (1878) and steel levers were used to keep the cost down. The only difference appears to be the fretwork on the LHS where the cartouche would be. Mine had the horns as a mirror image rather than yours which are more of a Yin-Yang pattern. One of Geoff Crabb's useful notes tells that until about 1895, the instruments which Crabb made for dealers weren't hard-stamped with the numbers - the numbers were just pencilled internally. Maybe there's some evidence of that which doesn't show up in the photos? Does the font of the stamping of the reed frames offer any clues? Or the reed frame dimensions themselves? The 20 and 26 key wooden ended Jeffries which I've seen had the "C Jeffries maker" stamp on the wooden ends (as well as typical Jeffries bellows with fancy gilding and typically Jeffries papers). Is it worth restoring? Even if you have to replace a handful of reeds, a handful of levers, repair the cracks, fix the warping, it's more than 70% original and a quality 26 key instrument is IMHO a much more satisfying starter instrument than a Chinese made 30 key hybrid. Bellows, valves, bushings, pads are all consumables and whilst it's a bonus if the bellows are in good condition after 150+ years, it's not the end of the world to replace them. Granted, there's a lot of work involved and it might not be commercially economic depending on how you cost your time. What might it be worth at the end of restoration? OK, it's not a Jeffries so doesn't have that premium, but if it's a CG, and can be fairly confidently identified as a Crabb or near equivalent (and playing like one), then the retail value (as a good player rather than as a museum piece) surely has to be £2,000 or more? Alex West

Dropbox?

Not forgetting that some of the higher pitched reeds on a C/G don't typically have (or need) valves... Alex West

My advice would be to look for a leather which isn't too tough and which is soft to the touch. A glove leather would probably be suitable. The last ones I made were with goat skin which in retrospect was a bit too robust. The strap can always be reinforced internally with fabric Alex West

Frank, My cracks were both in Jeffries. They had been in the US so cycles of humidity and dryness may have been an issue, as well as lack of care. In response to Dave's point, I accept that I made the repair more complicated than strictly necessary but I was early in my repair journey. Dismantling of the padboard and hexagon surrounds wasn't really an issue - they fell apart quite naturally with no persuasion. I had to replace the ebonised veneer as well Alex

I had this issue on one of my concertinas so made this handrest based on a Colin Dipper design. It elevated the palm of my hand and changed the angle of attack of my fingers onto the inside row and was a big success. I've made similar handles for other instruments, sometimes adding a thin strip of wood over the top, sometimes making entirely new shaped handles Alex West

Your repair looks a lot more robust than mine. I made up an infill section to repair a similar crack on a couple of old mahogany based Jeffries. I've mixed up the LHS and RHS and the 2 concertinas here to show a little of the before and after, but you'll get the idea. On 1 instrument I used a rectangular section and on the other, I made a more complicated 'T' section to be more confident of air-tightness. It worked well, and one of them is my regular squeeze Alex West

Exactly my experience Matthew Alex West

Yes Dave, it's metal ended Alex West

I recently got this 1879 Lachenal in for tuning. Inside the action are a series of small posts, dotted around the edge of the action and in between the buttons. They look original and sit below the level of the action frame sides so aren't tall enough to support the fretwork - possibly they were there to support baffles? I've not seen anything like them before. Does anyone have any clues? Alex West