Alex West

That's interesting - I have No 104 Alex West

Can you show a picture of what you've done Clive? Alex West

David Whilst it's common to "scratch" accordion reed tongues to tune up or down, it's better to FILE the root to lower the pitch or the tip to raise the pitch on a concertina reed. This way, you avoid creating a stress raiser and a potential fatigue failure point in the middle of the reed. Alex West

David It's quite common for the reed frequency to be different outside the concertina from inside it's nice cosy acoustic chamber - in fact I'd say that's the norm (and Don Taylor made this point on Page 1 of this thread). It's a good idea to make a chart (or some such) of the number of cents "out" the reed is inside the concertina, then you know how much have to adjust by (up or down) when you measure the frequency in your tuning rig outside the instrument Alex West

Interesting that it's being held in the Victoria Accordions showroom. Victoria are a top maker of piano and continental button accordions. Alex West

Why not talk with Wally? He may have some of the original leather (Goatskin?) that would be the best match. And yes, I'd use a hide or rabbitskin glue. Alex West

Thomas It's mostly decorative at that location but where I've seen that sort of wear before, I've glued a strip of skived goat skin over the top of the worn patch just to provide a "sacrificial" wear strip and prevent the wear going any further into the critical bellows hinges. Resting the bellows end on your leg is perfectly acceptable and far better than bending the middle of the bellows over your knee as some folk do - a guaranteed way to over-stress the bellows hinges and cause collapse. Having said that, I have heard folk say that bellows are consumables (in that they are just an air pump and relatively easy to replace. But why not ask Wally? I'm sure he'd be prepared to consider a repair/reinforcement - even if he would charge for it Alex West

David In my experience, it would be a very rare session where anyone was able to spot that an instrument or any reed within it was 3 cents out of tune. I routinely play a meantone instrument, a few of the notes of which are double digits of cents "out-of-tune" compared with an equal tempered instrument and I've never had anyone even notice. Pianos (and tuned percussion) are often "stretch" tuned so that the low notes are flattened and the high notes are sharpened compared to equal temperament. This makes the instrument sound more in tune (generally) although the sharp-eared will often find the upper notes too sharp. Whilst I try to tune an instrument to plus/minus 1 cent (or better if I can), I wouldn't consider wholesale re-tuning if a few notes were (say) 5 cents out - except on an English or duet concertina where the opposite reed was perfect or out by 5 cents in the opposite direction. Unless of course the player specifically said - "It sounds out. Give it a complete re-tune." Alex West

Thanks Paul. I have to say that, even by the somewhat crude woodworking standards of Jeffries concertinas, the scalloping I've seen doesn't look very neat or smooth, making me wonder if it was an "after-market" modification - to what effect? Alex West

Jake Here are a couple of threads - there may be more... Alex West

Where in the world are you? Alex West

Wheatstone did make a number of special anglos with a large number of buttons, as well as duets (though most of these were the McCann system which would require huge modifications to the fretwork and action to change to a conventional Anglo layout. Having said that, I've seen and worked on a Wheatstone Engilsh Bass which in a former life was a McCann duet). I've heard Sonny's instrument attributed as a duet by a well known maker/restorer. However, the ledgers clearly refer to it as a type 62 (an Anglo designation for a 40 key instrument) and call it an A. G. (Anglo-German). Alex West

I hope Geoff won't mind me copying this here: Alex West Pad Hole Modifications.doc

Sorry, but that's not quite correct. A Jeffries/Wheatstone/Crabb/Lachenal concertina reed will have a very slight taper from narrow at the tip to slightly broader at the root. I just measured a couple of reeds I happened to have handy. A Wheatsone C3 reed was 3.2mm wide at the tip and 3.35mm wide at the root and a Jeffries Bb2 reed was 3.3mm wide at the tip and 3.5mm wide at the root. Alex West

I'd agree with this. I've seen Lachenals with radial and with parallel chambers as well and the response hasn't changed noticeably. It is noticeable that the chamber size & shape affects the tone (and the overtones) considerably. It's particularly noticeable on the larger Crabb and Jeffries where some reeds are squashed into small chambers towards the centre of the reed pan. It's also noticeable that the dimension from the end of the chamber to the start of the reed tongue can affect the tone, but I haven't found that the response varies significantly. Having said that, I think I remember Geoff Crabb saying that the relationship between the pad hole and the reed tongue (and hence airflow) is critical so that could affect response? I suspect that if you compared a Wheatstone anglo with a Wheatstone EC, it would be other things that would affect speed of playing though - my vote is for the bellows and hand stability Alex West