Alex West

I've used C A Cornish in the UK https://www.cacornish.co.uk/musical-instruments/ I could be wrong but I believe it was Dave Elliott who spoke to them and set them up to market leather for concertina components. You do have to be specific about the sizes and thicknesses you require for the appropriate reed slot size but I've found them to be helpful and deliver quickly. I've not used them for very big valves Alex West

Hammer Price was £1,300 with a buyer's premium (inc VAT) of 29.4% Alex West

Norman The reed pans in most traditionally built concertinas are removable - they lift out from the bellows frames. The reeds you can easily see by removing the action are the reeds which sound when the bellows are pulled, and the reeds on the opposite side of the reed pan are the "push" reeds. If you can't see an item of dust which is stopping the reed from sounding, it may still be that the reed is blocked within the reed frame so removing the fame carefully from its locating slot (and you'll have to remove the reed pan from the bellows frame to be able to gain access) and inspecting the reed, making sure there is a gap between the reed and the frame, may well clear it sufficiently. Alex West

There are more photographs on the Saleroom listing for this instrument. It's difficult to be certain without a closer and internal inspection but the only indication of this being a Jeffries is surely the bellows? Alex West

I'm in Scotland Matt. You'll find the shipping to Scotland from Kansas just as expensive! Alex West

Sandra In an old publication - Concertina & Squeezbox Magazine - there was a great article on Left hand chords. I've enclosed a snapshot here. If you send me a PM with your email address, I'll forward a .pdf file of the whole article Alex West

Jeffries made instruments with 26 keys. I have one in C/G and one in G/D. Sizes are as Roger has noted above. They're both great sounding instruments and I play them regularly, although they aren't my absolute favourites as they obviously lack the note reversals in the accidental row and lack the lower buttons (and left thumb) which give such good options for chords Alex West

It's a polyurethane glue (Gorilla Glue is a UK trademarked equivalent I'd guess) which has some advantages and disadvantages compared to PVA and aliphatic resins. I'm not saying it's bad or being at all critical, and I don't claim to be an expert but it might not be so good (for example) with very fine or hairline cracks. I would think that it wouldn't flow into the cracks in the way that Captain Tolleys or Chair Doctor would and it might start to expand a bit too quickly Alex West

Many thanks Wes Alex

I've just got a 30 key metal ended anglo in for a clean, minor refurbishment and tune-up. Number is 201002. What would the database reckon? Alex West

I settled on Chair Doctor when I did a comparative test of a few glues when I was sticking ebony veneer to sycamore for a bellows end repair. Chair Doctor was the strongest and I've used it on hairline crack repairs since. I've not tried Captain Tolley's on wood (though I have a tube of it on my fibreglass boat🙂). Alex West

I use an aliphatic resin glue called Chair Doctor, made (if I recall) by Veritas. I'd suggest it's a bit more user-friendly than CA. It's quite thin and works by capillary action to get into the very tiniest cracks. I tend to flood the cracks with the glue using a small syringe applicator (or similar), then "pump" the cracks gently to make sure the glue is getting to all the hidden parts, then clamp (as necessary) to make sure the wood sets in the correct conformation. It goes off in about an hour and is very strong but you can wipe off the excess after 5 or 10 minutes. Depending on the application, there may not be any need to refresh the surface finish (French polish or otherwise. If you do use a syringe, make sure you clean it out afterwards otherwise the glue sets in it and it can't be used again! (DAHIKT) Alex West

I I made a case from ply covered with leathercloth to replicate the one which a particular instrument came in which was a card based case and falling apart. One of the issues with ply is that it's inevitable that on at least one of the sides, the grain will be perpendicular to the edge so the ply will tend to split at the hole and on the parallel sides, if you drill the holes too close to the edge, the top ply can part away completely if the holes are too close to the edge. My stitching isn't as neat as Alex's but since it was all covered with leathercloth, any errors were covered up. It's a very strong case, but it was very time consuming. In the vintage Wheatstone case I have, the inner card is just stuck to the sewn leather outer which would make life a lot easier I suspect Alex West

Except some of them are bamboo. Might not be an issue but I prefer to use something that's vaguely like a real tree-wood Alex West

Same for me if anyone's passing by North Ayshire/Glasgow. I do know of someone with a 7 mount (GD I think) not too far away from me Alex West

Sometimes, there can be some gunk in the bottom of the hole where the button guide fits and it's necessary to give it a bit of a clean out with a suitably sized drill. This is easy enough to do on a Lachenal where you can move the lever out of the way by pushing it through the post at the fulcrum. That's probably also the easiest way to get the button off the end of the lever. You can probably also rotate the pad around the screw thread at the end of the lever to clear it out of the way and create a bit of extra "headroom" at the button end. With metal buttons, you're unlikely to damage anything. Bone buttons need a little more caution... (I note that there does seem to be some kind of metal (?) insert in the hole in the detailed picture you've posted - maybe this is just a bit tight?) Aligning the lever with the hole is just a matter of bending the lever along its length somewhere. Doesn't need a huge amount of effort to move it the fraction of a millimetre necessary. Note where the button guide is binding a bit and bend the lever in the opposite direction Alex West

I'll second that. I've carried out an action replacement using some of Wim's parts (albeit a previous generation and although it greatly improves the action feel, the Lachenal reeds still hold the instrument back from being genuinely fast. I once asked a well known UK maker the question "What makes an instrument fast? Why are yours so quick and good?" "Everything," was his reply Alex West

Chris From the pictures you've shown of the ends, the veneers are worn through to the base wood in some places. It's not too horrifying a job to replace them with thin ebony veneer. The bellows look to have had some of the internal hinges replaced - fairly crudely, but possibly effectively - and some of the others look to be cracked or torn. Not a difficult job to strip them off and glue something more competent in their place. The corners of the bellows can be repaired if they're the source of leaks, but you may find some of the gussets have holes in them as well. As Stephen has said, it's a fairly standard configuration of 44 (or 45 or 46!) button anglo that you have. I have a GD version and have seen others in CG and other keys Alex West

Do you have arthritis or experience of it or treatment of it? In my experience, with similar issues to Don, any exercise either of concertina playing or other activities which mobilise the joint are painful, do not increase suppleness or mobility and can increase the deterioration of the joint. Certain exercise can help with certain types and locations of arthritis, in building and strengthening muscle to support the joint, but exercise would need to be targetted towards specific muscle groups in order to help finger and thumb joints with arthritis, rather than general suppleness Alex West

I cheated (only slightly) and got a local jeweller/silversmith to make and replace the tops for me. I cant remember offhand how much she charged but it wasn't a fortune Alex West

In the UK, you can get supplies from some of the makers, eg Dipper, Wheatstone, Norman and possibly others as well as Mark at Concertina Spares. Alternatively, C A Cornish supplies - see https://www.cacornish.co.uk/musical-instruments/. I believe they were introduced to the concertina by Dave Elliott Alex West

LR71 The vendor sent me some additional pictures which - to my eyes at least - confirm that the base instrument is a Lachenal with their typical gate and lever action rather than a riveted lever. The stamp on the fretted ends looks like the C Jeffries font, but the ends themselves aren't as finely detailed as you'd expect from a C Jeffries. Restored, it might be worth what a typical 30 key Lachenal would be, but the vendor didn't tell me (or didn't know) what keys the instrument is in Alex West

PM sent Alex West

Looks like a 46 key Maccann duet Alex West

McCarthy, I have a 62 key Lachenal New Model Maccann which I'm looking to move on as I'm principally an anglo player. It's been fully restored and I can send you some more information and pictures if you're interested. I'm looking for around £2,000 plus postage/courier Alex West