Alex West

Perhaps this current ebay listing will; be appropriate for someone attending the event? http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/1920-LENA-from-PALESTEENA-Song-Oriental-Cover-Lena-plays-the-Concertina-/261732406843?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3cf077963b Alex West

There are a few other "amateur versus professional" saws in the lexicon, including The amateur does things for his enjoyment, the professional for the enjoyment of others and The amateur cannot conceal how difficult a task is, the professional makes it seem easy All of these are useful in their own context, but as an amateur musician (not always serious) I've found enjoyment in sessions whether the tune was played "right" (whatever that means) or wrong. Having just been to a couple of Celtic Connections gigs in Glasgow, personally I hate going to performances where the artiste is so concerned to make the gig seem polished and professional that they've taken all of the joy out of it and managed to loook thoroughly disinterested in each other and the audience. If that's what practise does to you, stop it! Alex West

Ekku If you send me a PM with your regular e-mail adddress, I can send you the note pattern for a 32 key Ab/Eb Jeffries which will probably be similar to the Ab/Eb Lachenal you're working with. It should certainly be very similar in teh 2 lower rows but teh accidentals on teh top row might be different. What you may find is that your instrument is in one of the old pitches - for example if it's in old Philharmonic pitch of A=452, then the notes will sound nearly a semitone higher than on a modern A=440 tuned piano Alex West

Daniel It has certain Jeffries features in the fretwork and some of the bellows papers but as Stephen says, it was more than likely made by Crabb Alex West

David I think the 'C.' is there - it's just very faint. I think in the location the letter is, the metal fretwork has been slightly polished by the player's finger and the light has reflected off it in the photo taken by the auction house Alex West

Buyers premium varies but at Golding Mawer, it's 17.5% with VAT payable on top so the total payable to the auctioneer in this case is £4,477 (assuming that the buyer collects and doesn't have to pay for packing and delivery as well). I have heard of a 30 key Jeffries changing hands for over £7,500 this year but that was for an exceptional instrument with virtually untouched reeds, fully restored and with brand new bellows Alex West

That would be the 30 key one in Chiswick Steve? A reasonable price I would have thought given the inevitable refurbishment needed (and without knowing the precise condition. A 38 key might go for more depending who's in the room or on the 'phone and what condition it's in Alex West

Thanks Jim - I hadn't opened the pictures when I asked Alex West

Graham Well done - it looks like a fabulous instrument! I see you're describing it as an AngloDuet; have you had time yet to produce a key map and are there a lot of drone buttons? Alex West

MArk My apologies for not seeing your response earlier but the pencil I had in mind was like this one http://www.amazon.com/Scratch-Brush-Fiberglass-Colors-vary/dp/B0019V18D2/ref=pd_sbs_indust_2?ie=UTF8&refRID=0HR0ERGNMV9XXQ6VM0BM. You certainly have to clean up after yourself and the fubreglass bits are definitely irritating but I've not seen a problem or any residue after I've finished or when I've opened up boxes again after some time. You can get 2 different diameters of pencil & replacement tips for coarse and finer work. I haven't tried the brass refills which Dave suggests. I've got some but not used them in anger Alex West

Wheatstone did make some large key count anglos in the early 1920s and there was a thread here a couple of years ago about some of them. I can't remember the thread tile. I think they were all specials and I'd hazard a guess that none of them above 40 keys became a standard model. I've got a 47 key version and Vic Gammon has a 50-something version. The layout of mine is the basic 40 key version with a couple of additional accidentals at the high and low end of the scale and more alternatives for existing notes in the alternative bellows direction. The rationale is probably the same as for large key count Jeffries - to enable more legato playing whilst retaining the rhythmic bounce of the anglo. Of course, it's also possible that this particular instrument has more drone buttons on the 4th row like the anglo-duet which regularly appear on ebay Alex West

If Paul Read hasn't already replied, I suggest you try and talk to him. He is a concertina repair man and he is in your area - and he's a regular contributor to concertina.net Alex West

David I generally don't use any liquids, just a glass fibre pencil to take off the surface rust. This doesn't seem to take off any metal to a significant degree and just cleans the reed up. If the rust is bad enough to pit the metal underneath, then it's a different issue. Alex West

David Congratulations (or comiserations - it looks and sounds as though it's going to be a challenge!) I don't think anyone has tried to systematically list all of the numbers they've seen on Jeffries to figure out whether they are unique, but I've always understood these pencilled or scratched numbers to be batch numbers rather than any kind of sequential number. Good luck with the restoration. If it's the same instrument I saw, there seemed to be some very small holes in the bellows ends which could be woodworm? Fixable but concerning Alex West

David Either 1.6mm or 1.8mm diameter brass rod. Yours looks to be steel - which you can use - but I think it's too hard to bend and unnecessarily robust. My suggestion would be that you'll need to take the fretwork end off and unscrew the handstrap, then put the shaped brass oblong strap retainer on. If you try and do it with the end and handrest in-situ, you're almost bound to weaken the strap retainer or bugger up the handrest/fretwork end by trying to force things Alex West

With the usual caveats about swallows and summers, a 30 bone-buttoned metal ended Crabb just sold for a hammer price of £2,400 at an auction in England. With buyers premium and VAT, that gets you to £2,832 and a modest amount of refurbishment and tuning gives you a ready to play price of close to £3,500. Since the 39 key Jeffries in Ireland (mentioned in another thread) failed to sell on ebay at £3,896, that could indicate a very good price for the Crabb, a narrowing of the gap between Crabb and Jeffries, or that either one of them is an anomaly. I hope the buyer knew what he or she was getting and that teh Crabb turns out to be a good one! Alex West

The verdigris often occurs when leather (eg the handstraps) is in contact with metal (eg the scerws/washers etc) on concertinas. It;s unsightly and sticky and is I (I've been told) poisonous. I often use a glass fibre pen - used for cleaning electrical circuit boards - to clean brass levers. This treatment is only very mildly abrasive but use gloves otherwise the bits of glass fibre can get into your skin and cause irritation. For the cracks in the wood, as Chris says, if they aren't affecting the air-tightness, then don't worry too much. Given the humidity changes in the USA rather than in the UK, it's likely that the cracks are due to the wood drying out - which it will in time anywhere in the world as the dead wood ages but which is probably exacerbated in the US. Some US concertinists keep their instruments in controlled humidity environments (you may be able to find this in other threads). If you really want to seal the cracks, you could use Chair Doctor which I believe is marketed by Veritas in the US (certainly in Canada). It's a very thin aliphatic resin which swells the wood slightly as it sets thus closing the smaller gaps, gets into very thin cracks through capillary action and sets in an hour or so. You could also consider a very thin superglue. This might sound like heresy, but it does work. It's not reversible, but why would you want to reverse this sort of crack? Alex West

I have a rosewood ended J Crabb 26 key C/G which I'd like to sell and I'm in the process of restoration of a 28 key Jeffries. The Crabb would be in the region of £2,250 and the Jeffries a little more If you're interested, send me a PM. Alex West

Benny Andersson now plays with his orchestra (Orkester) which comprises him on piano accordion, the fiddlers from the Orsa Spelman and a bunch of others. They paly a mixture of traditional and more modern stuff, including tunes written in the traditional Swedish idiom by Benny (and also by Bjorn). Try looking for "Frykdalsdans Nr 2" on Youtube and that will lead you to a whole host of good sstuff from the BAO! Meanwhile, I'll try to find Mr Parr's music Alex West

Paul I live on the Ayrshire coast south of Glasgow and from conversations with other experienced players and learners, there are no tutors specifically for the anglo in the Glasgow area. Depending on what type of music you want to play, there are some sessions or general music groups which you might find helpful (as others have), or you may be able to meet up with others (including myself) to give you some pointers rather than formal tuition. Send me a PM if you'd be interested; I'm away sailing until the end of June, but we could possibly organise something after then? I may be able to help you with progression to a 30 key as well! Alex West

Well somebody obviously thought they were right for them - all now sold at the asking price. It's difficult to tell how good the reeds are just from the photos (although I think the seller did as good a job as he/she could) but I was slightly put off by the rough look of the surface - they do look to have been filed a fair bit. Alex West

Rod If you're interested, here's a publication which I've just got a copy of: "The Guide to Scottish Festivals" which includes Music, Books, Art, Theatre etc. It covers the whole of 2014 - send me a PM and I'll post you a copy (it should arrive before you set off!) Alex West

I believe that only some of the vast collection is on display. Certainly when I enquired about taking a look at a particular Rock Chidley a few years ago, it was in a conservation warehouse a little way south of the O2 arena (and I don't think it had been touched since Neil donated it) Alex West

I take it you know the story of the Texan telling his British chum that Texas was so big you could be on a train 24 hours and still be in the same district - to which the Brit replied "yeah, we've got trains like that as well"? Perhaps what I mean is that things are spread out - the population is a bit sparse (yes, I know, not as sparse as Western Australia!) and the folk/trad events can be even more sparsely distributed. What I've found is (from bitter expereience) that it's no good being in the general area of something that's happening - it can be impossible to get to where the action is either by public or personal transport. And of course as Rod has found out, it's an all too common experience to turn up somewhere the day after the session Alex West

This website has a reasonable listing of music festivals in Scotland (http://www.scotland.org.uk/events-in-scotland/music-festivals-in-scotland/3) - it's a big country though so you may find that you're not travelling close to where the event is! There's the Marymass Festival in Irvine (Ayrshire, close to me) from the 20th - 24th August (http://www.irvinefolkclub.trad.org.uk/marymass-folk-festival/). Usually some good acts and good sessions. Sessions in Scotland aren't always well advertised. Depending on how your plans settle down, ask again and I'll try to find out if there's anything local to where you're going and what night it's on. Concertinas are a lot more spread apart than in England but there are a few of us and we are occasionally at the same events! Alex West