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

Yes Marien, I meant Titebond Original which is an aliphatic resin Alex West

If I'm removing old chamois to replace with new, I always clean off any old glue so that I'm glueing directly to wood. In some cases, this has meant re-fixing the triangular reed-pan support blocks so that the height matches. I've never had a problem cleaning up either the PVA or Titebond (which sets brittle and can chip off easily) but I'll happily give fish glue a try. I like animal glues in general, but I'll give Gorilla glue a miss... Alex West

I mostly play English/Scottish tunes with occasional forays into Swedish and Quebecois. I mostly play a G/D box, but yes, I use the thumb like a normal button as an addition to chords. I rarely (well, never) use it as a drone - though I can see if you're playing Irish style concertina you might find the D (or even a G?) useful Alex West

I usually use either a woodworking PVA or Titebond. You don't need much and both work OK Alex West

Paul Read. Nice bloke, on this forum and good for this job I'm not sure why you're in such a rush to make this change though. On a typical 38 key Jeffries, you have D in both directions, but the C/F thumb button gives you a C on the draw and an F on the push which you otherwise don't have at that pitch Alex West

Musescore now comes bundled with Audacity as "MuseHub". https://musescore.org/en. Audacity does all the things that the OP does to change pitch, change tempo, edit and adjust audio files. MuseHub is free. Alex West

Jacques I just re-sent it to the address you sent me in a PM Alex West

Jason I don't know the specific button diameters of the Clover and the Morse, but I've measured button diameters between 4.1mm (metal) from a vintage Jeffries to 7.9mm (bone) for a vintage Lachenal. The 4.1mm buttons can feel needle-like and quite painful until you get used to them, but they do allow for very precise playing. The large buttons are easier to hit but can feel a little clumsy and difficult to move from one button to the next. I tend to prefer the smaller diameter buttons around 4.5mm - 5mm diameter with a small amount of rounding to the edges but others will, I'm sure, have different opinions. Once you compare one button with another, it's possible to get bothered by whether they're flat topped with very straight edges, have very rounded edges or in the extreme are very domed (like some of the "metal over a wooden core" button typical of a Wheatstone). It's possible to get used to any button in my experience. It also depends on how the instrument is set up and whether there's a long travel or whether they sit flush or proud of the fretboard when depressed. Alex West

Email sent Alex West

I have loads of pictures! If you want to let me know your email address, I can send you them either via Dropbox or similar. Alex West

That's really helpful Mike Alex West

Thanks Stephen - I thought it was likely to be a late instrument; even your approximate estimate is a help Alex West

Rod Are you still interested in a 20 key Jones? Alex West

I recently acquired a fairly basic but well put together George Jones Anglo with serial number 28049. I've done a search of cnet but can't find any trace of Jones dates, nor of Wes Williams' history files. It has a mixture of steel and brass reeds - but some of the steel reeds look to be replacements. Interestingly, the case has the card of Arthur G Jones attached to the lid. Anyone have any idea of dates of manufacture of Jones anglos? Alex West

The picture of the concertina in the first slide is actually a G Jones I think. Lachenals can sound as good (I haven't tested one against a Jones) but reed quality and response does vary Alex West

In my understanding and experience, if the item in question is over 100 years old and can be certified as such - as is likely the case with the instrument - import VAT is 5% for antiques coming into the UK Alex West

Jake and Dave have summarised the thought process rather well. My own thoughts as a repairer/restorer are a touch medical - first do no harm. End plates are not (unlike pads, springs, valves, bushings and even bellows) consumables so unless they're so badly damaged as to need extensive repair or replacement, I tend to leave them alone apart from a gentle polish (and typically reinforcement behind the bolt holes). With Lachenal wooden ends, I sometimes take a more aggressive approach since the original laquer was IMHO rather ugly and is often chipped, so I will strip it right back to the original attractive rosewood or mahogany and French Polish from scratch - with all the caveats that Dave has over matching local repairs, losing detail etc Alex West

Des If you can't source an original latch, it's not too difficult to make a new one out of thin brass sheet using small brass rivets to attach the latch to some matching leather and copper rivets to attach the whole assembly to the case lid. The photo I've attached isn't one I made myself, but I've made a few like it in the past

Here's a couple of charts I have Alex West

I came across the issue with a 45 key Jeffries GD Anglo on the right hand side. There was just no room to slide the reed backwards at all. There's usually plenty of space on a 39 key Jeffries and on those which have screwed down reeds rather than slotted reeds Alex West

If you really have to get it out, bust the chamber walls at the glued joint, then glue them back in after and make sure the chamois gasket seals Alex West