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Vitlich

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  1. Yes, it helps very much! Thanks for extensive description @alex_holden. I'll try to fix it with PVA in the next few days then
  2. Thanks for all the answers! It's quite possible I used wrong terminology. What I meant by „pad” is piece of leather that is in contact with wooden board, and makes the closed hole airtight. By „valve” i meant this (non-leather) disc, to which from one side „pad” is attached, and from the other side – the lever. I'd happily hear the correct terminology! Maybe it is not easy to see in the pic, but the one so-called-valve which is lifted by pressing the button is hanging on some residual glue. It did not fell of the lever completely, but the connection is no longer rigid and the disc can e.g. rotate with respect to the lever. Because of that during playing it becomes misaligned and the note is playing constantly. After manually bringing the pad into it's place everything is airtight again. The pads themselves are rather new, and were supposedly made by Barleycorn concertina (there is their stamp inside, and the previous owner told me he didn't do anything with the concertina after purchasing it from Barleycorn). What exactly is pad delamination? And, if my explanations are clear enough now, do your advices regarding using PVA glue to fix it quickly hold @alex_holden? I'm unable to play most of the tunes as this note is used in majority of what I'm playing, so I'd rather use some quick fix.
  3. On one of my arms the valve has detached from the lever (see picture). I've gone through The Concertina Maintenance Manual, but I'm just starting with concertinas and not everything is clear to me. How should I repair this element? Author suggests PVA glue, but I doubt that soaking this in PVA glue would make long-lasting connection. Also in the book there are shown leather beads, which are holding the metal disc in place, but as you can see in the photo in my case there are just these brown blobs soaked in glue, which don't look similarly to the beads shown in the book. The pads themselves are new and in good shape, airtight. How would you approach this repair? Any tips are very welcome!
  4. I've checked my instrument, and indeed this is fault of leaky bellows. I doubt there are any other leaks. 40 seconds sounds like a lot – hopefully after my attempt to restore the bellows I'll be in a similar spot! The difference between how you bellows work and slowly extend in comparison to mine is quite big indeed. Thanks for the tips either way, and nice playing by the way!
  5. Alright, thanks for the insight! I'll buy the paper book then. I'm happy looks to you as the replacement of whole bellows is not necessary. I'll try to fix it myself for sure! However, I'm going to be able to do so in the august, as right now I'll have many short trips and ordering anything online is rather bad idea, as it may arrive when I'm not home... Do you think it is bad idea to play the concertina on and off before I'll have time to repair it? Is there a big risk of enlarging the holes this way?
  6. So, here are the pictures of some of the holes. The two that are the biggest and one smaller (I've noticed also 2 more smaller ones, which are analogous). I've made my best to backlit the holes while taking photos, but it was rather hard with two hands only The interior looks like this – I guess ok except maybe for this one taped hinge which is partially unglued. How much of a problem is that? I'd definitely prefer to repair it if possible, I've found the bellows on eBay and not gonna lie, I'm hoping to make the concertina airtight a bit cheaper... But if it won't do, then I'll consider buying new bellows for sure. Having an instrument in very good condition is a priority for me. @d.elliott I assume you are the author of the book? I've found only offers of printed version. Is there maybe an option to get a pdf or other digital format from you? I'd happily pay for that, it's just that I'm trying to reduce amount of printed books I'm buying (it's too much already for my little flat ;)) So, what would you say based on this picture? Are the bellows possible to rescue with some patches (or re-binding – I don't know what that means, but hopefully I'll learn from the book!)?
  7. I've recently gone through disassembly of a newly bought concertina, and I have few holes in the corners of the bellows. Pretty big, the biggest is approximately 5 mm long and 1 or 2 mm thick, doesn't look precisely like pinholes to me… So I'd be grateful for any tips how can I repair it myself. I have gone trough rest of the concertina, and the pads are new, restored by Barleycorn (their stamp is inside), the bellows apart from the corners also look alright to me – I didn't notice leaks using flashlight. Also no cracks in the wood. So I guess it's the not-really-that-pin-holes that are responsible for the problem. Also, how much of a damage I can make to the bellows if I continue playing without repairing it? I just got it, I'm tempted to learn, but I wouldn't like to make the damage bigger or harder to repair. And it will be some time before I can get the materials or send it to someone (I'm not sure how hard it is to repair such holes properly…).
  8. Thanks for all the tips! Ending phrase on fully open/closed bellows would be hard I guess as I don't have the air button. And yes, I definitely have leaks! Drop time is about 10-12 s. I've read some things about leaks here on the forum and I'm rather sure it's bellows, not pads. I didn't disassemble my concertina to check for location of pinholes or if there are no cracks in plate for sure – but I'm going to do it soon! I'm for sure getting it repaired – either by myself or by some specialist, we will see after disassembly. But I guess you may be right about rethinking phrasing here and there as well. I'm coming from piano, so I'm used to have my legato as long as i want it to be I guess embracing instrument specifics is also an important thing to do.
  9. So, I have a question regarding duet, but I guess useful also for English. Let's say, I have a phrase that I'd like to be legato, but which is too long to be played on one push or pull. Of course, then it won't be possible to play strictly legato, but do you have any tips on how can I change the direction of bellows during such a phrase in such a way, that this phrase would sound as close to fully legato, as possible? I've just started learning, and I struggle with this a lot – mostly due to practicing in slow tempo, but sometimes this will be a real issue in the final tempo as well. I was thinking about making decresendo before bellows change and cresendo after – this seems to sometimes do the trick, but also can be undesirable in some cases, as I wouldn't like to have something like that in my interpretation. So do you have different tips or ideas?
  10. I've gotten into Polish folk music few years ago, but the accordions (or the variants popular in 1920-30 in Poland, I don't know the English name – Harmonia) are big and expensive. As it is entirely my hobby and I'm not going to make hardcore, fully historically correct reconstructions of our music I thought concertina checks all the boxes: portable, easier to learn, cheaper, while with sound similar to accordion. I'm happy owner of a Maccan duet for a few weeks now and I'm hooked! Learning goes allright as for now, as I have some background of playing piano for like 10 years. I though that the layout will be nightmare, but for now I'm just transposing everything to C major / A minor, and then it's actually very natural and intuitive for me – at least the right hand. Forming chords in the left seems a bit random to me, but not hard to memorize. Anyway, I really love the sound and learning new instrument, very refreshing!
  11. Allright, so I guess I'll just buy some modern case. The original one is in rough shape either way. And yes, that's Lachenal indeed @Chris Ghent! I'm new to concertinas, and the only vintage boxes I've seen were like this – hexagonal and upwards, so I mistakenly assumed it was some sort of a standard. Thanks for the answers
  12. Sorry if this was already discussed, by I wasn't able to find such topic on the forum. Most of the advices here recomend storing concertina with sides perpendicular to the ground, with the argumentation about the reeds being potentially deformed by gravity if stored on the one side. However, antique cases I've seen (including the one I've received with my concertina) are designed to store concertina on one side. Right now I'm placing it on the side, so the concertina will be in the "correct" position, but it's not particularly convenient, as the lock is broken and therefore the box has to be somehow blocked (I use side of a piano…) to not open on itself in this position. So, if the correct way is laying concertina with sides perpendicular to the ground, why old boxes were designed otherwise? How important really is keeping concertina in the "correct" way? If I start keeping it vertically what exactly am I risking – a bit faster detuning, or permanent damage to the reeds? What is the timescale we are talking about – bad things will happen after months, years, decades? I like the idea of using original container, but I'd rather use it as it was designed – vertically. However, if it's that bad, then I guess I should buy modern concertina case – my current solution described above is definitely not long-term…
  13. Hi, is this concertina still for sale? I'm quite intrested (from Poland, so should be easy to send from Bavaria)
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