Jake Middleton-Metcalfe

@David Lay that is a very convenient list thank you for putting it together. I hope to re-open my own order book in the future once the backlog is cleared Somewhat.

Yes there are some Wheatstone's from that period with similar reeds to that. Usually aluminium but basically the same idea. It would need deeper chambers in the reedpan and probably it follows, deeper bellows frames perhaps - however it would probably eliminate weather related reed problems so in certain climates that is probably a good trade off really. That might be why Wheatstone did it I don't know. That or just the fact it would make the instrument easier to make. Its always impressive to see someone making their own reeds and not necessarily using the same historic designs as everyone else uses.

I agree with Micheal Eskin about his comment regarding stiff bellows. Basically red flags with concertinas are: your hands, wrists or fingers are aching after only a short time playing. This is generally caused by overly stiff bellows, springs which are giving too much resistance or reeds which need lots of air forced through to make them sound. All things which are common to the very cheapest instruments, or an instrument which is in poor repair. I would not blame yourself if you are experiencing any of this. For good mid range instruments where you will not experience these issues I can recommend the works of A.C Norman and Co, or Marcus music, or Frank Edgley's hybrid concertinas. There are many others in this category, its just these are the ones I have personally played. Morse Concertinas also are good though no longer manufactured. And there is also the high end which are new instruments made with concertina reeds which you may or may not want to consider. I wish you the best of luck on this musical journey!

I see. I did not realise the slots on the czech reeds were not angled on the inside.

The differences are a bit vague in this area and it's probably somewhat open to debate. It's a steel reed in a brass frame with angled outside edges so it can go into a concertina reedpans so by that definition it is a concertina reed. As I understand it the way the tongue is designed and scaled was based on a reed design for a sort of accordion in a particular area of Germany, rather than being based on say reeds made by say C.Wheatstone and Co or H. Crabb and Sons for example. Is that actually a problem? Well there are a number of makers who use these reeds and continue to do so which would imply that they are good. Perhaps someone with actual experience of these could comment? I have always been somewhat curious about these reeds, as one very well might be when making them yourself is very laborious. In the case of making a set yourself as an interesting project it does probably make sense to copy a vintage set made in England. Though if you want to make an instrument it would be a much easier option to buy a set of these Czech reeds. Good luck with whatever you decide to do

I don't think its really worth trying to restore it. You could always take it apart in its entirety and build a completely new one though. Sometimes its good to have an instrument where you can think "it does not matter if I break this in the course of studying it". Once I found a Lachenal anglo in a junk store which fell apart as I unbolted it, but there were so many lessons to learn from those parts! Where was it stored? I haven't seen one that far gone before.

The warping can be really severe in some cases when quartersawn isn't used for the pad board. With regards to the fretworked ends of the instrument though all of the top notch instruments (Aeolas, Edeophones and some nicer wooden ended Anglos) had laminate ends made from multiple layers of veneers glued up. I'm not actually sure when this became the norm. The reason they did this is the end is going to be really fragile if you cut a complex thing pattern out of regular solid hardwood (because of how the grain of the wood interacts with the pattern). Simpler patterns cut out of solid wood like some of the circular patterns on English system concertinas are less of a problem but still cracks are common. Before I started making concertinas I made a prototype action box with solid walnut ends and cut out a pattern very similar to a rosewood lachenal Anglo, Colin Dipper saw this and kindly pointed out that I should have started with a laminated board as did the lachenal Anglo I was basing it on. Part of the fretwork had already cracked... Lesson learned.

That is quite interesting, like you I don't actually measure the gap, but just judge it by eye under magnification, one just gets on and does it. I always wondered what it actually was though. How did they actually measure the gap? Was it some sort of microscope with a very small ruler?

Tuning from G/D to C/G will take far too much metal off the reeds it will either be impossible as the higher reeds will just not have enough metal at the tip or it will just give a bad result.

Only 3 or 4 months delay due to a new baby, I would say he has done exceptionally well there!

Wow, the South African concertina makers have very much taken things in their own direction in some cases, which is really fascinating to see. I suppose different genre's have somewhat different design priorities some times, I notice many players in SA like to have a lot of bellows folds for instance. Also different materials such as plastics for the reed pans sometimes to cope with the climate over there. I have never met any of the people in SA making concertinas, it might be fascinating to do so - as it sort of seems that many English made instruments were exported there after WW2 and using that as a starting point people in that area have replicated and then further developed these designs.

Haha I love how he is holding it in that funny way that tells us he has never held one before. Someone should jokingly send an in depth criticism of his playing technique to the production company with the punchline "in fact good sir, I wouldn't be surprised if the man couldn't play the concertina at all!"

This represents a massive problem in the concertina making "industry" if we can call it that. There are so few people who can actually be bothered to learn how to fix or make them, and making gives a pretty good hint at fixing. Something is going to have to be done about that at some point.

I used to have a metal ended G/D Edgley with accordion reeds. It was loud and fast, very easy to play.

C.Wheatstone and co. (Steve Dickinson) is still trading.