Jake Middleton-Metcalfe

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.

I was also thinking about this recently. This is the first forum I joined when I was about 17 years old and the behaviour of people on average is good, and has been for a very long time... by comparison the rest of the internet just seems to get worse and worse when it comes to things like manners.

That is a curious combination of history and fantasy, which might initially seem out of place but... In the lord of the rings book there is a rather long chapter at the end whereby Saruman invades the Shire, ushers in an industrial age and begins to build back to back terrace houses in the style of perhaps Victorian industrial parts of the UK, the hobbits are very unhappy about this, feeling that their rural Idyl has been smashed... however the heros Sam, Frodo and Co return home to re-establish order, throw out Saruman and if memory serves.... knocked down a large more efficient mill to re build the older small less efficient mill.. Perhaps the concertina here is meant to reference the brief industrial period in the story of the Shire... or perhaps the set builders just put in anything that looked vaguely old. Or perhaps I am over-thinking it.

That is a very good friend you have there. If you can get the instrument to any concertina maker (the entire instrument, it's always best to do it that way, not just posting individual reeds or reed frames) they should be able to make you any reed you might need, so long as it fits the original chamber. Once I was sent an individual reed frame to build a new reed into, which I did. Then when the owner put it into the instrument once it was sent back, some sort of problem emerged and it took him and his friend quite a while to sort it out and work out why it would not sound. For this reason and many like it it's always best to send the whole instrument when getting replacement reeds made. Best of luck, the instrument looks very nice.

It's a good old video, and a nice historical record. Many of the machines and pieces of equipment pictured are still in use today! Not that old surface grinder though, I think that wore out years ago.

It's a bit of a sad thing to see the list of concertina makers apparently getting smaller. I wish more people would take it up professionally.

Well done for all the hard work on this one, and I really enjoyed the video. When I was a boy my father had this old wind up gramophone with a random selection of old disks. One was titled "Praise the lord and pass the ammunition" Which I think in error I always played much faster than it was supposed to be played. Your book looks much more wholesome in message.

In the past I did place quite a high level of importance on concertina weight but have come to regard it as not that important nowadays, with regards to Anglos anyway. With the exception: if the player is playing standing up then the weight becomes more of an important factor. What do you other players think?

I recently weighed a 40 button C/G Crabb Anglo with aluminium buttons, ends and reed frames, it came in at 1070gr I just thought I would post that here as to me it was really very light

Concertina reeds are less available, though one manufacturer, harmonikas.cz does supply then I have no idea of the quality. They are somewhat more difficult to make. At one point I made a series of recordings of hybrid concertinas and ones made with concertina reeds. Here is a link where you can listen to these recordings and come to your own conclusions: https://wolvertonconcertinas.com/sound-samples/ take note that in this link the recordings listed as "standard model" means accordion reeds and "advanced model" means concertina reeds. I hope this is of some help to you and wish you all the best on your musical journey.

What was the make and tuning of the instrument? I only ask as sometimes older instruments get re tuned and it can thin out the reeds which exacerbates the effect you are describing to the point where it's a real problem. The thinner the bass note gets the more responsive (theoretically) it is but the more it flattens in pitch under pressure. There is a sweet spot of thickness where you get a good balance of response to pitch stability but there is always an aspect of the musician having to not be too heavy handed about how they play it. Different manufacturers and reed makers have in the past had different opinions of where that "sweet spot" is. Some of the old Wheatstones had reeds which were surprisingly thin, whether or not that is an issue is sort of a question of how the musician is trying to play, and with what amount of force.

Thanks Geoffrey, that is very interesting and good to know. The stuff I use now is sold as dyed "tulipwood". Which comes in black. I might look into pear.