Jake Middleton-Metcalfe

31 or 38 seems to be very popular here. G/D tuning is perhaps slightly more popular than C/G these days but it's not a big difference. Best wishes from England

that is a lot of 40 key anglos! Are concertinas mostly 40 keys in South Africa? Or is that just generally the preference for South African music? Best wishes Jake

This is quite an annoying problem sometimes, I have had that sound caused by both valves that are too thick.... Or too thin. It's the low notes that are the hardest to get right. Usually it's caused by them being too thin on those bass notes

Amazing, great article. It's great to learn a little more about how granny's attic came about too.

May I recommend taking this instrument to the closest concertina maker to you? It is really hard to fault find such a subtle problem if you are not experienced in making or repairing these instruments, there are just too many things that could cause it and it's a bit hard to get the feel for making the repair. It could well have been re valved at some point and the new valves are too stiff for example but making that call just requires a lot of experience with concertina valves and how they feel in your hand. I remember having a similar problem with one of my early prototypes and it was a bit frustrating not knowing why, I quite understand your feeling on this one.

Well done

really very interesting, looks like the tricky bit might be setting each individual 'chaser' to the correct depth, but there are probably ways around that, so far so good!

If you do this, could you please let us know how you get on? Its very interesting to see how people solve these problems - I did contemplate trying to make the tap and die but was offered the opportunity of adding an extra tap and die onto the order that someone else was making with a tool making company and just decided that it was money well spent and I never tried to do it myself.

I think these were all manufactured to 86 thou but perhaps the tolerance was + or - one thou, my reason is the original receipt wheatstone had from the company said "8ba shank 5ba thread or something like that. 5 ba is 43 tpi, perhaps the 44 one was just that the lathe was a bit worn or something, it seems a bit weird to change the spec by 1 tpi when actually the 43 or 44 tpi bolt would be most likely interchangable if the bellows frame nut is only 80 thou thick. Steve Dickinson sells these bolts but I'm not sure what lengths he has.

In terms of the transfer of knowledge yes, that is the timeline of it. I must point out though that Steve is still working and very much in control of C.Wheatstone and Co. It is great to work with and learn from him. Its nice to see in your avatar, an Aeola that looks somewhat similar to what the finished Aeola I am working on will look like!

If I remember Jürgen once told me that Wim Wakker used the same buttons as they collaborated to some degree on sourcing the caps, it might be worth seeing if you could buy them if what you need is the same buttons used on a suttner concertina. I hope I have remembered this correctly it is from a conversation about ,6 years ago.

During 2025, in collaboration with Steve Dickinson who owns C.Wheatstone and Co. I will make a 48 key treble Wheatstone Aeola. It will be made with amboyna raised ends, gold plated metal keys and fittings. This will become available to purchase once complete. Anyone is welcome to contact me to register their interest in advance and I will keep them updated. This instrument will be made in the conventional manner, and to the design currently used at C.Wheatstone and Co. It will be made largely using the original equipment. It will be branded as a Wheatstone instrument but with “J. Middleton-Metcalfe Maker” on the label. At this time this is an isolated project and I am not taking orders for Wheatstone concertinas, though in the future that may change. A bit of background information: Over a number of years I have been taught by Steve Dickinson, in the Wheatstone workshop in what could be described as an ongoing informal apprenticeship. We have gone through the conventional practices for every component in a Wheatstone concertina as were and are practiced at C.Wheatstone and Co. Many of these learned working practices have been applied to what I make at Wolverton Concertinas and now the time has come to make a Wheatstone concertina. Updates on the project will be posted here: https://wolvertonconcertinas.com/wheatstone-aeola-project-available-in-2025/

I could weigh some of my instruments to add on here, by the way was the Wolverton concertina on the list made with accordion or concertina reeds?

I'm surprised the magazine isn't just efdss just talking rather a lot about their own internal workings, they seemed to so that rather a lot at one point without much else, I do hope that ended.

That is a very kind thing to do making an ebook of your concertina knowledge. Indeed I too would love to read it.

That is very interesting, I have never heard of this festival before. Or indeed the English concertina being used in Bolivian music. Thank you for sharing this.

This could be a good deal for someone who wished to start a reed making business perhaps. Or maybe another concertina manufacturer who just wants better equipment.

Wow that is all really interesting Gary, thank you for the photos and recordings. I have not seen a baritone English like this before, it's a nice musical range.

Well done on all the hard work and dedication you have and are putting into your work. I have been doing it a bit under 10 years and can see how demanding the job is especially if, like yourself you make your own reeds. It can be quite a demanding lifestyle in it's way, and it's a form of manufacturing which from what I have learned does not always fit easily into the modern manufacturing paradigm... So mostly the maker has to go at it alone. Best wishes from England and enjoy the world outside the workshop, you will have to tell me what that world is like exactly 😂

Now that is fancy. Mine is literally just a broken hacksaw blade which I ground in a similar way!

Probably all makers will offer this, all of the makers I can think of anyway.

Gary thank you for sharing this video, I was not aware of what Mr Crook was up to. I met him some years ago and he seemed a good chap. Very interesting to see the ways of dealing with reed making people come up with, that belt sanding setup used to profile the reed is something I never imagined. Its a bit like the Italian way of doing it, but the belt sander they use is at a different angle with the reed flat to the workbench. There are a few videos of Italians making reeds this way on youtube as well.

I did stainless ends at 0.7 at one point and would not recommend doing it any thinner, as Alex points out the design itself is quite a big factor as well. I would not personally go thinner than 0.7mm using any metal. Looking at older instruments most Lachenal instruments seem to have 0.7mm nickel silver, Jeffries can by anything between 0.7 and 0.91, the thicker 0.91 generally a bit better for the very fine fretwork some Jeffries do have. I once worked on a Wheatstone with 0.6mm ns ends and that was really a bit flimsy in my opinion, with pillars under the hand rest being a necessity. The pillars are quite relevant - on Anglo concertinas especially, they will stop the fretwork flexing if thinner metal is used, the thinner the metal, the more important they are. That is my experience anyway. Good luck with the project, can we see them when they are done? Its always interesting to see peoples work. Best wishes Jake

The chart stating the prices of various reeds is interesting. Does anyone know which historical manufacturers the harmonicas company copied? Wheatstone? Jeffries? I never asked them I'm just interested though.

I can play the melodeon and that was my first instrument, honestly I don't really pick the melodeon up anymore I was not dedicated enough to maintain what I would call a competent standard on melodeon and concertina at the same time. I can play tunes on it though. If anyone was living in Hertfordshire in the noughties they may well have seen a teenager with red hair busking with a melodeon, that was me. @Geoffrey Crabb you might have seen me, one of my regular places to play was Bishops Stortford. For years I was at it.