Stephen Chambers
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Posts posted by Stephen Chambers
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I'd have have no doubt that it's an early octagonal Aeola made by Wheatstone's - the bell-shaped area of fretwork is not unusual around 1900, like this one: Wheatstone 56-key treble Aeola, metal ends, c. 1902
Added dropped letter
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Rosalie Dipper certainly has experience at making them, and does lovely work.
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That "Wheatstone" is a Lachenal.
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24 minutes ago, David Barnert said:
Agreed, even though the observed phenomenon has nothing to do with the Doppler Effect.
I know that David, but it does come up a lot in related threads.
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There's been a lot of discussion of such phenomena over the years, a key search term would be "doppler".
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Not an imposter, but it wasn't by Crabb's either - it was their normal practice to re-badge instruments they had worked on and resold.
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13 hours ago, symon said:
To add to the story, Alf's concertina ended up in auction at Gardiner Houlgate earlier this year (maybe last year?). It didn't sell the first time, but did the second. Steve Turner bought it (I assume) as he has it for sale here: https://steve-turner.co.uk/concertinas/ scroll down to find it
So that's what became of it! I never wanted to part with it, but Tony Green was a good friend, and a huge fan of Alf Edwards' music, who was always asking me to sell it to him.
If I had the money to spare I'd buy it back again.
Mind you, I'd rather have it still playing the way it was made (to order) for Alf, with strong springs that snapped straight shut again, not with the softened action it has now - I got an email from a recording engineer who'd worked with Alf, not long after my original post in this thread, and he told me how Alf had to limber-up by playing it for half an hour before recording with it!
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Or another concertina-related one: Alf Edwards' Concertina Sold On Ebay
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This was a good one: Rock Chidley Baritone
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It's not readily apparent (which is normal) but I quite expect the reed will break off if you give it a pluck/twang, or if you attempt to file it up to pitch, otherwise it will gradually go flatter, and flatter, until it breaks off of its own accord.
It needs replacing.
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7 hours ago, Jerfish said:
Hello all - I recently purchased what is feasibly an 1850’s Lachenel I believe based on a serial number in the 8000’s.
Not at all feasible I'm afraid. Louis Lachenal only set up in his own right as a concertina manufacturer in August 1858, and didn't make instruments numbered in the 8000’s until 1861-62.
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42 minutes ago, Geoffrey Crabb said:
For many years, upto closure, Crabbs regularly dealt with upto thirty such bands that included besides the drums etc., concertinas, either wholly or in combination with other instruments.
Mainly repairs and tuning but occasionally refurbishing newly acquired used instruments passed from other bands. Instruments favoured seem to have been Duets predominately and Anglos.
You'd have had your work cut out with the repairs, I'd say, Geoff! There was a time, years ago in my London days, when quite a few "relics" of Anglo concertinas from the bands came my way via a guy called Keith Higham in Lancashire - and a sorry state some of them were in... 🙄
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On 7/18/2024 at 3:36 PM, Anglo-Irishman said:
I haven't lived in Northern Ireland for more than 50 years. Before leaving, I even "walked" on one "Twel'th" as a tenor drummer in a pipe band! I remember the pipe bands, the brass bands, the flute bands, the accordeon bands, the military bands and, of course, the Lambeg Drums with their accompanying fluters. But I have no recollection of concertinas in this context.
The Orange Concertina Bands that dealt with Crabb's are in the Liverpool region. They parade there, and in Southport.
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4 hours ago, stringbed said:
My comment was primarily intended to call attention to an English translation of Zimmermann's German autobiography. The original text was uncovered during the course of autoharp-based research in the early 1960s but has since been cited frequently in writing about the history of the concertina. Other than by noting the context of the document’s discovery, I'm at a loss to see how the linked blog post is more specific to one instrument than to the other.
Before preparing the translation, I searched across all forums here for references to Zimmermann. That returned previous discussion both about his autobiography and relationship to the autoharp. I then searched separately for it, which reveled further discussion that propagated an entrenched misunderstanding of the autoharp’s own history. It therefore seemed reasonable to point additionally to a clarifying text about that. I apologize for the intrusion.
You have absolutely nothing to apologise for, your post is entirely relevant.
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5 hours ago, b13 said:
Are you shure, you´ve choosen the right forum?
I know, Zimmermann is a important man in the history of concertinas, but your target is the "autoharp". As i see an autoharp, it is a stringed instrument. Not uninteresting, but also not relevant for a concertina-forum. Sorry.
Carl F. Zimmermann was an important early German concertina manufacturer who displayed his wares at the 1851 Great Exhibition in London, which would have been their biggest exposure at that time. There might never have been such a thing as an Anglo-German concertina without such international exposure of the German instrument...
As a concertina historian I'd consider him, and anything that casts light on his biography (such as this), to be entirely relevant on this Concertina History thread.
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On 6/27/2024 at 10:45 AM, David T said:
Possibly, dealers are out and about a festivals this time of year?
They are very likely to be, they'e often one-man operations, and some festivals go on for 10 days...
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On 5/31/2024 at 4:48 PM, Silver said:
I see a Toneking from Germany recently posted. Does anyone have any info on that brand?
"Toneking" was a brand name used (on various instruments) by The New York Band Instrument Co., once the largest music store in New York.
Their concertinas were made in Germany for them and were of (typical) "disposable" quality. This one is simply a cheap German instrument with nicer, fretcut rather than drilled, ends than usual.
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2 hours ago, wes williams said:
... going straight into the original return now available ... was shocked to find that the Uncle was 'Henry Harley'. Had I discovered an unknown connection between the Maccanns and Harley's German concertinas? No such luck - this Henry was aged 47, and Henry of concertinas would have been aged 19 at this time. ☺️
That's a pity, it would have been the earliest sighting of him (by one year) so far!
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The perennial "Wheatstone Aeola Baritone English Concertina 1910 44 Buttons with Case" SCAM has reared its ugly head yet again on eBay, along with 50,000+ other items. 😲
I informed eBay of it last night, but it's still there this morning.
Steer well-clear of it!
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14 minutes ago, gcoover said:
Happy to share, just let me know if I can help find things on newspapers.com.
From the Ipswich Journal on September 23, 1854.
Thanks very much!
So he clearly states that the instrument he's advertising is German, but why advertise it in Ipswich, but seemingly nowhere else? It's in Suffolk, but 21 miles from Saxmundham...
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On 5/24/2024 at 4:05 AM, gcoover said:
I presume you've seen the ad in the Ipswich Journal on September 23, 1854, where he is selling 22-button German concertinas with a Book of Instructions for 25 shillings, and calling himself a "Concertina Manufacturer" located at 25 Upper Clifton Street, Finsbury, London.
No, I hadn't seen the ad., which is very interesting, thanks for that!
[I've been searching newspapers on Findmypast, where I only have to pay 50p (on top of my Findmypast subscription) to view an entry that sounds potentially interesting from the index, but $20.00 (for a minimum 1 month subscription) to look at one item on newspapers.com seems a bit steep, for a pensioner like me.]
22-button German concertinas were not uncommon at the time, and they were the ones that Harley went on to add extra buttons to, to produce his model, as has been done on my early example that's stamped HENRY HARLEY MAKER. Thanks to the "signature" cornucopia design that's drilled into the right-hand side of it, (German concertina authority) Dr. Maria Dunkel has been able to identify it as having been made by Ernst Bässler, of Grünberg, Saxony.
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3 hours ago, rcr27 said:
Extra photos of the right action board
Aluminium levers too, they really were trying to make it as lightweight as possible'
But, studying this photo enlarged, I'm sure the aluminium pallet board is a replacement (though they're commonly used in accordions). You can see the glue line running around the wooden frame, where the board would have originally glued into its rebate, and the pads have all been reglued because of the changed geometry.
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Hmmm, "state of the art" in 1906, and reminiscent of the "stretched-hexagonal" shape Lachenal New Model ones that you'll see in old photos of Percy Honri.
John Hill Maccann's/Lachenal's Duet Patent had only expired 8 years previously (allowing Wheatstone's and others to make them), whilst (weight-saving) aluminium reed frames were being pioneered at Lachenal's by 1894...
What a beauty!
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I'd love somebody to prove me wrong on this, but there seems to be zero evidence (at the moment anyway) for the existence of Henry Harley before that 1853 performance, when he would have been aged 20.
I've tried various strategies to "winkle him out" but have found no evidence for anyone named Harley being born in/from the small market town of Saxmundham, and he doesn't appear on any Census until 1871.
I'm beginning to suspect that Henry Harley may not have been his real name, but a snappy, alliterative, "stage name" that he adopted around 1853 when he started performing, and continued to use once he started tuning/manufacturing concertinas.
It might seem unlikely until you start looking at all the performers who adopted (and still adopt) stage names. Examples in the concertina world include "Signor Alsepti" (James Alsop), Alexander Prince/a.k.a. George King (Alexander Sutherland), and Percy Honri (Percy Harry Thompson).
Gold Cs
in General Concertina Discussion
Posted
It's uncommon, but not unique.