conzertino

What exactly is he looking for? Double or single action? C- or G-bass? I might soon be sellig three different Aeola basses... Located in Germany.

I sold several concertinas to the US as "small accordion" and there never were any duties...

Did anyone from here buy it?

As it looks, the piccolo is sold now...

In the very early days my friend Jürgfen Suttner restored two of my Jeffries and my Linota and took measurements of the instruments. As a good German engineer ( his father had an engineering company ) he further developed the principles while sticking to the traditional ways. I had both my 38 key Jeffries and a metal ended A4 on a skale. If I remember rightly, the Suttner was 400g lighter. Sound and action are quite different, but it is realy hard to decide which one is "better"... Try to play as many as possible different instruments before you spend so much money! If you can make it, go to Chris Algar's place and spend an afternoon testing. I picked my ES ME TT out of a dozen similar boxes.

The ends of the piccolo-sized treble obviously have the same size as those of the genuine piccolos, as they can be exchanged ( I don't have the instrument with me right now ). If you consider making one, I could send you photocopies of the inner ends and reedpans. Except for the lowest four reeds, all other ones are normal Aeola-reed-size. As could be expeced, the little one has a higher air pressure inside and hence plays very quick and loud, just as baritone-trebles usually play slaggish and softer ( pressure = force / area ). On the other hand does such a small treble require big bellows. A proper piccolo has much smaller reeds and needs less air-volume. My EE piccolo has five-fold bellows, which are perfectly fine.

I just came across the youtube of an old concertina-friend and regular at the German concertina-meeting: concertina out of hell with Stephan Böhmer. Obviously we Germans don't have a lot of respect for those old traditional instruments;-) What do you think? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yAHCo6gMiWQ

Robin, as you may remember, I made you an offer at the time, which didn't suffice;-) I had been looking for a ME Aeola piccolo with the old labels ( which never turned up ). The metal ended one on the picture is in fact a piccolo-sized treble!! I bought it through ebay off Chris Algar. But I didn't like thin ends and the late labels... But I found out that - except for two notes - the ends were compatible with the other two piccolos. So I had Steve Dickinson make incredible flexible and huge bellows and swap the original ends for the Amboyna-ends. The result was probably the finest concertina in the world. If you play the little one for a while, you wonder, why concertinas have to be so big;-). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=edPNUN_qCiY It is probably the only original piccolo-sized treble in existance. The other one I know of is a piccolo that was converted by Wheatstone to treble for Betty Aukland. In another heartbreaking story I missed that one. It lives in a happy home in New York now... For years I have been begging Jürgen Suttner to make a few... Currently I am using the little one with ebony-ends... PS: The amboyna Piccolo will soon be for sale - so start saving!

Chris Algar is selling this incredibly rare instrument... https://concertina.co.uk/stock-selection/english-concertinas/extremely-rare-wheatstone-aeola-48-key-piccolo The only reason I didn't jump on it immedeately is that I already own three of them. It took me thirty years to finally get my own EE piccolo in a nerve-wrecking story...

I'm surprised that it didn't sell. Just switching those reeds will do for a start to test. If you play in keys with flats, you will have to change / retune a couple of reeds. There have been a couple of threads on F-tenors. i.e. PS: This applies, if you want to change a "normal" tenor-treble to F-tenor. Genuine F-tenors are made that way...

I had two of those Lachenal F-tenors... Now I have an Aeola-F-tenor... I'm not sure if evervbody is familiar with F-tenors? If fingered like a normal treble, it will sound a fifth down, which is a great tonal range for a concertina. They were usually made for the salvation army, as it was easier to play together with brass-intruments... Someone bought one of my F-tenors to play together with Northumbrian small-pipes, which sound in F...

Just noticed that you are also looking for a tenor? There will be a variety of 48, 56 and 64-key TTs in EE, ME, Amboyna and tort available - plus various trebles , minis and basses...

I'm going to dissolve my Aeola-collection within the nearer future. So there will be a gold-plated / Amboyna 64-key baritone, a 48-key metal-ended baritone, a metal-ended 64 key bass-baritone and a couple of baritone-trebles available. All Aeolas, all 30xxx to 32xxx, concert-pitch and top-condition - and all really expensive;-) First I want to document the instruments and put them online...

I totally agree! My all-time favourite is late 1926 and I regard the 31xxx as the top-period - plus-minus...

I’m selling a lovely ebony-ended Aeola. It comes with a bit of a story: about a year ago a friend urgently wanted such an instrument. So I advertised and asked around. Due to import-duties of almost 25%, GB was no option. I finally found one in need of complete restoration, as it obviously had been played a lot. So I sent it to David Robertson. By then my friend changed his mind… The shipment back to Germany was a disaster. It took 7 weeks, the parcel was lost for a while and in the end I had to pay the import-duties after all… However David did a phantastic job ( as usual ) and the instrument looks and plays as good as new! It has 56 keys ( extended up ), but the same size as a 48 key one. The serial number is 25380, which dates it to 1911. Like most of the earlier instruments it has five fold bellows, which are as good as new. It comes in it’s original black leather-box. The lock doesn’t work, but a new strap makes it safe for use. The price is 3150 Pound or 3800€. Cash and carry welcome!

There is a Boyd concertina to be auctioned together with a violin... Boyd Can anybody tell from the picture, if it is a Wheatstone or Lachenal Boyd?? I think that the flat buttons point towards Lachenal...

I have an ebony ended and an Amboyna ended 48 key Aeola piccolo plus a rare 24 key metal ended one. They are great little boxes - but I hardly ever play them...

Don't worry. One day - if you stick to it - you wil have a couple of nice ones;-) Here some of my finest Aeolas, the Amboyna gang:

Chirs Algar currently has an early sixsided pinhole Aeola for sale for 2500 Pound... The are usually good fast players with a really soft unique sound... https://concertina.co.uk/stock-selection/english-concertinas/wheatstone-pinhole-aeola-48-key-treble/

In my opinion you can't easily top a good ebony ended Aeola - if you find one!?! Chris Algar usually has a few. I have one out for restoration ( in Britain ) and possible sale... I used a Wheatstone Boyd for many years ( even louder than my M22s ), but eventually switched to an EE Aeola for a softer sound. It has a wider dynamic range and more "body" to the sound while still being quite loud, if required. However individual instruments vary a lot. So make sure to test before buying such an expensive thing... PS: I always "tuned" my main instruments by reducing the spring-pressure to make them really fast...

I had several M21s. As far as I know, they all had original 5.foldes or later replacements... However in the late twenties 6- folders became more common as standard for model 21 and 22... As far as I know, they always were an optional exrta...

Which is the lowest note? Treble or really tenor??

I sold three basses over the years... And I still have that huge ME Aeola-bass plus two ebony-ended double-action Aeola-basses, one down to C, one down to G;-)

Thanks for all your answers. I was in fact wondering, if there is another ES bass ( fingered two octaves below treble ) with metal ends around... I know of large Mccanns that go down to the bass range. I have two ebony-ended Aeola basses, one down to C and one down to G ( both double action ) and a ME bass-baritone Aeola ( down to C ).

By the way, the 30th annual German Concertina-Meeting took place online last weekend. The saturday-evening concert included myself ( ES ), Jochen Riemer ( McCann, Chemnitzer ), Stefan Böhmer ( hard-rock-McCann! ), Rainer Süßmilch ( ES, all that jazz ), Rob Harbron and Dave Townsend. Alistair Andertson didn't make because of computer-problems... Best linup ever!? There should be a detailed report at the next ICA Jounal...