Chris Ghent

It is a myth, 20 seconds of googling will turn up good scientific sources declaring altitude makes no difference to pitch.

There is no intrinsic reason a note should sound different in an EC/Anglo/Duet. A passage of notes could also be played to sound the same. In practise one can often pick the difference between a Duet/EC player and an Anglo player but I doubt you could easily pick between the EC and Duet players, and never by tone. The better the players the harder it would get. Instruments can be produced to enhance particular tone colourings and a run of one style of instrument by a particular maker could all be similar but it will not be a colouring a maker of different instruments could not emulate given a reasonable level of skill. Tone is best evaluated in person.

Temporarily tape the valve next to the reed shut with a tiny scrap of the weakest tape you can find. If the noise disappears replace the valve.

Hey, go for it. One word of caution, in regard to using parts from a traditional concertina to make one with accordion reeds. I can't think of a single accordion reeded anglo concertina with more than 30 keys. (Happy to be corrected, anyone?) My understanding is the reeds take up more room than traditional concertina reeds and it is not possible to fit them into the same size carcass. This would mean not being able to use parts from your Lachenal and having to make a larger concertina.

The numbers seem large, could the instrument be in a different pitch? Also, the state and nature of the valves will affect the offset size. Any offset that large and I would change the valve first.

Sorry to hear that Nick... Chris

I have chambers on my tuning device but they do not create a situation similar to being in the instrument. I still need to do offset tuning.

Humidity seems unlikely to cause the same issues in a waxed on accordion reed as it does in a dovetailed concertina reed. If Ceilis are dropped and the wax cracked, or if dust has caught in the reed then either ofthese things could result in muffled sound and flat pitch. Your concertina is not far from home and a call to the BB might be all that is needed.

Jody, it is and always was a 44 key anglo, stamped C. Jeffries. The unusual veneer is also original, I discussed it with Stephen Chambers once and he said he had seen that veneer before on later Jeffries.

From the owner " Just a short backstory just in case its helpful.I bought it at the Brisbane Antique Centre, Annerley on the way to a job. It was in a glass display case in its leather square box with the label ‘Victorian Accordion, $350”. I had a look and it was obvious it was a basket case, its hazy now but I think it was even in two pieces. The Jeffries endplate with the double stamped F had my attention. So, haggled for 300 cash and got it. I was familiar with Jeffries from listening to Cathy Custy when she was in Melbourne years ago and always had the hankering, concertinas were on my radar for years but such rare birds. That was a lucky day, I’ve never seen another one! Probably doesn’t happen much anymore with the interwebs and Ebay, though I did see a Rudall and Rose flute on Gumtree once, so who knows whats under peoples beds." He sent it to Richard Evans, who gave it a new set of reed tongues, new bellows, reattached the veneer (which is original in that wood) and gave the ends a redo. " I think there was more work in the restoration than building one of his own Concertinas from scratch.. I remember when I collected it he was a little philosophical about all the work gone into voicing and tuning some of those reeds that he knew would more than likely never, ever get used. Richard wasn’t sure on a date of manufacture, possibly around WW1."

There is a story, it is not really mine to tell, I'll write and ask the owner if they mind. I can tell you the concertina is now in one piece and plays well. Chris

Or this might happen

Only cheap vintage concertina bolts screw into wood, all others screw into what is termed a captive nut, usually made of steel. So yes rusted in is a reasonable term. Heating them with a soldering might help, have to be for much more tha a few seconds though. No sudden movements.

Paul, thanks for the fun..! Chris

My recollection of measuring Jeffries a long time ago was they were more like 30mm. I pulled back from that depth some time ago because instruments I had played with shallower folds seemed inherently more stable. I ended up at 27mm and they do seem less floppy.

A large percentage of accordion parts can be bought; reeds, bellows, action etc, leaving some cabinet making to be done and then the assembly. The equivalent parts all need to be made for a concertina. Consequently a concertina course would need to be much longer.

Another way to put this; both hands play melody, but only one hand plays rhythm.

Noel, this is not uncommon and is usually due to humidity changes altering the wood, shrinking or expanding it. Shimming with paper would be the standard fix though placing the shim all the way along one side of the frame would be my first choice because it is likely the wood has retreated right along. Wally's reed slots have a more complex shape than most I see and this may account for his method. I would suggest using a paper which is well compressed because a strong joint between frame and pan helps the tone. If I get a loose frame and I suspect a humidity change I do not glue the paper in as I am hoping in time the situation might resolve itself and I will be able to remove it. If I do finally decide to glue it in I place two tiny smears of glue on the wood, one at the tip end and one at the root end, never in the middle beside the reed.

Putting a middle octave c# in a slot designed for a low D could be done but it would not work well as the chamber is too big to make the reed work well. Making the chamber smaller would most likely upset the sound of the reed of the other reed. Retuning a D could certainly be done but would playing a C# an octave low really work other than in chords? And then the instrument would then be very idiosyncratic and anybody used to the fingering would experience trouble on every other anglo concertina. Hey, its yours. There are a number of reeds in a C/G 20 key no-one is going to use, way up at the squeaky end on the right eg. the last button on the g row. It is likely the chamber will be wide enough for two c#s, one each side of the pan. You would need to break out the end of the chamber, fill the wind slots with wood and recut the frame slots and wind slots in the right place and big enough for the c#s and redo the chamber walls. You might need to open out the padhole and replace the pad. In order of difficulty this job is somewhere between easy and hard. Any repairer who is also a maker could do it in a couple of hours plus glue set time if the reed assemblies are available, longer if they are going to be made. If you do not have the gear then it will look very hard. I have done one on a 5" Lachenal, went OK, but my better advice is, buy a 30key.

There is less chance of damaging high reeds if you tune down, and less chance of damaging low reeds if you tune up. Yes, this information doesn't help make a decision!

These are the deeds of repairers. There is nothing intrinsically wrong with using different leather on the partitions, what matters is that is seals. And while I wouldn't do it, I have seen many instruments with a screw through a reedpan block. It works but seems unnecessary when glue would work on its own. If at some time later you wanted to move the block only a small amount the screw would no longer work though you could plug the hole and drill again. The one you picture is unfortunately placed: the screw, which is essentially a wedge, is being forced into a join between two pieces of wood. It has to be weaker than before the screw went in.

It's south, we also suffer from the sense the northern hemisphere is somehow the top of the world and that anything that falls can be seen to be slipping downwards towards the south pole. If anyone goes down there to through the giant piles of things that went south I'm looking for a sock, made from possum fur, black with a blue heel. The possum is probably looking for it too.

Wolf, I noticed your statement in the other thread and it does not tally with my experience. When the reed set is very high you will get a bit more cut but the effect on the output at low pressure is not quiet playing, it is no noise at all, just a sound of air passing the reed until sufficient pressure is attained so as to start the reed. This sometimes feels like a delay in starting at low pressure. If your reeds will play quietly and you have a bit of cut at volume then it sounds to me as if they are adjusted very well. The equation goes something like this; when the reed set is low the reed starts easily and has a slightly more mellow sound. It is however prone to stalling or choking if the initial bellows pressure is sudden and high. When the reed set is high there will be a little more cut in the tone but the reed will not start well without a lot of pressure and it is difficult to play quietly and have control over note starts. Somewhere in between these two stations lies a way which will suit our individual needs, for example, an Irish dance player might want a little higher set than a person who wanted only to play airs.

If the sluggish reeds were not like that after the Dipper rebuild then the most likely culprits would be valves (not just the ones that won't close but those that won't open) or leaks from either shrunken or warped wood or from reedpan blocks no longer being in the best position. The reeds could also be inefficient due to too great a clearance or the set could be too low. Try one of the sluggish reeds by putting sudden immense presure on the bellows and see if the sluggishness is worse, a sure sign of low set. Check where the pads for the sluggish notes are located, they may seem random on the keyboard but be near each other on the pan. If so check the pan blocks and the sealing between the pan and bellows and how flat the reed pan is. Check all of these things anyway. Check the partition gaskets don't stop short of the bellows frame walls in those chambers. HTH

Could be the valve next to it. To test, change the valve, remove it, or put a tiny piece of sellotape to hold it down. If the buzz goes away then change the valve. Another clue as to whether it is the valve next to the reed is if it is worse when you change bellows direction without lifting your finger off the button.