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varney

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Posts posted by varney

    Note sounding constantly

    in Instrument Construction & Repair

    Posted

    Hi folks,

     

    I've been working slowly at trying to restore a 30 key metal ended Lachenal Anglo. Up until now have had pretty good success with getting reeds in tune and solving a problem of leaking air chambers - all with the help of posts and articles on this site and some good people here.

     

    Tonight I was playing away ( badly ) on the concertina and found two notes on the left hand end began sounding permanently on the push and pull. As these were D/E I knew it was the first button on the inside row, and when I took off the end sure enough the pad for this key had detached completely. After regluing and noting some lateral play in the lever I refitted the end. There was still a small amount of leaking happening so I went back in and ( as suggested in previous posts ) slightly bent the lever end to position the pad more centrally over the hole.

     

    All fine visually and when I bolted the end back on I was sure the job was done. Horrors! Now several notes were sounding on both the push and draw. Opened up again and checked the reed pan hadn't slipped down too deep in the bellows frame ( seems it hadn't ) and checked pads again - all seemed fine. My guess at this point was that I hadn't tightened the end bolts enough and probably allowed air to seep through to several chambers. I'm reluctant to tighten these too much as I overdid it a couple of times already and cracked the veneer around two of the bolts.

     

    I gritted my teeth and tightened them as much as I dared. Now when I checked there was two different notes sounding on the push and draw - an A and an F. As there isn't one button that has both of these notes I was somewhat mystified. At this stage I began to worry because when I examined the end frame and how it meets the bellows frame I can see that it's fractionally out at one point - I mean there's one hex angle slightly off with the one it meets ( one out of the six, not all six ). This is out by a millimetre or two at most which I'm not sure is the problem. Looking at the other end I can see there's a slightly similar situation where the two hexs are not 100% bang on, but no such problems that end.

     

    As the problem is in the left hand end, and this is the side I had to fit new reed pan corner supports to and insert a little packing under the bellows chamois to sort the leaking between chambers, I'm worried that I might have slightly warped the frame?

     

    I've run out of ideas on how to try and solve this and hope some of you experienced restorers / builders might please give me some help!

    cleaning and tuning reeds

    in Instrument Construction & Repair

    Posted

    Thanks to you all for that....

     

    I would have thought that sanding or scraping of any kind would be the wrong way to go as it might also take some surface material off the reed and thus affect its tuning, but I'm happy to follow the advice of experienced restorers.

     

    AFter shifting the corrosion / dirt is there anything recommended to wipe the reed down? Alcohol?

    Tuning Layout for C/G

    in General Concertina Discussion

    Posted

    Thanks David,

    When you say the smaller reeds have smaller 'reedpans' I'm presuming you mean 'chambers'? This is what I thought too. As it turns out the instrument is a C/G and not a G/D as I'd been thinking, but some of the reeds have been moved around so things looked strange in the layout....

    Tuning Layout for C/G

    in General Concertina Discussion

    Posted

    hi folks...

     

    Can someone direct me to a layout chart for a D/G anglo? I've got an old Lachenal 30 key which appears to have a different reed layout to my standard 30 key C/G Anglo.... However, the reed pan configuration of chambers seems exactly the same as the standard C/G Anglo. Both instruments are old Lachenals.

     

    Did they use the same reedpan layout for a C/G and D/G and just fit two different sets of reeds?

     

    Thanks

    Sheared bolt

    in Instrument Construction & Repair

    Posted

    Thank you both..... luckily there was a 'plate nut' under the chamois leather with two tiny retaining screws. I just peeled back the chamois, screwed it out as Dave outlined and was able to screw the broken tip out from the underside.

     

    Luckily I have another old lachenal ( 20 key ) to plunder for little parts so got another end bolt that fits from that. I must confess I feel guilty of 'cannibalising' the poor old 20 key all the time, but I've promised myself I'll try and restore it when I finish doing this one...

     

    The instrument I'm working on is a metal ended lachenal 30 key Anglo. From the serial number they tell me it dates around 1897 to 1904.

     

    Thanks to you both

     

    PS I will have a look at p.32 in your book when it arrives, Dave. I sent payment for it in a card so I'm hoping this has reached you in the Christmas postal deluge...

    Sheared bolt

    in Instrument Construction & Repair

    Posted

    The top of one of the end bolts has sheared off when I accidentally over-tightened it while replacing end. The broken tip is now lodged in the receiving socket ( don't know the actual term for it...). Does anyone have a suggestion on how to fix that? I have an old 20 key lach which I could take the little part from, but maybe there's a way to get the sheared tip out and save the part?

     

    thanks...

    cleaning and tuning reeds

    in Instrument Construction & Repair

    Posted

    Thanks a million, Simon. That was really helpful and clarified something I read earlier from Dana about tuning by the same number of cents in the opposite direction between the reed in the chamber and when it's in the jig.

     

    Before I even started, I cut new corner blocks to replace the missing ones ( as advised to me in a previous post ), and also lifted the edge of the bellows chamois and glued in some packing to close a gap. Tuned the left hand inner row as per instructions and on reassembly she plays as sweet as a lark. I think fixing the supports has helped as well as all the notes play richly instead of various chokes and warbles.

     

    On with the tuning!!

     

    PS How do you take off corrosion or dirt from the reed tongues?

    cleaning and tuning reeds

    in Instrument Construction & Repair

    Posted

    Hello again, Folks,

     

    As I'm awaiting Dave Elliott's book to make it through the snowstorms I'm using the forum to help me along with trying to restore a lovely metal-ended Lachenal Anglo I recently acquired.

     

    As my last query about leaking reed chambers got some very helpful replies I'm now going to try and start sorting out the tuning.

     

    I've cobbled together a rudimentary tuning station which will hopefully serve the duration of this process, but before I even start tuning I'm thinking some of the reeds themselves have a fair amount of corrosion, dirt or both. What is the best method to tackle this and is it best to do so before tuning ( common sense would suggest it is.....)??

     

    Is it advisable to then start tuning at the first reeds on the inside row and work out or do people select say a C and work through the scale?

     

    Thanks,...

    Leaking Reed Chambers..?

    in Instrument Construction & Repair

    Posted

    Thank you both. I'm afraid I was TERRIBLE at maths at school. Anything beyond basic adding and subtracting is all greek to me, and I don't recall a single thing about geometry ( isn't there a song....??)l! I'll have to restort to tracing a paper template if there's no simple tip for figuring the hexagonal angles..

     

    Theo, your suggestion is very clever, and real common sense. My worry would be making sure the gasket material stays glued down to the packing underneath. What glue do you use for jobs like this?

     

    Should be able to sort this today but have several problems with reeds which I need some advice with. I'll start a seperate thread for those and try to describe the various sick reeds...

    Leaking Reed Chambers..?

    in Instrument Construction & Repair

    Posted

    spot on Frank.........I had a look and three of those corner supports are missing. I'll have to figure out how to cut some but they're pretty small.

     

    After posting my problem I noticed that there was a gap along a couple of sides where the reedpan seats down into the bellows frame. I put a strip of chamois material around the interior of these two sides of the bellows frame and when I fitted the reedpan back in it was a lot tighter to seat. Consequently the problem all but vanished when I screwed the end back on and played through the notes. The problem re-surfaced when I went back to try and sort out a few choked notes, but I think this is because the material slipped down a bit.

     

    I'll try cutting and fitting the corner supports and maybe gluing in the strip of material to fill the gap.

     

    Any simple way to figure the angles for those small corner supports?

    Leaking Reed Chambers..?

    in Instrument Construction & Repair

    Posted

    Hi Folks,,

     

    Been trying to sort out a multitude of problems with an old Lachenal. The big problem on the left hand side is multiple notes sounding on some buttons. By that I mean I try to play a C note and get a sound like a chord with several notes sounding.

     

     

    Common sense would suggest that air is leaking out of the one reed chamber and into one or more others, but I'm not sure how. I took out the reed pan and had a close look at how it meets the bottom of the action plate. Seems a pretty snug fit so I'm wondering are some of the valves the problem? A few are curled a little but then some of the reeds with really raised valves play fine while the others that look quite flat are the ones that seem to bleed air and sound multiple notes.

     

    Is there something I'm missing here? What would you guys suggest as a course of action?

     

    There's a few other issues with buzzing or blocked notes but I'll go on to that when I resolve this.....

     

    Thanks...

    Metal V Wood Ends..

    in General Concertina Discussion

    Posted

    I know this is probably a dumb question but why is a metal ended concertina louder than a wooden end? What causes the increase in volume? Or has it to do with the quality of reeds in wooden ended models as opposed to the more upmarket metal ended ones?

     

    I know a mahogany ended Lachenal has brass reeds which are soft in sound, the rosewood ended model has steel reeds which naturally would be louder. What happens when we go up to the better quality metal ended Lachenals - do the metal ends help reasonate the sound out in some way?

     

    On a related side issue - is is alright to take out the baffles of an old wooden ended Lachenal to allow it to 'speak' louder? Why are baffles used in the first place if the muffle the sound? I'm here to learn so please feel free to tell me I'm an idiot!

     

    Michael.

    30 key duet?

    in General Concertina Discussion

    Posted

    HI folks,

     

    I just wanted to ask if anyone has ever heard of a 30 key concertina which is not an Anglo?

     

    A friend of mine from the Uk who lives here in Ireland was telling me his parents have an old concertina back in England which has 30 buttons ( plus and air button ), handstraps ( not thumbstraps) but the notes are the same on the push and pull. At first I thought he might be mistaken about the number of buttons or the notes per button, but he's absolutely sure as he used to muck around recording songs on guitar and used the concertina to play drones.

     

    Could it be a 30 key duet? 30 key English?? If not any ideas what it might be? He doesn't know the make and is kinda vague on what it looked liked ( "metal and wood ends with straps for your hand" is about the best I can get from him!).

     

    He might be able to take some pictures when he goes home at Christmas, but in the meantime does anyone have a clue what it might be if not an Anglo?

     

    Mick.

    Lachenal Date..

    in Concertina History

    Posted

    Thanks Stephen,

     

    After applying the formula which I found on a page here at concertina.net I went back and read further down the page. The next paragraph goes on to outline how this formula has been completely discredited! Your estimate feels more like the right kind of date.

     

    By the way, is there anyone who does concertina repairs in Ireland?

     

    Cheers,

    Michael.

    Lachenal Date..

    in Concertina History

    Posted

    Hi Folks,

     

    I recently got hold of a 20 key Lachenal Anglo which is a sweet old instrument despite its limitations. I've had a go at getting some of the notes working again and have had 99% success. Will be looking and learning more from this great site as I do some fixing up on her. Meantime, I've been trying to date the instrument which has the serial 56310. According to a formula I found on this site the instrument should date from 1863. Can anyone say if this is accurate? Seems amazing as I'd been gauging it more as 1890s/1900.....

     

    Michael.

    Dating Lachenal

    in General Concertina Discussion

    Posted

    Hi Folks,

     

    I recently got hold of a 20 key Lachenal Anglo which is a sweet old instrument despite its limitations. I've had a go at getting some of the notes working again and have had 99% success. Will be looking and learning more from this great site as I do some fixing up on her. Meantime, I've been trying to date the instrument which has the serial 56310. According to a formula I found on this site the instrument should date from 1863. Can anyone say if this is accurate? Seems amazing as I'd been gauging it more as 1890s/1900.....

     

    Michael.

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