cjmiller
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Posts
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Posts posted by cjmiller
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My only gripe is that there doesn't seem to be any music with the DVD. It would have been useful to at least have the dots for the tunes that are used.
Yes, that's very frustrating.
Does anyone have an ABC of the first tune they work on, a Billy Pigg song called Little Jenny?
Thanks
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Here are some photos
NOTE: Not my concertina, I don't know anything about it. I don't know the owner.
I was only trying to help her by posting the photos she couldn't get to load.
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I prowled around his feedback, and the seller's previous transactions are mostly as a buyer, and even then he seems to buy low priced items (a ton of replacement batteries for cameras). It would take more courage than I have to hit the "SEND" button and see that much money leave my bank account on it's way to the middle of nowhere in Portugal.
The odds are it will be a perfectly fine transaction, but I would still be booking on Ryanair and packing my bag to go pay for it and pick it up in person if I were the high bidder.
(Actually, I'm not the high bidder, but a long weekend in Portugal sounds like a good plan anyway)
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There's a comparable Wheatstone here:
http://www.vintage-instruments.com/navigate/catidx6.htm
They're a respected dealer of vintage instruments here in The States. The bad news is that it's been for sale for a long, long, time.
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Not to hijack this thread, but on the subject of restoration or repair, what sort timeline are we talking about?
Let's say I fall in love with an old English Wheatstone on ebay, one that's complete, and basically in one piece, but probably needs tuning, pads, some bellow patching--the usual stuff a concertina that's been in the attic for 60 years will probably need. I buy it and send it off to Theo, or Greg, or The Buttonbox, or whoever. At that point are we talking 6 months, 3 months, one month? What's a realistic period of time to have a playable instrument in my hands again after I send it off?
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He's his own worst enemy, because he can't stop posting wild answers to questions. Anyone who reads them will see in an instant that he's crazier than a rat in a coffee can.
The best thing everyone can do to protect unsuspecting buyers is to ask as many questions as possible every time he starts an auction. Give him enough rope to hang himself.
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This is my first attempt at restoration - any suggestions for what cleaning materials to use for the reeds and woodwork?
When I was doing jukeboxes, I sometimes used denture cleaner (the fizzy tablets) on yellowed plastics and delicate parts.
In the good old days before we knew what global warming was, nothing cleaned like freon.
I would think that a little bit of cigarette smoke would be probably be a good thing for the bellows. A bit of oil and nicotine tar on the leather would help keep it supple, right?
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Since I've been hanging around here I've been amazed by how clean the insides of the concertinas offered for sale are. Even the "as-found" examples on ebay seem rather tidy.
I used to restore jukeboxes, most of which spent their lives in smokey bars, and getting the nicotine off of every surface inside and out was always the first disgusting job you had to do. Since the bellows basically function as a set of lungs pulling the smoke in, one would assume that the insides of these beasts would be coated from 100 years of smokey bars, houses heated by coal or wood, kerosene lamps, and general air pollution, but that doesn't seem to be the case. I can't even find any threads where cleaning the insides is an issue. Why not?
Thanks
CJ
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Your Edeophone has metal ends, so I would think you could weave something in between the grillwork.
You would want to spread the load over several holes so you don't risk distorting the metal, but some heavy string (maybe a shoelace?) weaved in and out across half a dozen or so openings should give you something to hook the cord on to.
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Maybe this is old news to everyone here, but I searched and didn't see it mentioned.
Anyway, Paul de Ville's 1905 book, The Concertina and How to Play it, is available for free download at the Internet Archive.
The concertina and how to play it : including 250 patriotic and sacred songs and well known melodies (1905)
Author: De Ville, Paul
Subject: Concertina; Concertina music
Publisher: New York : C. Fischer
http://www.archive.org/details/concertinahowtop00devi'>http://www.archive.org/details/concertinahowtop00devi
http://www.archive.org/details/concertinahowtop00devi
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As a new member here, and someone looking to move up to a quality instrument, from what I've seen those concertinas have no net value at all, at least not unless you have the skills to do the work yourself.
By the time you buy one of those and spend the money fixing it (and it WILL need repairs and tuning, that seems to be a given), you're ahead of the game to just call the Lady in France a few posts down and buy her already restored concertina, or call Chris at Barleycorn and get one from him. Obviously if it's something rare, or it was your grandfather's or you have another valid reason for wanting one particular concertina, then it makes sense, but unless I'm missing a piece of the equation I can't see where it makes sense to buy a garden variety "found this in the attic" Wheatstone off ebay.
I suppose the argument could be made that you're taking a gamble no matter where you buy a concertina, and if you buy a junker on ebay at least you'll know the work has been done when you're finished with it, but I've spent hours reading the old posts on here, and I find very few complaints when people buy from a dealer, so that doesn't seem to be a huge concern.
Maybe I'm too negative, and if I am please tell me, but from reading the old posts I get the impression that all of these ebay concertinas have at least a £500.00 bill for repairs waiting down the road.
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I reported them last week. If he reposts them again, click to see what else he's selling. He has Loar era Gibson Mandolins, Fender Guitars, and all kinds of other very nice instruments with photos and descriptions stolen from other auctions. He has good taste. They all have an $1800 "Buy It Now" but the catch is you have to email him and do the deal outside of ebay.
I think he just hopes someone will email him before the auction is deleted, and he can con them at his leisure. Sadly, I bet it works.
Amboyna TT on eBay
in Buy & Sell
Posted
Who could make a full set of reeds for that instrument? What would it cost?
It looks to me like it quickly becomes the old joke about my grandfather's axe--it's had 3 new handles and 2 new heads, but it's still my grandfather's axe. After new reeds, new bellows, and major woodwork, what exactly is left that would make this instrument so special?
For the same money you'll have in this one, you could call Wm Wakker, order one of his Paramus models and be done with it.