Mike Jones

Has anyone done any estimates on the survival rates of different makes of concertina? I've not been able to find any references so far. Are there a greater percentage of e.g. Concertinas made by Jefferies still around and being played than , say, Lachenal's or Jones?. Given the extensive research and data collection being done by Dowright it may be possible in the fullness of time to extrapolate from those results for Lachenal's. If anyone has come across any information please will you post the links or get in touch Thanks Mike

Jim, my apologies, Little John noticed what i had failed to do. I read the wrong side of the scales the relative mass of the two types of Crane I cited are 2lbs and 3lbs not Kilos. Mike

My 35b bone buttoned mahogany ended Crane (by Lachenal) has a mass of 2kg and measures 6.25 inches across the flats, the same dimensions as my 30b C/G Anglos and 48b English. My 48b Rosewood ended steel buttoned Crane (also Lachenal) has a mass of 3kg and measures 6.6 inches across the flats, the same dimensions as my G/D Anglos My 48b Rosewood ended bone buttoned Crane (another Lachenal) is slightly lighter (a few grams only) and the same measurement across the flats. As Daniel says, after a while you don't really notice the weight difference when swapping between systems or sizes. I find the 35b Crane slightly more limiting than the Anglos or 48B Cranes but can still play approx 90% of Morris tunes and most other tunes on it without a problem. I'm unable to comment on availability in the US but in the UK i've only seen single figure numbers of each size for sale in the past couple of years and certainly fewer 35K than 48K

Hi Cohen, Pleased to help, best of luck with the project. Mike

Why Not ask Ollie directly, look for OllieKingMusic on the web. I'm unable to connect to his site at the moment. or Olliekingbox on Facebook

Hi Sarah, The music books I buy, mostly pre-used, are usually priced at 50% - 60% of new marked retail, admittedly the ones I look for are mainly Morris related and thus have a limited audience. As they are manly bought through dealers they must have a good mark-up of 100% so they are buying at about 25% of marked retail price. However, the first three books you have up for sale I have been looking for on and off for some time and I would like to purchase them, especially the Rollo Woods one. I'll PM you with an offer as requested. MIke

Hi Sprunghub, I bought 4133(8?), another 35k Crane, last year in poor condition and spent a lot of time getting it up and running again. and it plays very nicely indeed, just as you say, better perhaps then my ex-SA 48k Lachenal that had been professionally restored before I got it. This latter I intend to play as part of the local concertina band SqueezEast Concertinas. I'm keeping my 35k so that I can use it at Concertina workshops for the uninitiated to try as it is so intuitive. Currently its on loan to an Anglo player who wants to diversify and try other systems. I've included the picture of the LHS fretwork so you can see the large split under repair and also that the fretwork is the same? (certainly very similar) as yours. I eventually had to bush the key holes in the ends so the buttons didn't flop around.

Hi Oskar, You will be very welcome to come along to SqueezEast Band day on Sunday 14th June 2020 in Stamford. Our Secretary has just added to booking pages for this year to our website and put the date somewhere here on Concertina.net. We often get 30+ players of all types of instruments, EC Anglo, Duet and a range of sound from Bass to Piccolo in one big band, great fun especially if you have some ability to read music. Even if you don't want to play you can still turn up and meet us (as Steve says, many of us have been in your situation before) and if you do want to play but your Anglo is not ready, let us know and someone will volunteer to lend you an Anglo or another other type of instrument for the day. If you are looking for a professional restorer you can't do better than Dave Elliott who has already responded elsewhere to your initial listing and he's not too far away from you in Sheffield. Mike (Treasurer, SqueezEast Concertinas)

You do appear to have a problem. If it was mine I would try lightly painting on (or using a soaked cotton bud) different solvents on the white areas visible around the interface between the reed pan and pad frame e.g. acetone, white spirit, turps, even water, to see if any of them have any effect. Is there any way of sliding a thin blade between the reed pan and the frame while you are trying to release the glue to act as a lever to separate the sections? Does the glue react to heat? A hair drier may help as well. Another thought is that the glue attaching the chamois seal to the reed pan is likely to be original and thus either water soluble or heat sensitive or both so trying to remove the chamois from the reed pan may be an easier option, especially as the chamois is most likely to be scrap anyway, Again a thin blade may be used judiciously. Cleaning up the bottom of the action board afterwards should be relatively easy once they are separated. For the other reed pan that you cannot yet remove, try soaking it in a humid or solvent enriched atmosphere, e.g. a damp/solvent impregnated cloth in a bag plus the bellows etc., tie a knot in the end and gently warm and leave for a couple of hours or more. With treatment like this the metal parts at least should be unaffected even if the wooden parts do warp slightly, and these latter bits can be carefully dried out and flattened. Hopefully others will have better ideas and options. Anyway best of luck with your endeavours. Mike

I had a similar problem some time ago with a 26k Lachenal. I performed the actions described by Theo and Dave elsewhere and found a couple of pinholes which were patched but without much change. Then I swapped the reed pans with another concertina and the same problem persisted but the "problem"reed pan worked OK in the other 'tina which seemed to indicate that the reed pan was not the issue. Looking at the problem box again I thought one of the corner blocks I had replaced was slightly too high and so carefully trimmed it with a sharp chisel rather than remove it and re-glue. Eventually I got it so the leaks were reduced and a thin piece of chamois from an old gasket glued to the top of the block solved the problem. Whether this was also due to air leaking past the corner of the reed pan in that position too I don't know, but I now have a working 'tina again. Mike

Dave Elliott in Sheffield also does good work and has many restorations under his belt.

Thanks Chris, I did have some table baize that I used to practice bushing some years ago while I was rebuilding an earlier acquisition and It did exactly as you said. I also had some 2mm blue card table baize that is a. too thick and b. does not take to being forced into confined spaces as it pulls apart. DDF : many thanks for the link, even cheaper than CGM. I had found a couple of piano baize suppliers but not that particular one. Mike

Thanks to you all. I shall explore the possibilities. Mike

Can anyone tell we where to obtain bushing felt? GIven that Mark at Concertinas Spares is on holiday and thus unavailable, I need some more bushing felt to bush the buttons of a 35k Crane duet I'm rebuilding. Both ends had bad cracks and the LHS had separated across the key holes. There is enough wood left, now they are repaired, to re-drill and then bush the holes otherwise they would be too large for the bone buttons and I have run out of red woven bushing felt. My local haberdashery was not able to find anyone manufacturing anything suitable and although I can obtain some green woven baize (for snooker tables) it is rather too coarse. Red woven felt is not essential, black or green would also be acceptable. Any ideas anyone?

The Morris side I dance /play for use 1. umbrellas provided the wind is not too strong and we have plenty of volunteers to hold them. ( the fiddlers and melodeonistas are especially anxious that their instruments remain dry too) or 2. plastic ponchos, available cheaply from loads of places such as P**ndl*nd (supply your own vowels) or even hotel concierges at times, these tend to be disposable so if you are anxious about plastic pollution possibly not the best solution, but reusable ones are also available for G* **td**rs and others, they pack small and I keep two in my concertina bag. The Bootle Concertina Band on YouTube are using bags for their concertinas in the linked video. I've not come across anything available commercially so perhaps they commissioned some

Looks like they are still available on Dicks website http://www.dickmiles.com/p/my-shop.html

You might ask West Country Concertina Players (WCCP) as they both tutor and provide hire instruments. They have both Website and Facebook presence and cover your area.

I have two, both mahogany ended with brass reeds. 18273 has two Gsharp/Bb keys on the LHS and two Csharp/Eb keys on the RHS. The other, 167878, has Gsharp/Bb and A/G reversed on the LHS and Csharp/Eb plus A/G reversed on the right. I use them for practicing on at home in a separate room so I do not annoy my wife.

Hi Bazza, If you are still after a box I have one that I sympathetically restored i.e it still looks old and all previous aults and blemishes can still be seen although they are now fixed ) and found a key for , that I have been meaning to sell but never got round to advertising. Should suit an EC 'tina with four folds on the bellows. I know it is too small for both my EC's that have 6 fold bellows and none of my Anglos fit. Photos attached . It has a veneer skin If still interested we can discuss price, etc. later. Mike

SqueezEast Concertinas Band Day: Sunday 9th June at Stamford Arts Centre. I shall be posting more information early in the New Year, although the format will probably remain the same as previous years. West Country Concertina Players also post their Play Days on their website and Facebook

I'm in the process of trying to reconstruct Lachenal Number 18868 a 26 button Anglo with numbered bone buttons and offset accidentals. I put photos on another thread. The right hand end was so badly worm eaten the action board and box fell apart to dust when I dismantled it and unfortunately the corresponding reed pan has gone the same way. I've repaired the end frets with new Rosewood inserts and stabilised them and made new boxing for them plus replaced the worm eaten bellows frame on the Right Hand Side. Unfortunately I don't have the tools or materials (or skill) to remake the action box or reed pan. Does anyone out there have either or both for a 30 button or 28 button instrument they don't want that I could purchase? A 26 button set would not work as the accidental buttons are offset. Alternatively could one of you make a reed pan and action box for me? I have the levers, pivots, buttons and reeds and can accommodate either a circular or ovoid-ish air hole. Responses via the thread or PM me. Other helpful suggestions would be welcome too. Many Thanks Mike

Thanks Guys, All woodworm is now dead! treated with killer direct into the holes in the other parts of the concertina that remain. Amongst the dust in the photo above were a few insect carcases and I think from the state of it that the 'tina has seen a few cold winters and hot dry summers before I got hold of it. Anyway it will remain in the (unheated) garage in a box of its own whilst I work on it and well away from all my other boxes. The brass has cleaned up well as have all the buttons and the LHS reed and action pans and the reeds look to be pretty well unmolested. the adhesive holding the pads onto the grommets was still flexible and just peeled off and the pads did pretty much the same so not too much cleaning off of glue required. Mike

Quite, and this is a picture of the Right hand action pan after I removed the end, it just crumbled to dust. Interestingly there is no A/G reversal on the LHS you get G sharp/Bflat, C sharp /E flat and A/Bflat (according to the impressed marks on the reed shoes). I'm hopeful I will eventually restore/rebuild it and then see how/if having the C sharp/Bflat helps playing in F or Bflat in comparison to a "normal" 30 Key. I haven't looked yet but suspect a similar result on the right. Mike

Hello people, I recently obtained a 26 button Lachenal C/G, number 18863 (or 18868, the number stamp is unclear), Rosewood ends (and the reed pan for a 30 key instrument) with steel reeds and five fold green bellows. Accidentals are black the white bone buttons numbered 1 - 10 on both sides ( 1 - 5 on the "C" row and 6 -10 on the "G" row). The accidentals are offset, as you can see in the photo. Unfortunately when I removed the Right Hand end, the Action Box and frame all collapsed into dust due to a catastrohic attack of worm. I may be able to save the right reed pan and none of the rosewood is significantly damaged. The Left side is unaffected. I also have a 24 button Lachenal labelled "Silber and Fleming", number 18273, with numbered bone buttons and brass reeds, the extra accidental buttons are engraved C/D Sharp and G/B sharp on both sides (I don't have a "hash" button on my keyboard). Mike