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Is this a Jeffries?


nkgibbs

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Happy New Year to all,

 

It has taken me a few weeks to get over my grief at missing the concertina pictured below at a fixed price of £400 on Ebay.

 

Congratulations to whoever pressed the 'Buy It Now' button while I was faffing about on Google.

 

 

I would now like everyone to say that this is not a Jeffries.

 

Best Regards,

Neil

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If it was a Jeffries it would have C.JEFFRIES MAKER stamped into the wood on a side.

The seller said he couldn't see any brandings on it, making it an early Crabb.

 

The seller may not have been able to spot them - mine of very similar vintage had no visible markings until it was restored. Mind you, that 26 key is going to need a good £600 worth of work on it looking at those pics!

 

You could by this lovely pristine 20 key I'm selling (I'm open to offers!!!) and add some extra buttons :)

 

Here is the evidence you probably don't want to see - compare my 20 key to the wreck up above and they're pretty similar .

post-315-12634163237279_thumb.jpg

post-315-12634163605614_thumb.jpg

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Hi There,

 

I bought this concertina because it has almost an almost identical design in its wooden end plates to the unusual metal ended Jeffries 26 button c/g that I already have. When it arrived, I could see no maker's mark. I opened it up and noted the similarities in action box design, reed pan, riveted lever action etc between the two concertinas. The design of the wooden handstrap block is also a very similar shape, which I think may be a bit of a give away. I then matched one of the reeds against the same reed from my own concertina and noted they matched exactly in dimension and elements. I then matched this reed against Wheatstone and Lachenal reeds and there was no resemblance there. I put the reed into my metal ended Jeffries and it played exactly in tune and with the same timbre (so it's in concert pitch). I'm therefore pretty sure this is a Jeffries, but without the maker's mark I don't know if it would carry the same value as my other Jeffries. I would welcome some views on this.

 

I intend to refurbish and restore this concertina and hope to do most of it myself. If it needs new ends made, then so be it. I'll let you know how it goes.

 

Cheers,

 

Frank

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I don't know very much about their wooden-ended instruments, but I do know that early metal-ended concertinas that look like Jeffries but have no maker's mark now tend to be considered Crabbs. There are those who say that the earliest Jeffries-stamped concertinas were actually re-badged Crabbs.

 

Hi There,

 

I bought this concertina because it has almost an almost identical design in its wooden end plates to the unusual metal ended Jeffries 26 button c/g that I already have. When it arrived, I could see no maker's mark. I opened it up and noted the similarities in action box design, reed pan, riveted lever action etc between the two concertinas. The design of the wooden handstrap block is also a very similar shape, which I think may be a bit of a give away. I then matched one of the reeds against the same reed from my own concertina and noted they matched exactly in dimension and elements. I then matched this reed against Wheatstone and Lachenal reeds and there was no resemblance there. I put the reed into my metal ended Jeffries and it played exactly in tune and with the same timbre (so it's in concert pitch). I'm therefore pretty sure this is a Jeffries, but without the maker's mark I don't know if it would carry the same value as my other Jeffries. I would welcome some views on this.

 

I intend to refurbish and restore this concertina and hope to do most of it myself. If it needs new ends made, then so be it. I'll let you know how it goes.

 

Cheers,

 

Frank

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Hi There,

 

I bought this concertina because it has almost an almost identical design in its wooden end plates to the unusual metal ended Jeffries 26 button c/g that I already have. When it arrived, I could see no maker's mark. I opened it up and noted the similarities in action box design, reed pan, riveted lever action etc between the two concertinas. The design of the wooden handstrap block is also a very similar shape, which I think may be a bit of a give away. I then matched one of the reeds against the same reed from my own concertina and noted they matched exactly in dimension and elements. I then matched this reed against Wheatstone and Lachenal reeds and there was no resemblance there. I put the reed into my metal ended Jeffries and it played exactly in tune and with the same timbre (so it's in concert pitch). I'm therefore pretty sure this is a Jeffries, but without the maker's mark I don't know if it would carry the same value as my other Jeffries. I would welcome some views on this.

 

I intend to refurbish and restore this concertina and hope to do most of it myself. If it needs new ends made, then so be it. I'll let you know how it goes.

 

Cheers,

 

Frank

 

Dear Frank,

I am very glad that the concertina went to someone who is going to restore it to its former glory. Crabb or Jeffries becomes a bit acedemic if it plays sweetly.

Best Regards,

Neil

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Hi There,

 

I bought this concertina because it has almost an almost identical design in its wooden end plates to the unusual metal ended Jeffries 26 button c/g that I already have. When it arrived, I could see no maker's mark. I opened it up and noted the similarities in action box design, reed pan, riveted lever action etc between the two concertinas. The design of the wooden handstrap block is also a very similar shape, which I think may be a bit of a give away. I then matched one of the reeds against the same reed from my own concertina and noted they matched exactly in dimension and elements. I then matched this reed against Wheatstone and Lachenal reeds and there was no resemblance there. I put the reed into my metal ended Jeffries and it played exactly in tune and with the same timbre (so it's in concert pitch). I'm therefore pretty sure this is a Jeffries, but without the maker's mark I don't know if it would carry the same value as my other Jeffries. I would welcome some views on this.

 

I intend to refurbish and restore this concertina and hope to do most of it myself. If it needs new ends made, then so be it. I'll let you know how it goes.

 

Cheers,

 

Frank

 

Dear Frank,

I am very glad that the concertina went to someone who is going to restore it to its former glory. Crabb or Jeffries becomes a bit acedemic if it plays sweetly.

Best Regards,

Neil

 

Dear Frank,

If you are looking for someone to make new ends (or perhaps repair the existing ones) I can highly recommend Roy Whitely of www.accordionmagic.com. The Nickolds and 50b Lachenal in the Concertina Magic section on his website are mine....Roy has also done work for others such as Barleycorn.

Regards,

Neil

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one of the amazing things about the box in question is the brazillian rosewood ends - hard to make new ones without great expense and possibly best repaired with veneered or indian rosewood parts rather than totally replaced. Certainly they don't build them like that anymore.

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one of the amazing things about the box in question is the brazillian rosewood ends - hard to make new ones without great expense and possibly best repaired with veneered or indian rosewood parts rather than totally replaced. Certainly they don't build them like that anymore.

 

The end shown in the picture looks eminently repairable with a graft to replace the missing part.

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Dear Frank,

If you are looking for someone to make new ends (or perhaps repair the existing ones) I can highly recommend Roy Whitely of www.accordionmagic.com. The Nickolds and 50b Lachenal in the Concertina Magic section on his website are mine....Roy has also done work for others such as Barleycorn.

Regards,

Neil

 

There's some interesting stuff on his website.

 

Look at these rather tasty levers! They deserve transparent ends so that they'd be seen!

 

http://www.accordionmagic.com/albums/Jefcopy1/HPIM1643.html

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one of the amazing things about the box in question is the brazillian rosewood ends - hard to make new ones without great expense and possibly best repaired with veneered or indian rosewood parts rather than totally replaced. Certainly they don't build them like that anymore.

You could always cut up one of those vintage CF Martin guitars. a D28 would do nicely. Probably would have to save the label to prove it was before the ban. ;)

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Dear Frank,

If you are looking for someone to make new ends (or perhaps repair the existing ones) I can highly recommend Roy Whitely of www.accordionmagic.com. The Nickolds and 50b Lachenal in the Concertina Magic section on his website are mine....Roy has also done work for others such as Barleycorn.

Regards,

Neil

 

There's some interesting stuff on his website.

 

Look at these rather tasty levers! They deserve transparent ends so that they'd be seen!

 

http://www.accordion...1/HPIM1643.html

 

 

here's a link to the Home Page

 

http://www.accordionmagic.com/

 

 

When you see what he did before as an engineer you can see why they are so good!

 

It's why I've stopped messing about other than as a little project. Horses for courses, I now stick to playing!

Edited by michael sam wild
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I agree with Theo, it can be repaired. For a small piece of rosewood like the missing part you could ask your local guitar maker and try to find wood of a matching colour.

 

This gallery also from Roy Whitely illustrates good technique for restoring shattered ends.

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Hi Theo,

Nice gallery, good ideas but it made me wonder about the joints. Maybe it is an optical illusion but it seems like the connecting parts are allergic to glue and they are standing right up like sparkling fishes in the water. Wouldn't the joint be better if a greater surface would be clamped to the parts of the broken end or do I need new glasses?

No big deal though.

Marien

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Hi Theo,

Nice gallery, good ideas but it made me wonder about the joints. Maybe it is an optical illusion but it seems like the connecting parts are allergic to glue and they are standing right up like sparkling fishes in the water. Wouldn't the joint be better if a greater surface would be clamped to the parts of the broken end or do I need new glasses?

No big deal though.

Marien

The joints are partially inserted into the broken ends. See Roy's description in this post.

Accordion or not, it's magic!

Edited by Leonard
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  • 2 months later...
If it was a Jeffries it would have C.JEFFRIES MAKER stamped into the wood on a side.

The seller said he couldn't see any brandings on it, making it an early Crabb.

The seller may not have been able to spot them - mine of very similar vintage had no visible markings until it was restored. Mind you, that 26 key is going to need a good £600 worth of work on it looking at those pics!

 

You could by this lovely pristine 20 key I'm selling (I'm open to offers!!!) and add some extra buttons :)

 

Here is the evidence you probably don't want to see - compare my 20 key to the wreck up above and they're pretty similar .

Looks like another one (a 26-button) just sold on eBay for £700.

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