Lachenal C/G 30 key on eBay

[Tom Rhoads]

eBay listing (US)

 

The seller writes:

 

This is a 30 key Lachenal concertina that was bought from a man in Ireland. I had it retuned to play at a concert 440 A, instead of the one half step higher that it was originally made at. This makes it so you can play along with modern instruments. It is a C, G concertina with rosewood ends and new wrist straps. All the notes play on both in and out. There are some new pads and some new leather valves. The bellows is old, but does not leak.

 

Looks like a fairly typical instrument. There are 12 pictures, including a serial number (inside the reedpan) of 149116 which the seller suggests is a 1920s number. I have not cross checked that myself, I am not wise in the ways of serial numbers.

 

This instrument might be a good one for me and I'd be interested to hear comments from the gallery.

 

Thanks,

TomR

[Seán Ó Fearghail]

I'm the man in Ireland that he got it from. I had tuned it to C sharp/ g sharp because i wanted it to play myself but had to sell it unfortunately. nice instrument.

[Paul Read]

But the reeds have been re-tuned twice now then?

[Ransom]

But the reeds have been re-tuned twice now then?

If they were clever about it, maybe they shuffled the reeds around to avoid re-tuning as many as they could.

 

Maybe.

[Bob Lusk]

Have the prices for concertinas gone down recently? I would have expected a 3 row anglo like this to go for $2,000 or so.

[Tom Rhoads]

Hmmm. I have to say that doesn't sound promising. Retuned up a semitone and then back down. Can't be good for the durability of the reeds. And though many reeds could be swapped to accomplish the tuning... well, I don't play Irish exclusively and the idea of the low F (which I use a lot for song accompaniment) having been tuned up to E and then back is a bummer.

 

(*Sigh* Not trying to offend anyone, but I think C# sessions are a bad idea to start with, and this is another reason why.)

 

TomR

[Daniel Hersh]

Have the prices for concertinas gone down recently? I would have expected a 3 row anglo like this to go for $2,000 or so.

I don't think that I've ever seen a mahogany-ended Lachenal like this one go for as much as $2,000. That having been said, prices do seem to be a bit lower overall than they were before the economic downturn that started about a year and a half ago.

[Bob Lusk]

It's described as rosewood, not mahogony and the picture seems to bear that out. And I understand the complaints about the overtuning being bad for the reeds, but it at least has been recently tuned!

[tombilly]

I could be wrong but I think the mahogany/ rosewood description usually refers to the fretwork - 'mahogany' has fewer holes and more coarsely cut whereas the 'rosewood' has finer fretwork/ lots of holes. Both are veneers, I think but the 'mahogany' was used for a lower grade of instrument with the 'rosewood' on the next stage up??

[Daniel Hersh]

I could be wrong but I think the mahogany/ rosewood description usually refers to the fretwork - 'mahogany' has fewer holes and more coarsely cut whereas the 'rosewood' has finer fretwork/ lots of holes. Both are veneers, I think but the 'mahogany' was used for a lower grade of instrument with the 'rosewood' on the next stage up??

That's correct -- these days, for Lachenals, "mahogany-ended" usually refers to the cheaper coarser-fretwork concertinas, even though they occasionally actually have rosewood-veneer ends. Lachenal themselves actually used different and clearer terms to distinguish the models which I don't remember offhand. I sometimes have used the terms "finer-fretwork" and "coarser-fretwork", but I'm not sure if people who are used to calling them "mahogany" and "rosewood" know what I'm referring to when I do.

[Bob Lusk]

Oh, learn something new every day

[Paul Read]

A few of us got into trouble a while back with a sensitive young lady from France when we got onto this topic. Careful, she was fierce......