can anyone identify this concertina?

[DavidL]

Hi, this is my first post so hello to all at concertina.net. I have just come back to the EC after a 30 year gap, having been lured astray by fretted instruments! I have just acquired a 48 Key treble concertina and the fellow I got it from had been told when he bought it that it was a Lachenal. There are no markings inside or outside other than the serial number 59873 which is on the reed pan, bellows and action box. It has metal ends and 6 fold bellows, interestingly, the top C reeds on the right hand side have been removed, presumably to act as an air valve. Is this common? I'm really enjoying the concertina but wish I had stuck with it all those years ago. Anyway any comments appreciated.

 

David

[RP3]

David, from that one photo it does look like a Lachenal. Im surprised the number is not much higher -- like over 100000 -- but I'm no expert on English models. Welcome back to the free reed fold and hope you enjoy your new squeeze.

 

Ross Schlabach

[Daniel Hersh]

Hi, this is my first post so hello to all at concertina.net. I have just come back to the EC after a 30 year gap, having been lured astray by fretted instruments! I have just acquired a 48 Key treble concertina and the fellow I got it from had been told when he bought it that it was a Lachenal. There are no markings inside or outside other than the serial number 59873 which is on the reed pan, bellows and action box. It has metal ends and 6 fold bellows, interestingly, the top C reeds on the right hand side have been removed, presumably to act as an air valve. Is this common? I'm really enjoying the concertina but wish I had stuck with it all those years ago. Anyway any comments appreciated.

If you can take a decent picture part of the action (the levers, springs and posts on the inside) that would help with ID. Lachenal used distinctive action designs.

[Greg Jowaisas]

Look familiar?

 

 

 

Lachenal #43434

 

That I can take pictures of both ends at once without unscrewing the endbolts will give some indication of its condition. A long term project awaiting its turn on the bench. Not without some promise however.

 

Greg

[malcolm clapp]

David, from that one photo it does look like a Lachenal. Im surprised the number is not much higher -- like over 100000 -- but I'm no expert on English models. Welcome back to the free reed fold and hope you enjoy your new squeeze.

 

Ross Schlabach

 

Ross, Lachenal ran separate numberings for English and anglo systems.

 

Lachenal only made something like 65000 English models, so the number on the instrument in question puts it in the late 1920s.

 

Any Lachenal with a number over 100000 would be an anglo.

[malcolm clapp]

Look familiar?

 

That I can take pictures of both ends at once without unscrewing the endbolts will give some indication of its condition. A long term project awaiting its turn on the bench. Not without some promise however.

 

Greg

 

Nice carpet, Greg; you could loose a few valve pins on that.... :-)

[Chris Drinkwater]

 

That I can take pictures of both ends at once without unscrewing the endbolts will give some indication of its condition. A long term project awaiting its turn on the bench. Not without some promise however.

 

Greg

 

Nice carpet, yes, but the concertina is clearly a cut above the rest! Good luck with the restoration, Greg.

 

Chris

[Greg Jowaisas]

I believe it was showman Tommy Elliott that had a concertina with solid partitions hidden in the middle of its bellows. During a particular arduous piece of music the audience would apparently witness the concertina torn in two! After which Tommy would rejoin the two halves and finish the tune. I suppose the music must have been written in 1/2 time!

 

If my repairs head in that direction then I am half way there.

 

Greg

Edited August 14, 2010 by Greg Jowaisas

[Dowright]

Tommy Elliott with his "breakaway" concertina is shown in Figure 9 of Viona "Elliott Lane, Randall C. Merris, and Chris Algar, "Tommy Elliot and the Musical Elliotts," Papers of the International Concertina Association (PICA), Vol. 5 (2008), pp.16-49; available in the PICA section of the International Concertina Association website, www.concertina.org.

I would take this opportunity to recommend this article as being of general interest--NOT because I am a co-author. The centerpiece of the article is Viona's rememberances of her parents' act and her own trouping during World War II. Readers will find unexpected information about the history of cycling and the Cycling Elliotts; the invention of the unicycle (by Viona's great grandfather), the first British saxophone band (Elliott Savonas), Tommy crossiing paths with Hitler and Eva Braun; the nude model "Jane of the Daily Mirror," and more....

I humbly suggest that you might find it to be entertaining.

Edited August 16, 2010 by Dowright

[Chris Drinkwater]

I believe it was showman Tommy Elliott that had a concertina with solid partitions hidden in the middle of its bellows. During a particular arduous piece of music the audience would apparently witness the concertina torn in two! After which Tommy would rejoin the two halves and finish the tune. I suppose the music must have been written in 1/2 time!

 

If my repairs head in that direction then I am half way there.

 

Greg

 

 

I guess you could always try using velcro!

 

Chris

[DavidL]

Thanks to everyone who took the time to reply. I'm pretty sure it is a Lachenal Now. I have been playing it constantly and I am already thinking of selling it to move on to a better box!

 

David

[Brian McGee]

David,

 

Forgive my ignorance -- I've never played an English, but isn't it monotonal and therefore doesn't need an air button?

 

B

[Lester Bailey]

David,

 

Forgive my ignorance -- I've never played an English, but isn't it monotonal and therefore doesn't need an air button?

 

B

 

An English does not "need" an air button but may well have one. Useful at the end of tunes for closing the bellows but I just press a big handful of buttons, less elegant but everyone knows I've finished

[Guest HallelujahAl!]

I just press a big handful of buttons, less elegant but everyone knows I've finished

 

LOL! Yep , know what you mean - I have the pleasure of playing my stepmother's Wheatstone English which is fitted with an air button. When I first saw it I thought it might be an extra accidental for some weird tuning - which would probably account for the way I play!