Concertina Qualities

[varney]

I'm wondering are there any general tips for helping gauge the quality of various concertinas just from seeing pictures?

 

For example: if a 48 key english lachenal ( or similar ) has mahogany ends and a four fold bellows can one be pretty certain it has brass reeds? Is a four fold bellows an indicator that the instrument is very low in quality? Are there any 'rule of thumb' tips for identifying which 48 key ECs have steel reeds just from looking at them in pictures?

 

I believe mahogany ended lachenal 30 keys with five fold bellows were the very basic anglo model made by the company, but is there any reed quality difference between one of these and the rosewood=stained version of the same which Lachenal put out? I'm guessing not, but I have one of each and have to say I think the reeds in the rosewood version are superior to the other, but that could be down to other factors.

 

Did the actual rosewood=ended 30 key lachenal anglos have superior quality reeds, or was it just a better quality body / extra fold in bellows / more elaborate fretwork ends etc than the mahogany version?

 

Do metal buttons on an old metal- ended lachenal mean it was superior in any other way to a similar model with bone buttons?

 

I'm just trying to become more adept at evaluating the quality / reed type of instruments visually, so any tips would be most appreciated....

Edited October 17, 2010 by varney

[Theo]

A good place to start would be to make a careful study of the Lachenal price lists and Wheatstone price lists on concertina.com. But bear in mind that even when new there would have been some variation of quality between examples of the same model, and in the century or so since they were made anything could have happened to them. So once you can recognise a particular model you have a first estimate of what you are looking at, but you can only be sure by examining the instrument yourself.

[Daniel Hersh]

A good place to start would be to make a careful study of the Lachenal price lists and Wheatstone price lists on concertina.com. But bear in mind that even when new there would have been some variation of quality between examples of the same model, and in the century or so since they were made anything could have happened to them. So once you can recognise a particular model you have a first estimate of what you are looking at, but you can only be sure by examining the instrument yourself.

I suspect that there may also be differences in quality due to year of manufacture as well. My personal experience is limited, but I have played later mahogany-ended Lachenals (c. 1915 or so) that had much more responsive reeds than some older rosewood-ended ones that I've played.

[shaunw]

A good place to start would be to make a careful study of the Lachenal price lists and Wheatstone price lists on concertina.com. But bear in mind that even when new there would have been some variation of quality between examples of the same model, and in the century or so since they were made anything could have happened to them. So once you can recognise a particular model you have a first estimate of what you are looking at, but you can only be sure by examining the instrument yourself.

I suspect that there may also be differences in quality due to year of manufacture as well. My personal experience is limited, but I have played later mahogany-ended Lachenals (c. 1915 or so) that had much more responsive reeds than some older rosewood-ended ones that I've played.

 

No you can't really tell. These are the important questions to ask. Are the bellows sound. Is it in concert tuning

i.e A=440hz. Do all the notes work. Some of the players I know only want to play the sweet sounds of a brass reeded

instrument with wooden ends. They would never consider a strident steel reeded instrument especially one with metal

ends.

 

Do you need six fold, five fold or four fold bellows. The people I ask say that once you have learned to

play it makes no difference. Photos may tell you if a concertina has been kept well and is therefore

worth restoring. They can never tell you how much restoration a concertina needs to make it playable.

[Daniel Hersh]

A good place to start would be to make a careful study of the Lachenal price lists and Wheatstone price lists on concertina.com. But bear in mind that even when new there would have been some variation of quality between examples of the same model, and in the century or so since they were made anything could have happened to them. So once you can recognise a particular model you have a first estimate of what you are looking at, but you can only be sure by examining the instrument yourself.

I suspect that there may also be differences in quality due to year of manufacture as well. My personal experience is limited, but I have played later mahogany-ended Lachenals (c. 1915 or so) that had much more responsive reeds than some older rosewood-ended ones that I've played.

No you can't really tell. These are the important questions to ask. Are the bellows sound. Is it in concert tuning

i.e A=440hz. Do all the notes work. Some of the players I know only want to play the sweet sounds of a brass reeded

instrument with wooden ends. They would never consider a strident steel reeded instrument especially one with metal

ends.

 

Do you need six fold, five fold or four fold bellows. The people I ask say that once you have learned to play it makes no difference. Photos may tell you if a concertina has been kept well and is therefore worth restoring. They can never tell you how much restoration a concertina needs to make it playable.

The questions about bellows and tuning are good ones to ask, and I agree with the points about wood vs. metal ends and brass vs. steel reeds. I don't agree about bellows folds - 5 vs. 6 vs. 7 folds makes a difference, at least on an Anglo.

 

But I think that the original question was about comparing quality of initial construction, not current condition (though that's of course very important too). And quality of initial construction varies, even within makes. Some Lachenal reeds were much better than others, some Lachenal actions are much noisier than others, etc. The best bet of course is to play the instrument before purchasing, but that's not always possible. I used to think that the rosewood-ended Lachenals were consistently better than the mahogany-ended ones, but I've now played good mahogany ones and bad rosewood ones so I wouldn't say that any more. I've heard some say that Lachenal had a "top period" when their instruments were better than they had been in prior years and was wondering if others who had played more Lachenals than I have found that to be true.

[shaunw]

When I was talking about four and five fold bellows I was only referring to The EC, Anglo players seem to be

happier with many more bellows. At one time I had the idea that an EC with four bellows must be a cheaper

beginners instrument but when you look inside them they often have the same works and reeds as the five

fold bellows instruments.

 

Other people have said to me that keys with the notes marked on the keys were student instruments but

this isn't necessarily true. After a while Lachenal seem to have done this on all their instruments.

 

When you look inside an instrument it is difficult to see much difference in terms of cost to make

between the cheap and expensive instruments. Were rosewood ends much more expensive in the 19th century

than mahogany or ebonised ends. Just what is the cost saving between a five fold and four fold bellows.

I would think that it was very small.

 

You would have to play a large number of concertinas to arrive at any sort of truth about this. We

have this sort of information about Martin guitars i.e. times when they were well made and times

when they weren't so good and the different sounds of rosewood and mahogany but we don't have enough

information for concertinas.

 

I'm not sure that price lists can help here since they may have just been used as marketing tool.

Manufacturers may have felt that they needed to have a cheap, medium and expensive model in their

range to match other manufacturers even if the actual cost of construction wasn't proportionate

to the selling cost.