Anyone need a laugh?

[Dirge]

Worst description I've seen for a bit... There's some fascinating detail; the notes are screw ones apparently, the leather handle on the case is unravelling. Must be rare woven leather then...that's only the start; it bears reading carefully if you have the time.

 

And they seem to be claiming to be an auction house; you'd think they'd do their research better.

[ben]

The seller may have a few loose screws or screws loose....wonder where he/she came up with the asking price? I would like to see the condition of the reeds.

Edited December 30, 2010 by Ben

[Kautilya]

Worst description I've seen for a bit...

Brill spotting!

I see they are also selling some Tibetan boots to wear wheen playing in the snow... but from the United States not Shangri-la!

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Traditional-Tibetan-Boots-/170583964013?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item27b798b96d

[saguaro_squeezer]

An English-system Duet. Must be exceedingly rare

Edited December 30, 2010 by saguaro_squeezer

[doodle]

My browser also added a Cantulia C/F Melodeon under the 'tina ad. This instrument has a desirable quality for me - "no twirping sounds" !! How I've longed to find something that won't make me sound like a twerp!

[mike byrne]

The 'Rosewood' is wearing off and as for the hand coloured bellows papers

[Chris Drinkwater]

Worst description I've seen for a bit... There's some fascinating detail; the notes are screw ones apparently, the leather handle on the case is unravelling. Must be rare woven leather then...that's only the start; it bears reading carefully if you have the time.

 

And they seem to be claiming to be an auction house; you'd think they'd do their research better.

 

 

I've seen worse descriptions. To be fair to the seller, they claim no musical knowledge. They say that the stitching on one side of the leather carrying handle is unravelling, not the leather itself. The model is an example of Wheatstone's most basic 48 key treble EC's, a No.3 - Rosewood finish, ivorine keys, steel reeds, five-fold bellows. The serial number dates it to February 1937 and it originally cost £9.00 when it was made then, according the nearest Wheatstone pricelist to that date. Now, it is probably worth around £600, fully restored to playing condition, so the price they are asking for it in its present condition, is far too high.

 

Chris

[Stephen Chambers]

The model is an example of Wheatstone's most basic 48 key treble EC's, a No.3 - Rosewood finish, ivorine keys, steel reeds, five-fold bellows. The serial number dates it to February 1937 and it originally cost £9.00 when it was made then, according the nearest Wheatstone pricelist to that date.

 

Though Wheatstone's standards/specifications dropped sharply in the intervening couple of years (as they started to make cheaper instruments to fill the gap left in the market by Lachenal's demise) and the ledger describes the finish on this one as D.M (= Dark Mahogany - and there's a L.M = Light Mahogany further down the page) rather than R for Rosewood.

[Chris Drinkwater]

 

.....and the ledger describes the finish on this one as D.M (= Dark Mahogany - and there's a L.M = Light Mahogany further down the page) rather than R for Rosewood.

 

 

Thank you Stephen for pointing out my mistake - the initials DM, didn't register at the time.

 

Chris

[Dirge]

I've seen worse descriptions.

 

I don't think I ever have or I wouldn't have found it so amusing, but I don't look at anything like all the stuff Ebay notifies me of. I wonder how they managed to get the date right among all the rest of it?

 

(I also noticed the way the jammy varnish had worn away to expose the exquisite pale wood of the genuine rosewood.)

 

Anyone got any idea what screw notes are?

[Stephen Chambers]

I wonder how they managed to get the date right among all the rest of it?

 

Not quite, the ledgers show it was made in 1937, so a year later.

 

 

(I also noticed the way the jammy varnish had worn away to expose the exquisite pale wood of the genuine rosewood.)

 

The genuine plywood underneath you mean? Like I said, standards were slipping...

 

 

Anyone got any idea what screw notes are?

 

I think they must have seen the 19th century concertina makers' expression "screwed notes" - "notes" being an old term for the reed tongues and meaning that they are screwed to their frames in traditional English fashion, rather than riveted in the German manner.