Concertina storage and valves

[malcolmbebb]

Over the weekend I had the privilege of watching Colin and Rosalie Dipper running a repair workshop. I'm sure they won't mind me passing this on.

 

The subject of storage came up.

 

Rosalie showed us a concertina that had been stored on end - an elderly English box.

 

One set of valves was perfect, flat and nicely positioned. The other side was like a bunch of bananas. She picked up the other reed plate - exactly the same. You could tell straight away how it had been stored. And it was suggested that the effect begins within months... They recommend storage "in the playing position".

 

I am convinced.

 

Other tips - hard storage box with internal corner blocks, so the concertina can't move and the buttons are held away from the ends of the box. A lady brought in a casualty with broken buttons- thought to have been jolted while in its (nice looking) box and the buttons hit the inside of the box. Two broken buttons.

 

Also holds the bellows gently closed, recommended to keep them tidy and nice over time.

 

And several horror stories of boxes dropped, trodden on and otherwise damaged in transit in gig bags.

[Shas Cho]

Thanks, Malcomb, to you and to the Dippers.

I'm listening.

[Dowright]

Related material--right here, for more than a decade, on the home page of www.concertina.net:

 

See Buyer's Guide (left column of home page), "Concertina Cases: New is Often Better." As indicated in the short article, the only thing worse than a vertical Lachenal or Jones wood case is a vertical Jeffries leather case that has shrunk over time. I have closet shelves full of both the wood and leather ones, which I could not sell with a clear conscience. But people continue to buy them. See the vertical wood case on the Ebay UK auction, right now (see www.ebay.co.uk). Four bidders so far, and currently at 34 British pounds.

 

Incidentally (tongue in cheek), I think that those clever Chinese invented the vertical hexagonal concertina case--before the concertina itself was invented!!! The attached image was on the front page of the Style section of the Washington Post, a couple weeks ago. The interior of the case is lined with wallpaper from the White House. It is the only surviving piece of the wall paper, given that the rest was destroyed when the White House was burned during the War of 1812. Sure looks like a vertical concertina case to me.

Edited October 29, 2011 by Dowright

[malcolmbebb]

Selling them to the Women's Institute or similar organisations for sewing or work boxes was suggested...