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For sale Wheatstone Aeola


Hope Stanton

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I have a Wheatstone Aeola for sale. Its a 40 button tenor with an additional air button with serial number 32054. I bought from the Button Box about 15 or so years ago. Its in excellent shape. I bought it on impulse because I loved the low notes but have never really played it a great deal. I don't remember what I paid for it and have no idea what it is currently worth. I'd appreciate any advice on pricing. I have some photos but don't seem to be able to attach them to this note

 

Hope Stanton

Nehalem, OR

wildnatives@yahoo.com

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it is a 40-button EC? in a tenor configuration? what is the note range? does it have metal or wood ends? thanks....

 

 

Here , is a link to the relevant page in the Wheatstone ledgers. It shows it is a model 20, which is a baritone, and not a tenor, hence the 'low notes'. It says it only has 38 keys, instead on the more usual 48 keys. Depending on condition, I would value it somewhere between £3000-£3500 or $4600-$5400

Chris

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Here , is a link to the relevant page in the Wheatstone ledgers. It shows it is a model 20, which is a baritone, and not a tenor, hence the 'low notes'. It says it only has 38 keys, instead on the more usual 48 keys.

Interesting that the ledger entry says NP (which is appears to be crossed out) and then altered to black appears to have been inserted.

Were metal ends replaced sometime before or after manufacture I wonder?

 

 

 

Edited: maybe the order was changed during manufacture and the ledgers changed to reflect this.

Edited by SteveS
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Here , is a link to the relevant page in the Wheatstone ledgers. It shows it is a model 20, which is a baritone, and not a tenor, hence the 'low notes'. It says it only has 38 keys, instead on the more usual 48 keys.

Interesting that the ledger entry says NP (which is appears to be crossed out) and then altered to black appears to have been inserted.

Were metal ends replaced sometime before or after manufacture I wonder?

 

Steve,

In the recent Buy and Sell discussion concerning the Alf Edwards related Aeola Geoff Crabb commented:

 

33075.

Studying the pictures, I personally think that the metal tops are original.

As with most new Aeolas of this period, metal tops were available as an alternative to wood at extra cost.

( From 1935 Pricelist - 'Aeolas can be fitted with Raised Nickel-plated ends, if desired, at £1 10s. extra'. etc.)

Due to the slightly different process when making instruments with metal tops of this style (inset rolled/folded edge), to retrofit such tops would have been a relatively costly exercise.

I am aware the ledger shows 'black' but it is quite possible that the order for this one was changed during manufacture and the ledger entry not corrected.

It is not unknown for entries to be incorrect. Indeed, a nice Wheatsone Amboyna 56 shown to me some years back was described in the ledgers as E (Ebony) ??.

As there is little noticeable difference in colour between the base metal and plating in the worn areas, I would suggest the tops of 33075 are N/Silver and nickel plated. Nickel plating was generally preferred as this had a 'softer' appearance than chrome.

 

Just my thoughts.

 

Geoff

 

I think we are all discovering that the Wheatstone ledgers are an important guide but not always gospel.

 

Greg

Edited by Greg Jowaisas
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Greg - could be that the order was changed during manufacture and the ledger entry changed accordingly.

But you are right, it seems that the ledgers aren't always gospel.

Edited by SteveS
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Greg - could be that the order was changed during manufacture and the ledger entry changed accordingly.

But you are right, it seems that the ledgers aren't always gospel.

 

 

Well, here's a link to a page from the ledgers for 1927, showing concertina no. 31620, which was originally listed as a black Aeola 56 key tenor-treble, and was later altered to nickel-plated ends, 7 months later, in May 1928. Also, out of interest, notice at the top of the page, one Aeola finished with ends covered in shagreen skin and two finished with white erinoid ends.

 

Chris

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Also, out of interest, notice at the top of the page, one Aeola finished with ends covered in shagreen skin and two finished with white erinoid ends.

Has anyone here encountered the erinoid ones?

 

I was lucky enough to have the loan of the shagreen (sharkskin) Aeola for a while. I believe it's the only one of its kind. A lovely instrument with a gentle voice that I found ideal for song accompaniment.

 

Last year I returned it to its rightful owner. Sad to part with it, but I knew it wasn't mine, and I'm grateful that I had the chance to enjoy it for a while. :)

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seems to me a good bet that there will be someone out there who would be tickled to have an aeola baritone....

Might not be a baritone; might really be a tenor, as the original poster said.

 

We need to know what the lowest note is. If a tenor, it wouldn't be the first time we've seen a ledger model number that matched the standard size of the ends rather than the range of notes. (Somewhere there's a thread that mentions a couple of piccolo size but standard treble range.) I think it's generally assumed that a concertina that's larger than normal for its range would have a "richer" sound.

 

Also, the original post says, "Its a 40 button tenor with an additional air button...," while the ledger says "38 keys". So is it a 38-button plus 2 air buttons (which wouldn't be included in the ledger count for an English), or is it 40 plus the air buttons, with that being yet another discrepancy between the ledger entry and the instrument itself?

 

Whatever it is, I would be "tickled" to have the instrument, but I'm assuming that Hope Stanton wants some money in exchange, and I have none to spare. :(

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Here are some photos

 

post-9575-0-62141400-1327585362_thumb.jpg

 

 

NOTE: Not my concertina, I don't know anything about it. I don't know the owner.

I was only trying to help her by posting the photos she couldn't get to load.

post-9575-0-23344600-1327585243_thumb.jpg

Edited by cjmiller
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Here are some photos

 

post-9575-0-62141400-1327585362_thumb.jpg

For me the photos clear up a misunderstanding and an uncertainty, but also raise a new question.

 

It is a 40-button, plus one air button. I had misinterpreted the "extra air button" to mean one more than the usual one, when the poster apparently meant that it was "extra" to the buttons with notes. But it is definitely a 40-button, not 38 as given in the ledger.

 

The "new" question: What is the full range? In this case, knowing just the lowest note isn't enough, as there are some "accidentals" missing from the lower end of the button array. What are they? Or the complementary question... what's missing? Is it only duplicates that are lacking, or are there gaps in the chromaticity at the low end? And it looks like the lowest note may also be unusual, i.e., neither a C nor a G.

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(...)

Might not be a baritone; might really be a tenor, as the original poster said. (...) If a tenor, it wouldn't be the first time we've seen a ledger model number that matched the standard size of the ends rather than the range of notes. (...)

 

Quite right. My nr. 27918 is a tenor/treble, but is described in the ledger as: 'No. 20A Octo Bar Black 56 Keys 8" '

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