My new (to me) concertina

[Taffs]

I'm very excited to be the new owner of my first concertina. It's a Gremlin g/d and although I've only had it a day I'm beginning to get the hang of it. I'm hoping someone may be able to point me in the right direction in two areas:

1) The hand straps appear to be way too big. They're on the tightest setting and from looking around the Internet replacement straps all seem to be a standard size. Am I right in thinking my hands should be quite snug in there? What's the solution?

2) One of the buttons seems to be catching and getting stuck in. I've looked at the article on here but my buttons look quite different. They don't have any rubber tubing on for a start. I think something is slightly misaligned. All other buttons work absolutely fine. Do you think it's worth getting the whole thing serviced?

 

Thanks (and apologies if I'm asking ridiculous newbie questions again)

 

Taffs

[MatthewVanitas]

Can you post up a photo of the kind of key action that you do have? Seeing if it's something hook-based or rivet-based, or yet some other method, will help folks a lot in diagnosing any problem. You can use tinypic.com to upload photos and post the "img" code here to display it.

[Taffs]

 

 

 

Thanks

Taffs

[malcolmbebb]

Hi,

There is nothing special about concertina straps, you might be able to get a local leather worker or hobbyist to trim them or maybe punch an extra hole or two. Your hands need to be snug but not too tight, I find I need to move my hands to reach the high notes.

 

I'm not familiar with the action of your box. I would check the obvious things, that the lever for the problem button is not bent or twisted, that there is no obstruction in the hole, or distortion of the button itself.

If it's easy to get the button off, try it in a different position to see if it's the button - maybe a sloppy fit on the lever - or the particular lever.

[MatthewVanitas]

Taff, just to make sure I'm seeing this correctly: so the buttons are plain metal, none have any kind of rubbery coller or gasket or whatever on them? And at the bottoms, they're resting on some kind of felt pad? Not set into holes in the pad or anything?

 

That is an interesting difference from the other internals I've seen online and in person.

[Taffs]

Yes they are plain metal with a slot in the middle for it to slide onto the levers. The felt pad that you see has holes in it so when the button is depressed the bottom slides freely up and down in the hole. With the top off the action for the problem button is fine so I think something must be out of alignment but I can't see what. That particular button it easy to remove as it's located right at the end of the lever. The other buttons aren't easy to remove though and a cant see how to do it without probably not being able to put it all back together again properly.

[Anglo-Irishman]

With the top off the action for the problem button is fine so I think something must be out of alignment but I can't see what. That particular button it easy to remove as it's located right at the end of the lever.

 

Taffs,

This may be a long shot, but ...

 

if the offending button moves easily with the end off the concertina, it seems that the problem is the hole where the button goes through the end.

In the top photo you posted, one (or two) of the buttons seem to have some roughness (corrosion?) at the point where they would pass through the hole in the end. I don't know whether one of these is the offending button, but it might be a good thing to just polish the buttons at that point.

If that doesn't work, perhaps the hole of the offending button is too small a diameter, or is partially obstructed by a wood fibre (are the ends wooden?) and just needs to be de-burred.

 

As I said, just a thought.

 

I had serious teething troubles with one button on my Stagi, until I tidied up the bushing felt inside the metal end. The hole was the problem, not the lever, button or spring!

 

Cheers,

John