Is It Worth Fixing?

[Jonathan]

Hello,

As a first time poster, forgive me if I don't follow the normal format.

Here's my problem: I am thinking of leaning to play the concertina, and thought I'd look for a cheap one, so that if I showed no aptitude at all, I wouldn't have wasted too much money. I searched eBay (yes, I can hear your groans), and bid on a Hohner 'tina, that was advertised as having been knocked around in shipping. The reeds/racks/whatever had torn loose, but other than that, the piece was said to be in fine shape. I won the thing, and the seller proceeded to just drop the "racks" into the 'tina, and ship it to me. No padding, nothing, not even a piece of newsprint to protect them. The higher octave rack seems to have come through unscathed, but the lower one, when drawing or blowing through the various reeds, appears to have two inoperative, and most of the leather flapper valves, with their thin strips of copper, are twisted out of shape or missing althogether.

Is this something that can be repaired, and is it even worth it? I must return this item soon, or I'll be stuck with it. I only have a limited amount of time to file a scathing "feedback", after which, I don't imagine the seller will feel compelled to refund my money.

Thank you,

Jonathan

[Stephen Chambers]

Jonathan,

 

Firstly, let me say that I don't feel that the seller deserves a scathing feedback at all, it sounds like you got just what he described and you bought. He probably didn't even look inside it, but sent it to you just as he got it himself.

 

From your description of the problem, it doesn't sound like any of the actual reeds are mangled, only some of the leather valves and their metal stiffeners. You will probably find that, if you carefully remove them, these can be straightened out (you can try simply drawing them across your thumbnail a few times to achieve this) adequately to make the instrument work when they are glued back in place. The reeds that don't work probably just have some debris (dust, fluff, or hair) caught between the reed tongue and its slot, and will work perfectly when that is removed.

 

It would probably be a simple job for a repairer to get it going again, but daunting if you have never done it before.

 

Good luck with it,

[Robin Harrison]

If your ebay seller neglected even cursory protection for you item during postage,he deserves negative feed-back.Unfortunately,when you buy low quality instruments they are usually,well, low quality.

If your new buy prooves useless,consider renting one,borrowing one or buying a bottom-end but playable concertina...if you don't like it you will be able to sell it easily.There always seems to be a market for playable 'tinas.

Depending on which continent you are on,contact the Button Box or Barleycorn concertinas.The ICA (International Concertina Association) have a system of mentors....there are loads of people around only too happy to help you,even if they can't loan you an instrument.This forum is a welcoming place to start. Regards Robin