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Concertina Maintenance Manual Volume 2 (Repairers)


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Simon,

 

my objective has always been to assist those who want to look after their own concertinas, to de-mystify the workings of the instrument and to try to ensure that players know what they are getting themselves into before trying to pad saw their way into their great grandmothers beloved aeola. I would not wish to stray from this overriding personal objective. Think of the mayhem for Neil Wayne's great great, grand children trying to plot the history of a new generation of reproduction concertina manufacturers?

 

I hope I know my limitations, making a new concertina is one of them, there are three things against me, advancing antiquity, lack of machine shop facilities, and my wife's list of my jobs around the house which also is approaching volume 2 in complexity and scope.

 

At the moment I think jobs around the house, decorating and refurbishment after a re-wire is likely to affect where the money is diverted to... We all bow to a higher authority.

 

Dave

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you are not far from a 'build your own concertina' book... Jigs, materials, tools and a series of detailed descriptions and drawings.

 

That's how it seems to me, reading the above. It's a huge topic, potentially, maybe too big for a book alone since (as was said above) most of the clever stuff in concertina making / repair requires special tools and formers, most of which have to be made by the maker. I wonder if there is scope for a website here, complementary to the manual, which could take input from whichever makers / repairers are willing to contribute and which could eventually form a manual on how to build a concertina. You might want to consider a collaboration between yourself as author and someone else skilled in the arts of website design and maintenance.

 

I have a friend of 24 who is very keen on making his own concertina and eventually making more. I haven't tried to discourage him because, unusually, he has the sort of varied skillset that you need in order to contemplate doing that. I'd love to be able to refer him to such as website.

 

Chris

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Greg makes a good point, yet in the maintenance manual it does cover the points raised. There is nothing to stop an enthusiast buying a workshop manual for their nice new car and dropping off a CV joint or pulling the brake cylinder's apart.

....

Dave

 

For me, this is the point.

To have good information, how to do things, is the best starting point for a decision, what can be done by yourself.

 

How to replace the chamois - maybe a good point to include.

 

David

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I have a friend of 24 who is very keen on making his own concertina and eventually making more. I haven't tried to discourage him because, unusually, he has the sort of varied skillset that you need in order to contemplate doing that. I'd love to be able to refer him to such as website.

 

Get him apprenticed to Steve Dickinson, we need someone to keep Wheatstone going! :D

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Dave

 

Steve and Chris (and others) have covered pretty well all of the things I was going to mention about the "what" so can I be permitted some thoughts on the "how" the book might look in linking the elements of a repair?

 

One of the key differences between repair and making new is the issue of how much to preserve, and I know that I spend a lot of time thinking about how to tackle a repair to get the sequence of the jobs right and then save as much of the original as possible without compromising the integrity of the finished instrument. As you are a much more experienced repairer, it would be really helpful to see how you approach the decisions at each stage of a job - for example whether to repair the woodwork or replace with new, whether to adjust the action or replace selected levers; whether to repair the gorgeous looking but mostly knackered bellows or replace with new.

 

It might also be helpful to see a couple of worked examples, like the photo essays on Roy Whiteley's or Theo's site but with some discussion of how and why certain choices were made at each stage.

 

Perhaps an indication of difficulty might be given for some of the repairs - which jobs are relatively simple and straightforward even for someone with limited craft skills and which take a lot of time, patience and care in the set-up even for the more experienced tinker.

 

This might lead also lead you into choices of tools. What might be easy with an expensive machine tool for a large or repetitve piece of work (like a router, scroll saw or paring machine) might be difficult with hand tools, but hand tools might be preferred for some jobs. As someone else has mentioned (I think), there could usefully be a small piece on how to make some of the more specialist small tools or jigs.

 

I suspect you won't be short of proof-readers but I'd also be happy to help

 

Best of luck for this venture - it will be much appreciated I'm sure and could prevent a lot of bodged repairs

 

Alex West

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Thanks Alex, you make some good points, I am not sure how to grade jobs in terms of difficulty and this can vary with dexterity available equipment, or technique dependency.

 

The publisher will put a number of constraints on the publication, including a cap on the number of pages for a target selling price range, but to back up the book with a CD or DVD of photo essays etc might well be a very good idea

 

Dave

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Thanks Alex, you make some good points, I am not sure how to grade jobs in terms of difficulty and this can vary with dexterity available equipment, or technique dependency.

 

 

Alex's point goes to the heart of the matter. Even with the best quality reference books concertina repair will always require judgements to be made, based on good observation of the details of the instrument and it's condition and informed by experience and a respect for the original builders, and also bearing in mind that it is an instrument designed to be played. Its a complex mix. I agree with your general aim to make information available. My hope would be that it will enable people to decide what they can tackle and what they need to hand over to someone else.

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Thanks Alex, you make some good points, I am not sure how to grade jobs in terms of difficulty and this can vary with dexterity available equipment, or technique dependency.

 

 

Alex's point goes to the heart of the matter. Even with the best quality reference books concertina repair will always require judgements to be made, based on good observation of the details of the instrument and it's condition and informed by experience and a respect for the original builders, and also bearing in mind that it is an instrument designed to be played. Its a complex mix. I agree with your general aim to make information available. My hope would be that it will enable people to decide what they can tackle and what they need to hand over to someone else.

 

 

 

Theo,

 

there is not a workshop manual in existence that is so clear cut that does not require the exercise of judgement, and choices. I think that the purposes of the concertina maintenance, and a subsequent repair manual is to provide access to experience and guidance so that these choices can be informed and balanced.

 

One of the choices is always that of 'should I go there' As a baby engineer I was taught to never start a job that I did not think I could finish, and then to always finish I job I had started. If I did not know if I could finish the job, then I should do my homework and find out. Like most young men I did not always follow the advice, and enjoyed pushing the boundaries of my experience and skill. Not everyone is like that. In the maintenance manual, I provide cautions and do not touch advice. If the end result is that the player decides that a job is beyond their scope of competence, then the book has done it's job. Equally, if the player can clear a cat hair from a reed without undue stress and doing damage whilst getting the concertina apart, then even better. The player will get even more enjoyment out of the concertina.

 

As to respecting the builders, a £2,000 price tag reinforces that.

 

I think that the more mystery and folklore around the instrument and its workings, the greater chance of the instrument being damaged by the unwary, or left languishing. Have you ever noticed that the older instruments that turn up in the best condition often come with a design or manufacturing flaw that made them not too playable when first bought?

 

 

Dave

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I think we are actually in agreement Dave. I wasn't trying to argue against a second volume, just that it should include the sort of advice that you have just outlined.

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