Baffle Material

[Doug Barr]

I'm working on an old Lachenal and the baffles are shot, I tried to clean them to no avail. I can't even figure out what this material is.....any ideas what it is and how to clean it, or where to get replacement materials? Doug

[chris]

Possibly vellum?

Chris

[Wolf Molkentin]

Might depend on what you want to accomplish. I have no knowledge regarding original baffle materials.

 

When I decided to attach baffles to my Lachenal (Excelsior) EC it was only for bringing out the beautiful fretwork and protecting the reeds from occasional dust grains. I'm very happy with my choice of thin silk fabric, which doesn't seem to affect the tone at all.

 

OTOH, if you want some muting or dampening, you'll be looking for other sorts of material...

[d.elliott]

are we talking the red paper like material here?

 

Dave

[Doug Barr]

yes the red paper like material

[Theo]

You could use something like Rexine, or the current substitute leathercloth as Rexine itself is no longer made. If there is a choice of thickness then you probably need the thinner type.

[Dan Worrall]

Have you checked Bob Gaskins' article on concertina bellows? He talks about bellows materials there. You can search for it on www.concertina.com

[Doug Barr]

Dan, Just a question for you about button layout on a 20 button Lachenal. All the diagrams I have seen have for the lowest note/button in the G row as a A-draw and a B push, but I have 2 old concertinas that have a c on the draw....was this standard in old Lachenals?

[Doug Barr]

And I have checked out the article and have found out that I was goatskin thanks Doug

[Dan Worrall]

Doug,

 

I no longer have a Lachenal at hand. Most of the old German concertinas would have G on the push and D on the draw, in order to make a good bass note on both the pull and the draw (mimics the push C and pull G combination on the C row). I find that having that extra push G ( a repeat of the push G on the C row) is handy with octave runs and such in old styles of playing; a lot of the old timers made good use of it. I have an east German one set up that way, and two of Danie Labuschagne's as well that have that arrangement; they are of course copies of the old German concertinas. An old wooden Jeffries 20 button that I have, however, is not set up like that.

 

Glad to see the article was useful. As you no doubt realized, I meant baffles not bellows!

[Tradewinds Ted]

Dan, Just a question for you about button layout on a 20 button Lachenal. All the diagrams I have seen have for the lowest note/button in the G row as a A-draw and a B push, but I have 2 old concertinas that have a c on the draw....was this standard in old Lachenals?

My 20B Cg Lachenal from 1895 or so has the C on the draw at the bottom of the G row. It may not have been common, but it is common enough!

 

That missing A doesn't exist anywhere else on the instrument, and I like to play the melody in the low range, so I do miss it for some tunes.

On the other hand if the tune doesn't go down that far, having that C there gives me some nice low end double stops on the draw, useful for A minor or even C major, particularly when most of the surrounding phrase is in G on the push.

 

On the original topic, thanks for the information. I'm considering whether to add something just inside the fretwork on the 30B I just bought, just to keep bits from falling into the works, and I hadn't figured out what that red material was on my 20B yet.

Edited November 6, 2013 by Tradewinds Ted