Value Of A 20 Key Wheatstone?

[anton]

Hey everyone,

 

I am interested in the concertina. I have been playing irish music for a few years, mostly on guitar and mandolin, but also some flute and whistle.

 

In process of reading up on anglo concertinas i found my local trad music shop has one. I went yesterday to check it out. It looks to be a 20 key Wheatstone in C/G. Still in the original case. It has steel reeds and the end plates look to be mahagony. I played a few notes, though i dont actually play concertina. Everything sounded ok, though i noticed that when i gently squeezed it together while not having any buttons depressed it still played a note. Is that normal? Shouldnt i have to push a button in order for the air to leave the bellows?

 

 

Any idea on the value of something like this. The owner wanted around $500 for it. I am thinking ideally i want a 30 key, so i can be more or less chormatic.

 

 

 

 

 

anton

[Alan Day]

Hallo Anton,

The constant sounding note is usually a pad problem and can easily be fixed,but there is a possibility it could be something else.If it were at auction here I would not pay any more than about £120 for it.It may be in old concert pitch ,did you check that out?It would cost money to get it re tuned if you wanted to play with friends.There are a lot of things to consider when buying a concertina from somebody who is not a dealer.OK they put on their mark up ,but you are buying a playable instrument and can return it if it has a problem.

We want you here on this site Anton not an unhappy ex owner of a rubbish instrument.

Take care

Al

PS I am not a dealer only a player

[anton]

Thanks for the advice. Looks like i will just get a concertina from the Button Box or someplace similar. I was thinking a 30 key Anglo Stagi. That way i am not investing a ton of money up front. The Button Box seems like a reputable place, but there are also similar instruments in the buy/sell forum for significantly less. What do you all reccomend? The thing about the Button Box is that i won't get burned, and the instrument has been serviced and is in tune.

 

 

 

anton

[Robin Harrison]

.................wouldn't a 20 Key Wheatstone Anglo be quite an unusul instrument ? Lachenal , loads of 'em.......but Wheatstone ?

Regs Robin

[JimLucas]

It looks to be a 20 key Wheatstone in C/G.  Still in the original case.

Welcome to the gang!

 

What's the serial number on the 20-button Wheatstone? We can probably learn more about it from the Wheatstone ledgers.

 

If you want to play Irish in sessions, it's probably not what you want, but somebody here might be interested. Where are you located? Wanna tell us more about yourself?

[anton]

Sure. I am 25 and live in Tallahassee, FL. Guitar is my main instrument. I played classical guitar thru high school and in two years of college until i discovered celtic trad music. What i mainly do these days is take celtic tunes that i like and arrange them for solo guitar, kinda like Steve Baughman or Martin Simpson.

 

That being more of a solo or duo thing, i also play mandolin and rhythm guitar so i can participate in sessions. Mandolin is my main melody instrument for sessions. I used to play classical flute when i was younger, so i picked up an irish flute recently and can play it fairly well. I learned some tunes on it, but for some reason was not really driven to do it alot.

 

So enter the concertina. I still have the desire to play a sustaining trad irish instrument. I like how the concertina sounds, and the fact that you can play multiple notes on it. I would probably still use the mando for faster tunes, but it would be nice to use the concertina for tunes like The Drunker Gauger, which i have been playing lately. I really like how Paddy League and Grey Larsen play it on Dark of the Moon

 

So thats me. I would like to get just a basic beginner 30 key C/G concertina. It looks like Stagi is my only choice. I was basically just looking at the Button Box, but Hobgoblin Music also has them, for a bit less. What do you guys think? I should prob just go with the Button Box.

 

 

 

 

anton