Jeffries Duet? On Ebay

[John D]

At least I assume it's a duet .. too many buttons to be an anglo

 

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Vintage-Concertina-Accordian-Music-Instrument-Jefferies-Bros-Circa-1905-London-/281983618383?

 

$3K buy-it-now still active ..

[maccannic]

Unless it's been converted to anglo.

[Jake Middleton-Metcalfe]

what a beast!

 

Interesting hand rests, all metal.

[inventor]

They often (perhaps usually) were metal,on Jeffries Bros Duets.

 

Inventor,

[Stephen Chambers]

They often (perhaps usually) were metal,on Jeffries Bros Duets.

 

That should probably be "on ALL Jeffries Duets" and, for that matter, on all Jeffries 4-row Anglos - which Jeffries developed his duets out of. I can only assume they did it so they could put fretwork under the "rails" (hand rests) to help the sound of the inboard bank of reeds on the pan, which tend to sound thin at the best of times.

[JimLucas]

They often (perhaps usually) were metal,on Jeffries Bros Duets.

 

That should probably be "on ALL Jeffries Duets" and, for that matter, on all Jeffries 4-row Anglos - which Jeffries developed his duets out of. I can only assume they did it so they could put fretwork under the "rails" (hand rests) to help the sound of the inboard bank of reeds on the pan, which tend to sound thin at the best of times.

 

Whatever the reason, I find them much more comfortable than the usual "rails".

 

Those whose hands are of a different size/shape than mine might well feel differently.

[JimLucas]

Unless it's been converted to anglo.

 

On the other hand, my own 45-button Jeffries duet, currently being renovated, seems quite clearly to have been originally an anglo.

[Stephen Chambers]

..., my own 45-button Jeffries duet, currently being renovated, seems quite clearly to have been originally an anglo

 

Jim Harvey, who was Secretary of the ICA when I first attended in the 1970s, told me that he got his 4-row Anglo converted to a Jeffries duet, by Jeffries.

[Alan Day]

Stephen

Did you ever get to hear Maurice, his son,play.Duet ?

Al

[inventor]

I did come across just one 45 button Jeffries Duet that had wooden hand-rests. All the others that i have ever seen had metal hand-rests.

 

Inventor.

[Stephen Chambers]

Did you ever get to hear Maurice, his son,play.Duet ?

 

I met Maurice in passing Al, he was still living with his father then, but he'd already stopped playing concertina.

 

I think I may have some privately-made 78rpm recordings of him though...

[Stephen Chambers]

I did come across just one 45 button Jeffries Duet that had wooden hand-rests. All the others that i have ever seen had metal hand-rests.

 

And I'd say there's a good likelihood that one started off with metal rails too Brian - they're only soldered together, and if that fails it's common (and easiest) to replace them with wooden ones (I've done it myself on a 4-row Jeffries Anglo, or two, in the past).

[Alan Day]

I have a converted BpFC Jeffries Anglo X Duet and that has metal rails.

Thanks Stephen for your reply. I met Maurice when I visited his Father and he was then a semi recluse living in his bedroom getting over polio.

Jim made some recordings of him playing Duet and he had a compilation cassette of his playing including the band (From memory Westminster Concertina Band ).He was only about fourteen years of age when he made the recordings.One of the finest Duet players I have ever heard.The cassette is now in the hands of Graham Bradshaw ,but there are a few copies around ,sounds like you may have one.

When I was compiling Duet International (still no news sadly) I tried to find out if Maurice was still alive.His concertina was sold at a Steam Fair in Littlehampton.He never played again after getting polio and was playing guitar when I met him.

Al

[Daniel Hersh]

Item in the original listing sold for $2950 US.