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8 Fold Bellows


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Ok Michael,

 

looks good but please tell on what sort of concertina you intend this bellows for ?

 

Some tiny instruments do benefit from a long bellows and some very large sized boxes also have them but the ones in the mid range usually do not . :)

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Ok Michael,

 

looks good but please tell on what sort of concertina you intend this bellows for ?

 

Some tiny instruments do benefit from a long bellows and some very large sized boxes also have them but the ones in the mid range usually do not . :)

Full disclosure here, Geoff. I'm experimenting with jigs and other building schemes and materials so this set of bellows is not specifically intended for any instrument. For the cards here I am using architectural chip board, which is thinner than the rag board I've used before. It is a recycled pulp product. The inner hinges are gummed linen, available here from a photo supply house. The idea is to construct a set of bellows with extra folds, yet one that compresses down to a final dimension comparable to a standard set. I'm considering the idea of building a concertina, using reed organ reeds, so I may utilize this set of bellows for that.

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Ok Michael,

 

So a better compressed size sounds like a good idea as long as enough rigidity exists to combat misalignment when the bellows is well extended.

 

So you are going to need two organs to get enough reeds for a suck and squeeze concertina ?

 

Looking forward to the results of your projects.

 

Geoff.

Edited by Geoff Wooff
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Reed organ reeds are guaranteed a good supply of air and this means they do not need to be very air efficient. It may be I have only seen very poor examples but they were all woeful in the clearance department.

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Ok Michael,

 

So a better compressed size sounds like a good idea as long as enough rigidity exists to combat misalignment when the bellows is well extended.

 

So you are going to need two organs to get enough reeds for a suck and squeeze concertina ?

 

Looking forward to the results of your projects.

 

Geoff.

Right. I've used chip board before and it is very stiff stuff, more so than cotton rag board. I'm really trying to make the bellows as trim and proper as possible as were the originals. My Aeola has the original 5-fold set from 1909, and they are the exemplar. Using reed organ reeds is problematic for several reasons, but they are often parted out from un-restorable instruments so finding a few sets wouldn't be difficult, though getting them to work in a concertina may be impossible though that's never stopped me from trying before.

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