MacCann 46 button

[PeteH]

Hi all

I have just acquired a 46 button metal ended MacCann, with the ambition to restore and learn to play this instrument. 

Serial No seems to be 2133 so presumably fairly early? The metal ends have a raised section where the buttons are which I have not seen before on a metal ended instrument.

It is in modern concert pitch and has been "restored" before, at present there is nothing between the ends and the button levers which I guess is not original?  What should I use to replace it. Some dove tail slot have been cut in the ends? again I have not seen this before. Is this original? Looking forward to the answers!!

 

Pete H.

[Wolf Molkentin]

Hi Pete, congratulations (if deemed appropriate) to having acquired this new instrument.

I can‘t make much of your photographs, however the four digits might very well point at a „batch“ (and not serial) number.

What you’re describing re the metal ends seems to be just what is called „raised ends“ (allowing the ends to be smaller apart from the raised section).

Good luck with the restauration project!

Best wishes - ?

[Dowright]

2133 is a standard 4-digit serial number for a Lachenal duet concertina. All  Lachenal duets, Maccann and Crane, had 1-to-4 digit serial numbers. Lachenal did not have 4-digit batch numbers. No 2133 was made circa 1901.

[Dee746]

Did the serial numbers for Lachenal Maccann Duet concertina go up sequentially?  Anotherwords, if 2133 was made circa 1901, would a Lachenal Maccann duet with a 4 digit number of 1317 have been produced in an earlier year?

 

Also, does anyone know if the numbering sequences were different for Lachenal Maccaan Duet with different numbers of keys - i.e. start at different base numbers according to number of keys on the duet concertina (e.g. 46 keys vs 55, 67 or 81 keys)

 

I've just purchased a refurbished 46 key Lachenal Maccann duet serial number 1317 (still winging it's way to me by mail from the UK to the US) .

It has rosewood ends, metal buttons, steel reeds and 6 fold bellows.  The seller, places it as circa 1900.  

 

Just wondered if anyone has a sense of the method by which Lachenal Maccan Duets were assigned their serial numbers.

 

Thanks all.

Edited May 20, 2019 by Dee746
typo

[JimLucas]

22 hours ago, Dee746 said:

Just wondered if anyone has a sense of the method by which Lachenal Maccan Duets were assigned their serial numbers.

 

Dowright is the expert, but my recollection is that in the beginning all Lachenal duets (i.e., both Crane/Triumph and Maccann) shared a single sequence of serial numbers, but later the sequence split so that each of the two types had its own sequence.  But within every Lachenal serial number sequence (Englishes and anglos each had their own sequence, too), a lower number means an earlier instrument.

 

Edited to add:  Oops!  wes williams says I got that backward.  See his following post for the correction.

Edited May 20, 2019 by JimLucas

[wes williams]

Other way around, Jim. Both Dowright and I came to the same conclusion independently a few years ago - Crane and Maccann Duets started with separate sequences and joined up later, sometime around the First World War.

Edited May 20, 2019 by wes williams

[JimLucas]

On 5/21/2018 at 9:49 PM, PeteH said:

The metal ends have a raised section where the buttons are which I have not seen before on a metal ended instrument.

 

I have a 55-button metal-ended Lachenal (#1272) which has similar "raised ends".  I believe that qualifies it as a New Model.

 

I previously had another 55-button metal-ended Lachenal (#1874) which also has such "raised ends".

 

On 5/21/2018 at 9:49 PM, PeteH said:

Some dove tail slot have been cut in the ends? again I have not seen this before. Is this original? Looking forward to the answers!!

 

#1874 also has such "slots" in the sides of the ends.  There was a discussion here some years ago about that, but I don't currently have a link to it.

[JimLucas]

5 minutes ago, wes williams said:

Other way around, Jim.

 

Oops!  Thanks for the correction.

[Stephen Selby]

Would the slots in the ends have been to allow insertion of a music holder?

[Dee746]

Thanks all for the info.

[JimLucas]

On 5/21/2019 at 4:32 AM, Stephen Selby said:

Would the slots in the ends have been to allow insertion of a music holder?

 

No, at least not on #1874.

 

1) They don't provide a means to anchor such a holder.

 

2) They are found on all six sides of both ends.  Doesn't make sense to mount a music holder in most of those directions... e.g., underneath.

 

3) #1272 does have a mounting for a music holder.  It is quite sturdy and is screw-mounted on the left-end hand bar.

 

They are basically "sideways-facing" fretwork, allowing sound to escape the ends radially in addition to straight out.  Maybe (this is pure speculation) intended to let the player better hear the instrument as it's played?  The ones underneath probably wouldn't help much with that, but might have been included for visual symmetry.

[JimLucas]

Hi folks.  Not the thread I was looking for, but click here for one that includes two photos of #1874, showing both the raised end and the "cutouts" that PeterH posted about his #2133.