28 BUTTON - KEYS - E / B

[BILL321]

I HAVE RECENTLY ACQUIRED A 28 BUTTON ANGLO CONCERTINA - KEYS E + B -  [note NOT Eb / Bb]  WITH ADDITIONAL NOTES ON THE THIRD ROW -  E / F# / Bb / B / C#

 

MADE IN GERMANY BUT NO MAKER'S NAME

 

DOES ANYONE HAVE INFORMATION ABOUT THIS - OR SIMILAR ??

 

 

Edited September 1, 2018 by BILL321
photo added

[BILL321]

ANYONE

[Ken_Coles]

All I know is that this key combination does turn up on old German instruments, which were made for many years. Others know more about that than I.

 

Ken

[BILL321]

THANKS KEN - YOURS IS MY FIRST REPLY - BILL

[Daniel Hersh]

I'd guess it was made in the late 1800's, most likely for export from Germany to England.  It likely has a wooden action and long-plate reeds - though you could find that out for sure by taking it apart.  What are you trying to find out?

[BILL321]

hi DANIEL - thanks for your reply - you are correct with the description of the internal action, which seems to be in very good condition as I was not sure about the age - my main reason for wanting to find out a little more about the instrument is that there appears to be nothing online about GERMAN 28 models - just ENGLISH - and similarly nothing on concertinas in E and B - as I think  Eb and Bb are the favoured keys - BILL

[Takayuki YAGI]

I have seen German made 28 button model 3 times in the past on eBay. One of them was in C/G and rest of them were unknown key combination.

The example photo is from eBay.

[BILL321]

hi TAKAYUKI - thanks for that - yes the photo looks practically the same as mine - regards - BILL

[Anglo-Irishman]

HI, Bill,

I read somewhere that early German 20-button concertinas were often in A/E.This is the key combination of two of the main rows of the modern Bandoneon (main rows are G/A/E), and of course the Bandoneon is a development of the German Concertina. It also has straight, wooden levers and the reeds mounted ten (or more) to a plate. 

 

The appearance of your instrument - especially the fretwork on the ends - looks very English-inspired, though the buttons are big and white, like on German concertinas. So I would guess that this was a German concertina made for the English market. 

 

Just guesswork, FWIW!

 

Cheers,

John

[BILL321]

hi JOHN - thanks for your observations - I think you are correct about the background of the instrument - it's appearance is as you say "english inspired " and another piece of the "jigsaw" into it's history - regards - BILL

[Daniel Hersh]

Here's an instruction manual for German concertinas from 1865 that includes the 28-key layout: http://www.concertina.com/merris/sedgwick-improved-complete-german/sedgwick-improved-complete-instructions-for-german-concertina-1893.pdf .  In this example (see p. 25) the three rows are in Bb, C and G, which would be equivalent to G, A and E for your concertina, which ties in with what John said about the bandoneon layout and I believe also applies to other big German concertinas like Chemnitzers and Carlsfelders.

[BILL321]

hi DANIEL - many thanks for your link to the SEDGWICK GUIDE - very informative - where on earth did you manage to find it - because I was having no luck at all with my investigations

 

and as you rightly say the tie in of keys follows a similar pattern 

 

thanks again - BILL