Gail_Smith Posted September 29, 2018 Share Posted September 29, 2018 Even if you play a concertina under an umbrella it is going to suck water in. After a very wet Morris Federation day of dance recently, I had"lost" several notes and one sounded continuously. The problem was the leather valves sticking - and then eventually drying out in contorted ways. It has taken me a week to sort out all the problems, which I did partly by very gently re-damping the offending valves and stroking them flat while they dried. Two questions arise... 1. Does anyone have a better way of solving this problem? Next time should I take the instrument apart as soon as possible to do repairs, t=rather than waiting more than a day before I could get it home? Should I try to dry it out faster to protect the reeds, or slower to protect the valves? 2. I hate the number of times I have taken the ends of the concertina off and re-assembled them during this process. Is there a shortcut to reassembly in order to check out whether or not a reed "sounds" ? No only is it time-consuming, but I also worry about what mutiple unscrewing and rescrewing is doing to the threads on the screws. thanks Gail Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Theo Posted September 29, 2018 Share Posted September 29, 2018 Don't play in the rain. If you must play in the rain then get a whistle, harmonica, trumpet or any other waterproof instrument. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Podzol Posted September 30, 2018 Share Posted September 30, 2018 4 hours ago, Theo said: Don't play in the rain. If you must play in the rain then get a whistle, harmonica, trumpet or any other waterproof instrument. Agreed. The method of repair would depend upon what parts became moist, how moist, and whether they molded, warped, cracked, corroded, stiffened, delaminated, or otherwise failed. Hygroscopic moisture can persist a very long time in tight spaces beneath screw heads and tight seams causing problems down the road. Forcing it to dry might cause it to dry unevenly causing other problems. If you have a nice instrument that you'd like to preserve, I'd consider getting into a shop for a thorough go over. To add to the list of instruments for the rain, I'd like to add spoons, washboard, and voice. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
david robertson Posted September 30, 2018 Share Posted September 30, 2018 When I used to play for the Morris, I found that a simple plastic carrier bag solves the problem. Simply insert hands through the bag handles, and play the concertina inside the bag. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Leonard Posted September 30, 2018 Share Posted September 30, 2018 9 minutes ago, david robertson said: When I used to play for the Morris, I found that a simple plastic carrier bag solves the problem. Simply insert hands through the bag handles, and play the concertina inside the bag. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roger Hare Posted September 30, 2018 Share Posted September 30, 2018 33 minutes ago, david robertson said: When I used to play for the Morris, I found that a simple plastic carrier bag solves the problem. Simply insert hands through the bag handles, and play the concertina inside the bag. Our lead (melodeon) player wears a transparent plastic cagoule - very stylish, doesn't muffle the music too much, and our splendid musicians uniform can still be clearly seen... 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gail_Smith Posted September 30, 2018 Author Share Posted September 30, 2018 well i did have a plastic tube/bag over the bellows. Just not over the ends. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Geoff Wooff Posted September 30, 2018 Share Posted September 30, 2018 (edited) In recent conversation with an older generation accordion repairer , here in France , the matter of the amount of humidity that accordions were subjected to during public dances came up.Enthusiastic dancers perspire hugely in warm halls. This man had a lot of note books from his father who had tuned and repaired accordions on the mediteranean coast from 1940 until the early '70's. These high humidity levels were thought, by the father, to be responsable for a lot of the rust on the reeds which put instruments out of tune . During my years in County Clare one person called to me for help with her Jeffries anglo, which had suddenly gone completely off the boil. On opening it up the amount of rust on the reeds was incredible, having stopped many of them from working completely. When she said she'd been busking most of the summer at the Cliffs of Moher, well that was the reason for the destroyed reeds. The salty mist which invades those cliffs during on shore breezes had all but destroyed the reeds. So, as well as agreeing with those above who suggest not playing in the rain I would strongly advise to dry the reeds by, at least, blowing air through ( playing every reed ,in a dry warm room after such an event. Edited September 30, 2018 by Geoff Wooff Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Ghent Posted October 2, 2018 Share Posted October 2, 2018 Or this might happen 1 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
adrian brown Posted October 2, 2018 Share Posted October 2, 2018 1 hour ago, Chris Ghent said: Or this might happen God Chris, that's awful - did you really have to post that, mate, it's quite put me off my lunch :-) ... but like a disaster tourist, I'm terribly curious to know, so do tell all... A. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Geoff Wooff Posted October 2, 2018 Share Posted October 2, 2018 5 hours ago, Chris Ghent said: Or this might happen Yep that's what the Jeffries played at the Cliffs of Moher looked like.... well perhaps not quite as bad as this. Another point; when people imagine the romance of playing a few hornpipes (or accompanying sea songs ) on the deck of a sailing ship, just think what the salt air will be doing to your steel reeds!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Don Taylor Posted October 2, 2018 Share Posted October 2, 2018 That looks bad, really really bad but did you try to clean them up? Rust occupies about 9x the volume of its constituent steel so maybe they are not as bad as they look. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
d.elliott Posted October 2, 2018 Share Posted October 2, 2018 Back to topic, The one think I would NOT do is to strip the instrument to let it dry out in bits. The reed pans and the pad boards may want warp once damp, if they are all nicely bolted together then odds are that as they dry out (naturally) they will all stay stable and matched together. At most put silica gel sachets around the instrument, and in a nice dry environment play the thing to cycle dry air through the reeds and the bellows. Leaving the instrument holding moisture will risk corrosion and internal bellows fungus, a nasty white strands of musty stuff.I have seen it in bellows, on felt-work, coating woodwork and it is not easy to treat. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wunks Posted October 2, 2018 Share Posted October 2, 2018 (edited) Seems to me it's a triple (at least) problem with conflicting solutions. You want to dry the metal parts quickly to prevent rust, but dry the wooden and leather components slowly to prevent warping and/ or cracking. As a tennis player from the wooden racket, gut string era, we wiped and dried our strings and used a racket press ( having failed to obey Theo's cardinal rule). As d.elliot says above, I would first ( upon returning to your warm , dry and cozy flat, cottage or castle) play it dry. go through all the keys repeatedly. The surface moisture should dissipate before it soaks in to the valves and bellows and the valves should be held flat by air pressure when not being played. You could then fashion a stiff brace for each end that screwed or bolted to a hidden set of holes under the end plate rim (requiring it's removal. I'm reluctant to say that the end plate bolts themselves would be up to it). Alternatively, purchase an instrument made from moisture resistant materials for outdoor gigs. Edited October 2, 2018 by wunks re-read Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wunks Posted October 2, 2018 Share Posted October 2, 2018 On 9/29/2018 at 8:39 PM, Podzol said: To add to the list of instruments for the rain, I'd like to add spoons, washboard, and voice. That combo begs for nakedness and a tuba or digerido! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Ghent Posted October 3, 2018 Share Posted October 3, 2018 22 hours ago, adrian brown said: God Chris, that's awful - did you really have to post that, mate, it's quite put me off my lunch ? ... but like a disaster tourist, I'm terribly curious to know, so do tell all... A. There is a story, it is not really mine to tell, I'll write and ask the owner if they mind. I can tell you the concertina is now in one piece and plays well. Chris Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Ghent Posted October 5, 2018 Share Posted October 5, 2018 From the owner " Just a short backstory just in case its helpful.I bought it at the Brisbane Antique Centre, Annerley on the way to a job. It was in a glass display case in its leather square box with the label ‘Victorian Accordion, $350”. I had a look and it was obvious it was a basket case, its hazy now but I think it was even in two pieces. The Jeffries endplate with the double stamped F had my attention. So, haggled for 300 cash and got it. I was familiar with Jeffries from listening to Cathy Custy when she was in Melbourne years ago and always had the hankering, concertinas were on my radar for years but such rare birds. That was a lucky day, I’ve never seen another one! Probably doesn’t happen much anymore with the interwebs and Ebay, though I did see a Rudall and Rose flute on Gumtree once, so who knows whats under peoples beds." He sent it to Richard Evans, who gave it a new set of reed tongues, new bellows, reattached the veneer (which is original in that wood) and gave the ends a redo. " I think there was more work in the restoration than building one of his own Concertinas from scratch.. I remember when I collected it he was a little philosophical about all the work gone into voicing and tuning some of those reeds that he knew would more than likely never, ever get used. Richard wasn’t sure on a date of manufacture, possibly around WW1." 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jody Kruskal Posted October 6, 2018 Share Posted October 6, 2018 Is this a duet or an anglo? Regardless... what a beauty! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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