Lachenal New Model 60 key for sale- Price now £1200

[JS336]

Price now reduced to £1200

I bought this from Barleycorn Concertinas a month ago and after careful consideration have decided to put it up for sale.  I went back to the English concertina after not having played one for about four years, and I found that, while it plays certain tunes very well, it’s less-well suited to the many Scottish and Irish tunes I’ve since added to my repertoire.   It is a fantastic instrument and plays very well with a fast response, smooth action, and mellow tone. Sadly now all it does is collect dust and I'd like it to go to someone who can get plenty of use out of it. Please be aware that the highest note on the left side has had the reeds removed to allow it to function as an air button.  I have added pictures to this ad owing to some issues with the file sharing site I was using not displaying the pictures I'd posted.

 

Please don't hesitate to ask any questions you may have about this instrument.

 

Now also advertised on ebay.

 

 

  Buyer welcome to collect in person. Happy to send via courier, but with adequate protection, the cost is just over £85.

Edited April 17, 2019 by JS336
Needed to include some important extra information.

[Wolf Molkentin]

17 hours ago, JS336 said:

Photos available at https://imgur.com/MiQl9iO

 

I can just see one picture.

[JS336]

Hi, it seems the file sharing site I was using is having issues displaying the album properly. I've gone ahead and added some pictures here. 

[Geoff Wooff]

So,  what is the problem when playing some tunes ?  Is the problem  the  English  keyboard  or  something  about  this actual  concertina  ?

[JS336]

It's mostly to do with the arrangement of notes in the English system, yes.  I find that many tunes I play nowadays require quite complex fingering patterns and quite a bit of thinking about which finger has to end up where in order to play the next phrase. It reminds me of struggling with the piano accordion. I have to admit that after playing an anglo concertina for a while, and comparing the two systems, I much prefer the anglo for ease of access to all notes without having to contort my hand into odd positions to play passages on the lower part of the scale.  

 

The concertina itself plays beautifully well. It was refurbished quite recently and handles like a dream.  It's the most responsive instrument of its kind that I've ever played. I love it, but I hardly use it at all, and would like it to go to a good home. 

[John Wild]

You might find it might be useful to describe the note range outside the standard 48-button treble. Are the extra notes all extended upwards, or are there any lower notes?

[Wolf Molkentin]

3 hours ago, John Wild said:

You might find it might be useful to describe the note range outside the standard 48-button treble. Are the extra notes all extended upwards, or are there any lower notes?

 

As I had considered to buy the instrument myself (prior to the OP‘s acquisition of it), I‘m able to tell that it‘s all extended upwards to the best of my knowledge...

 

Best wishes - ?

 

P.S.: would be in accordance to the layout as well I reckon

 

Edited April 14, 2019 by Wolf Molkentin
P.S. added

[JS336]

Hi, I can confirm the note range is extended upwards. I believe it goes two octaves beyond the normal range, though admittedly I know very little about the technical side of these instruments.

 

Edited April 14, 2019 by JS336
wrote far too much in initial response.

[Wolf Molkentin]

1 hour ago, JS336 said:

Hi, I can confirm the note range is extended upwards. I believe it goes two octaves beyond the normal range, though admittedly I know very little about the technical side of these instruments.

 

 

A usual extended treble (56b) adds a fifth to the range, ending with a G, thus providing four octaves in total.

 

I reckon the 60b, having another four buttons, might end with an A (adding an A and a G# to the range, plus the enharmonics Eb - omitted on a 56b ET - and Ab, the latter being the most likely candidate for having been changed to an air valve).

 

Certainly any „extension“ by more than an octave can be ruled out here...

 

Edited April 14, 2019 by Wolf Molkentin

[JS336]

Hi, I double checked just now and it does indeed end with a (very high) A. I wonder why the range goes so far up- I'd think there would be enough range in the first two octaves to play pretty much anything. As for the air button, the pattern of notes is so fiddly up that end of the keyboard it's hard to tell exactly what I'm hitting. Chris Algar included a note with the concertina when it first arrived that mentioned which reeds had been removed, but I seem to have misplaced it.

[Wolf Molkentin]

2 hours ago, JS336 said:

I wonder why the range goes so far up- I'd think there would be enough range in the first two octaves to play pretty much anything.

 

I can‘t tell exactly, as I‘m including harmony in my playing (which is perfectly doable with the EC!). 3 octaves is at least required I guess (as you won’t want to be forced to „squeeze“ (pun noticed) everything into a smaller range without the freedom of choosing the key of your preference, or singing voice).

 

The notes beyond the high C (where the treble layout is ending, at 3 1/2 octaves) had rather been meant for „artistic“ gimmicks of Victorian or Music Hall virtuosos - but you can (particularly with an instrument producing a „mellow“ tone, as you - and Chris - say it does) either shift tunes by half an octave or even an entire octave, or double the melody with the higher octave.

[Wolf Molkentin]

3 hours ago, JS336 said:

As for the air button, the pattern of notes is so fiddly up that end of the keyboard it's hard to tell exactly what I'm hitting. Chris Algar included a note with the concertina when it first arrived that mentioned which reeds had been removed, but I seem to have misplaced it.

 

It has to be one of the enharmonic doublings - preferably a very high and thus rarely used one. As the instrument will have been re-tuned not only to today‘s concert pitch but to equal temperament as well (Chris would have mentioned if not so), you don’t strictly need both the Ab and the G#, resp. the Eb and the D# - and a majority of fellow concertinists might prefer keeping G# and Eb.

 

My candidate, as said, is the „very high“ Ab, i.e. the button sitting adjacent to the A we‘ve been referring to, on top of the left outer row on the left hand side (both for dispensability and practicability).

 

Edited April 14, 2019 by Wolf Molkentin

[rcr27]

How much did you buy it for? As far as I know Barleycorn Concertinas have 1 year guarantee, so since you bought it a month ago, wouldn’t it be better to ask Chris for a refund?, or even better, part exchange for an anglo that suits your music style. 

[JS336]

I paid £1450 for it. I did ring Chris Algar for a reminder as I'd forgotten the final price. I let it slip that I was putting it on the forum here and he made no offer to buy it back from me; in fact he sounded offended, so I am assuming that that is not an option, and I'm not interested in another concertina.

[Daniel Hersh]

From Barleycorn's web site: "We guarantee our instruments for a year from the date of sale.  We send instruments by mail order on a weeks approval."   But a guarantee isn't quite the same thing as a refund for an instrument with no problems.