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One of our dancers is retiring, so he has dug out the 36-button CG Crabb Anglo his mum (*) bought in

the 1960s in order to 'join the band'. (The family lived a couple of streets away from the Crabb workshop).

 

It has only been used occasionally in the past 25 yeas, so needs a re-furbish. Questions:

 

1) will he be able to replace the tooled leather straps (with the Crabb name on them, apparently)?

2) is there anyone in the area of Manchester, or within reasonable distance by public transport,

   who can service the instrument? He doesn't want to put the thing in the post, and wants to visit

   'in person'. From what he says, it needs new straps (see 1 above), opening up and cleaning, reeds

   checking for corrosion and possible fine-tuning. I don't know what tuning it is in.

 

I can suggest a couple of fettlers who can deal with 2), but just in case I have missed any, perhaps

folks could add their suggestions...

 

Thanks.

 

Roger

 

(*) I wish my mum had bought me a Crabb!

  

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On 11/1/2019 at 6:09 AM, lachenal74693 said:

 

2) is there anyone in the area of Manchester, or within reasonable distance by public transport,

   who can service the instrument? He doesn't want to put the thing in the post, and wants to visit

   'in person'. From what he says, it needs new straps (see 1 above), opening up and cleaning, reeds

   checking for corrosion and possible fine-tuning. I don't know what tuning it is in.

 

I can suggest a couple of fettlers who can deal with 2), but just in case I have missed any, perhaps

folks could add their suggestions...

  

 

Alex himself is only 20 - 25 miles away, if he's not too busy making new instruments. But I expect you'd already thought of him.

 

LJ

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I live not far from the Flouch end of the Woodhead Pass, Manchester is a big place, but I usually allow about 45 mins, plus whatever to get to where I need to go in Manchester itself. I see you are in Urmston, I was in digs there in the late 1960's, its a small, and now hexagonal world.

 

Dave

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15 hours ago, d.elliott said:

I live not far from the Flouch end of the Woodhead Pass, Manchester is a big place, but I usually allow about 45 mins,

plus whatever to get to where I need to go in Manchester itself. I see you are in Urmston, I was in digs there in the late

1960's, its a small, and now hexagonal world.

 

Thanks for making your location clear.

 

I've passed the information along to Frank, and I'll see him (and the Crabb!) at practice tonight. I've advised him to buy a

copy of your book too - do I get a small commission if he buys ? ?

 

Urmston: Aye, I moved away in 1968 (for 46 years) and moved back 4 years ago. Sounds like you may have been there

about the time I pushed off to college...

 

Apropos nothing at all: I recently read that, after deserting from the army during WWII, weel-kent Salfordian and wanna-be

Scot Jimmie Miller (a.k.a. Ewan MacColl) spent the war years hiding in a house in Manor Avenue, Urmston, less than a mile

from where I'm sitting. Small, hexagonal, but interesting place, Urmston...

 

Edited by lachenal74693
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On 11/9/2019 at 3:58 PM, d.elliott said:

Then there was the Nag's Head, Mild & Bitter and the Manchester board in the back room, too much of my

grant was passed over that bar

Yes, the Nag recently re-opened after a major face-lift. I haven't been in yet, but they are reported to be selling

bitter at less than £2.50 per pint... No doubt you will also remember the Moss Vale, the Garrick, the Nelson, the

Roebuck, etc. I digress - enough!

Edited by lachenal74693
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  • 1 month later...

I finally got my hands on this re-furbished Crabb for a few minutes last night. Today, it will be winging

its way to its new home in Berlin, but will be making occasional visits 'back home' - when I hope to be

able to get my hands on it again.

 

No pictures, but this is a super instrument. 36-button C/G Anglo, 6-fold bellows, metal ends, metal

buttons. Restored by Accordion Magic, a company of whom I had not previously heard. They seem

to have done a good job!

 

Most noticeable was the weight - significantly lighter than my Marcus G/D hybrid, and I'm guessing

that it was also lighter than my 30-button C/G Wolverton. Played like a dream, there was no 'play' or

'wobble' in the buttons, so I guess the 'engineering' under the bonnet is all made to very high spec'

(I don't think the buttons were bushed), The sound was a complete revelation - mellow, but at the

same time making its presence felt rather strongly (a poor description, but the best I can do!).

 

I'll try and get pictures and possibly a short sound clip.

 

Wonderful piece of kit!

 

Edited by lachenal74693
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