Interesting concertina, what do these notations in the Wheatstone ledgers mean..?

[Chris Ghent]

I am picking the words in the column where the model number usually  are  ”Clas C” and mean Class C reeds. It then says “AG” (Anglo, right?), “large model, 37 keys”, and then what? Solid bel? Does it mean beefier anglo bellows? And large model is very imprecise.  The instrument is very unusual. It is a 6 1/2” Linota anglo in G/D ( used to be Af/Ef). But there is something else very unusual about it. I won’t point it out, can you spot it..?

[Chris Ghent]

PS, I’m not talking about the ridges in the tops of the buttons, which I think are an attempt to make the buttons less slippery in the heat. 

[Bill Crossland]

Straight buttton rows and odd button layout..... Does it play as a conventional anglo?

 

[Theo]

Solid buttons perhaps?  Standard Wheatstone wooden core buttons would be through to the core with those grooves.

[malcolm clapp]

Are the top and bottom sides slightly elongated, or is that just the angle of the photo?  My Jeffries Brothers ex-Ab/Eb has that feature, presumably to allow a little more space for the length of the lowest left hand reeds.

 

AG is, I suspect, Anglo German, so perhaps the straight lines of buttons were an attempt to copy the configuration of many German-made concertinas, presumably as requested to order by a customer.

 

Solid Bel??? No idea....

[John Wild]

1 hour ago, malcolm clapp said:

Solid Bel??? No idea....

Given the style of writing, could that be an abbreviation for gold bellows, referring to the bellows papers? Just a guess.

[Stephen Chambers]

6 hours ago, Chris Ghent said:

Solid bel?

 

Are there any papers on the bellows, or are they leather all-over?

[Alex West]

In the 1910 Wheatstone anglo catalogue (on the Concertina Library site), the description of a Class C instrument includes "...solid dark morocco 6 fold bellows,..." so I'd guess it's highly likely that the writing in the ledger is referring to solid bellows.  Mind you, there's nothing which indicates the noticeable difference between the solid bellows and the "...dark morocco bellows..." of the Class B, and what distinguishes solid from non-solid.  Is that what you're implying in your question about the papers, Stephen?

Alex West

[Stephen Chambers]

1 hour ago, Alex West said:

In the 1910 Wheatstone anglo catalogue (on the Concertina Library site), the description of a Class C instrument includes "...solid dark morocco 6 fold bellows,..." so I'd guess it's highly likely that the writing in the ledger is referring to solid bellows.  Mind you, there's nothing which indicates the noticeable difference between the solid bellows and the "...dark morocco bellows..." of the Class B, and what distinguishes solid from non-solid.  Is that what you're implying in your question about the papers, Stephen?

 

It is Alex.

[Chris Ghent]

It was the straight rows I was seeing as the truly unusual feature. As George Bolliger pointed out (he showed it to me) when you play it you don’t feel anything different to curved rows. I can’t remember seeing bellows papers and for that reason I don’t believe there are any.  I can ring George and ask if anyone really needs to know. Malcolm (Hi Malcolm!), the hexagon is regular. Bill, it is a regular anglo.

 

It was interesting seeing reeds that you know are definitely Class C. Their clearances were good but not great. There was no obvious (to me) geometry differences. The reeds were on the thinner side. 
 

There is another unusual aspect to the concertina and I should probably have shown it. Here it is..! (I realise now you can see there are no bellows papers in this shot)

Edited July 8, 2020 by Chris Ghent
Stupidity

[PaddyLosty]

Interesting that the reeds weren't great. I thought their Class C was "Extra Superior".  What's the serial number range on that instrument?