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Lachenal anglo baffles


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I have a Rosewood Lachenal Anglo No. 178102 (not sure if the last number is 2, 3 or 8.) It doesn’t have leather baffles but it has a red netting instead, don’t know if this is original. Anyway, I want to replace this with leather baffles, my question is what type of leather was/is used for this? Was it originally red for the anglos of this period? 
 

(My concertina is the same model as the photo below) 

 

 

2066F3A7-DD69-4E4B-88B6-75AF4EE05F47.jpeg

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I cannot say that I have ever seen baffles as such being fitted to an Anglo. Lachenal used to fit a sort of fabric paper as a dark cherry red trim, and some sort of gauze could be fitted as a dust barrier. Baffles were fitted to English systems to modify tonality, and in some cases horseshoe shaped baffles, sometime spruce some times leather, I think sheepskin was popular to balance the sound energy of the deep notes against the upper end squeakers. So why do you want to fit baffles to your Anglo?

 

Dave

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I see, I’ve been told that if the baffles are not replaced, there is a gap as thick as the leather, so the support pillar is not touching the end and therefore not doing what it is there for. And also to prevent dust obviously as the red net that is fitted right now doesn’t help.

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I have a Lachenal Anglo dating to about 1860 which has original red leather baffles of the "horseshoe" shape described by David. I haven't opened it up recently, but I am pretty sure the shaping avoids the leather passing over the support posts, so does not create the "gap" issue. The red net is an attempt to prevent carpet moth laying their eggs on the tasty (for them) woollen felt in the pads. I would imagine that any fabric fine enough to stop dust would reduce airflow significantly.

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Interesting, in my case the small fretwork screw protrudes too far through the action board and is sticking out a little bit. I’d be great if you could open it up and post a photo of the back of the fretwork. Was the red net common on Anglos from this period? I might as well leave it there but it does look a bit odd. When I received (in original condition), the right side was significantly dustier than the left side. 

Edited by rcr27
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2 hours ago, rcr27 said:

Interesting, in my case the small fretwork screw protrudes too through the action board and is sticking out a little bit. I’d be great if you could open it up and post a photo of the back of the fretwork. Was the red net common on Anglos from this period? I might as well leave it there but it does look a bit odd. When I received (in original condition), the right side was significantly dustier than the left side. 

The protrusion of the fretwork screw through to the action board face is fairly common I'd say.  It looks a bit odd, and can be a source of a mysterious air leak until you put that screw in, but once it's seated, the leak goes away...

 

Alex West

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There was usually a series of card shims between the top of the spacing pillar and the underside of the action box cover, often these get lost or omitted. It has nothing to do with any baffles as the material has to be incompressible to be effective. Baffles are nit dust filters, or screens. Their purpose is to attenuate or mute as necessary. Where gauze is fitted then it is intended to stop fibres, hair, even insect ingress. The number of pads and amount of felt work that I have seen that has been attacked by moth larvae is staggering.

 

I agree that the action box screws sticking out under the pad board is common place. Often you can see where they have been nipped off and the ends filed flat. It is better than taking the end off, putting it down on a highly polished table top and leaving a nice long scratch.

 

MILSEY mentions red leather horse shoe baffles on an Anglo, from what he says I guess  that would have been the reddish paper/ fabric material shaped and used behind the fretting apertures as a trim which may have been replaced with leather at some time. Often the 'paper' is cut into several bits just to be behind the fretting.

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I have a Lachenal 26K rosewood ended Anglo, Number 18878, where the ends are backed by red leather which I believe is original, as the matching number can still be read (faintly) on the left hand side. Its quite thin, less than 1mm and I was told by a friend of mine who was a bookbinder that the finish is like the red morocco he used to use but the finish is of a generally lower quality when compared to the best morocco leathers.

In this example of a Lachenal the spacing pillars are indeed backed top and bottom by thin card shims, just as David says. I have too noticed the screw head protruding slightly but also that, possibly due to shrinkage and drying of the rosewood and compaction of the card, that the fretwork is slightly concave, which appears to account for the gap.

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3 hours ago, Mike Jones said:

I have a Lachenal 26K rosewood ended Anglo, Number 18878, where the ends are backed by red leather which I believe is original, as the matching number can still be read (faintly) on the left hand side. Its quite thin, less than 1mm and I was told by a friend of mine who was a bookbinder that the finish is like the red morocco he used to use but the finish is of a generally lower quality when compared to the best morocco leathers.

In this example of a Lachenal the spacing pillars are indeed backed top and bottom by thin card shims, just as David says. I have too noticed the screw head protruding slightly but also that, possibly due to shrinkage and drying of the rosewood and compaction of the card, that the fretwork is slightly concave, which appears to account for the gap.

Would you say is sheepskin leather? Are the card shims glued to the pillars? 

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