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New Bellows For Old, New Bellows For Old


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Dave Leese - the Mr UNIPART of the concertina world- and I have been debating and cooperating about concertina parts, quality, sources and repairs for some years now. We have naturally discussed various bellows options, but to my shame he (the other Dave) has gone and done it!

 

A set of bellows fitted complete to your frames for less than £150,

 

OR - and this is the good bit!!!!

 

FOR LESS THAN £100

 

A self fix kit comprising of:

- a bellows core assembly

- a run of self adhesive hinge fabric

- two lengths of skived end binding

- bellows papers (design to be specified)

- full instructions

 

You supply glue, gum and sticky fingers.

 

I have taken the first production self fix kit and built them onto a concertina thus saving around £130 on the job!!! The bellows were a little stiffer initially, but are already playing in nicely. Cosmetically they are excellent.

 

This means that 'lower end instruments' needing bellows become economically viable; E-bay purchases are less of a risk; repair turnaround times are drastically reduced; the risk of loss of a set of bellows frams in the post has gone; and the concertina world becomes more accessible to us all.

 

Sorry to you professional repairers, but you now need to sharpen your pencils, and/ or come up with your own version.

 

You are challenged (and its a British challenge)

 

Having now fitted one set of these bellows, and it was far easier than ever I thought possible, I think I can strip and assemble a set in about two hours, and fix papers in another two to three hours (including all the cutting out of the papers which is the boring bit).

 

If anyone wants pix I will see if I can oblige, and post some later

 

You can tell from the tone of this posting how excited I am about this development I just had to share the news!!!!

 

Dave E

Edited by d.elliott
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...

A set of bellows fitted complete to your frames for less than £150,

 

OR - and this is the good bit!!!!

 

FOR LESS THAN £100

 

...

Dave E

 

Dave,

 

Thanks for this good news. Do you know if the bellows are available in custom sizes? e.g. for a baritone.

 

Regards

 

Howard Mitchell

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Howard,

 

Dave has only just got his first few bellows cores made in this manner, these are six sided, six fold to fit a standard frame, with some room for adjustment to fit the usual variation expected from one machine to another.

 

The design can be easily adapted to go Aeola, or to suit big frames. Trouble is that the big instruments were not very standard, and I don't know what his jigs will adjust to, nor the costs in putting down lots of variations in card and paper sizes. I think its more a case of from little acorns big bellows may grow, eventually.

 

However its only in black at the moment, as well.

 

Dave

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  • 3 weeks later...
  • 2 weeks later...
  • 2 weeks later...

Your new venture sounds very interesting I am sure I will use your bellows sooner or later.

However a word of caution as "self adhesive" rang a bell. Around 35 years ago I worked as a Chemist in the laboratories of a well known English self adhesive tape manufacturer. I also tested the products of our main competitor the well known USA self adhesive tape manufacturer. These products are only meant to have a limited life, mostly sold to the packaging industry; with a shelf life of about 3 years. The type made from "leathercloth" and adhesive was intended mainly for marking out large gymnasiums to indicate Marching patterns! The type with the longest life before it deteriorated (intended to make repairs to library books) only had a life in use of 7 years.

Expected life for a concertina bellows is very much longer than this; 70 years or more possibly. I would be a pity to put all that work into making a concertina bellows and have it turn into a gungy mess after 3 years. Of course adhesives have moved forward since I have been out of the industry for 35 years but you should check with the adhesive tape manufacturer to find out how long they will guarantee the life of the adhesive in use.

 

Inventor

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Firstly this in not my venture, I simply used a first production assembly.

 

Never the less Dave Leese (who owns this venture) recognised the transient nature of some self adhesive tapes, that is why the tape (which has a very open weave) is painted over with PVA adhesive. To lock it into position.

 

I should also explain that the only area where a self adhesive tape is used is under the bellows frame bindings, to help form the bellows core to frame hinge. There is no chance of bellows collapsing into a gungy mess (as you suggest).

 

Dave E

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  • 2 months later...

I am considering replacing the bellows on my 30 button Lachenal - has anyone any advice on the advisability of using this kit?

 

My only real worry is that the bellows website says "This kit is aimed at instruments where the cost of a new set of bellows would normally be uneconomical.", on the other hand, they seem to be good quality bellows.

 

The instrument - while "only a Lach" is quite a good one, and has a very sweet tone, so I don't want to harm it in any way.

 

Any advice / experiences?

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I am considering replacing the bellows on my 30 button Lachenal - has anyone any advice on the advisability of using this kit?

 

My only real worry is that the bellows website says "This kit is aimed at instruments where the cost of a new set of bellows would normally be uneconomical.", on the other hand, they seem to be good quality bellows.

 

Any advice / experiences?

 

Rod,

 

I have fitted about five of these bellows kits now, They are a little heavier than the top quality tailored bellows, but anglo bellows are usually a bit heavier anyway.

 

The drawbacks are:

 

1 they take a bit longer to play in, but all that I have fitted have played in well, (lost stiffness) so this is not a long term problem

 

2. There is only black leather at this time

 

3. They are only in standard size, hexagonal, six folds

 

4. The panels are papered, so if yours is 'all black' then you may need to talk, there is no gold block work option

 

5. there is a slight thickening of the bellows around the corners

 

6. You need to match your current papers by talking to Dave, he has a range from cross & dot, to the two different forms of Jeffries, with fancy florally ones in between.

 

7. You need to have the confidence, (rather than skills), to take the job on.

 

Plus points:

 

1. almost down to half price!

 

2. strong and effective solution

 

3. cosmetically reasonable, infinitely better than old and marked, patched and repaired bellows

 

4. minimum out of service time

 

5. if you get stuck (forgive glue based pun) then you can till send the kit and frames to someone to finish the job off.

 

Personally

 

I would not fit these bellows to a top quality 1890/ 1920's Wheatson English , but these would probably be all black bellows anyway.

 

Subject to other evidences of wear and overall instrument condition, I would consider fitting the bellows to any suitable instrument where I would not be significantly altering the cosmetic charateristics of the concertina. Its a matter of owner's choice to change green bellows to black, to change all black to papered bellows, or to sacrifice gold block work. In these cases, you may have to consider the potential for detrimental cosmetic change against the need for good, affordable, and servicable bellows.

 

Not knowing your instrument, but being an anglo, and if papered bellows are already fitted, then you should be pleased with the result. Do you wish to post a picture of your current bellows, and how bad are they??

 

Dave E

Edited by d.elliott
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I have installed one of these kits on a rosewood Lachenal. The instructions are easy to follow (once I found the page I had got out of sequence!). Theylook very good. They seem to be fine although I haven't finished other work on the concertina and haven't been able to put them through their paces yet.

 

I will doing this work soon so I'll report back in a week or two.

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