Lachenal age / model level queries

[doodle]

Following on from the previous lachenal ageing thread, I have a Lachenal 39 key anglo, metal ends & buttons, with original 7 fold bellows and radial (a la Jeffries) reed pans.  Is this usual - it is the only Lachenal I have or have ever had, so I don't know much about it?  It plays very well and I like it, but any thoughts on its age or its level in Lachenal product hierarchy would interest me.  Thanks for any guidence. 

PS I haven't found any number on it, except a '5' on the outer side of the lh reedpan.

Edited February 14, 2022 by doodle

[Bill Crossland]

Jeffries Reed pans are usually parallel, Lachenal radial.....

[Stephen Chambers]

It sounds like you may have got a Lachenal "Special Anglo Model" 39-key instrument, only they have (non-radial) parallel reed-pans à la Jeffries'. They're uncommon, but I've had quite a few of them.

 

Only, are you sure that it's a Lachenal? Because the lack of a Lachenal serial number, and the single digit 5, make that sound doubtful'

 

This is truly an occasion where "a picture (better-still, a bunch of them) speaks a thousand words!"

[doodle]

Thanks Both

 

Bill, I'm getting my radials and parallels crossed (painful!)  Yes, it is parallel reed chambers like a Jeffries.  Steven, I have found a number writ small inside one of the rh reerd chambers -196487 Thanks for your help. Tony

[Stephen Chambers]

31 minutes ago, doodle said:

Yes, it is parallel reed chambers like a Jeffries.  Steven, I have found a number writ small inside one of the rh reed chambers -196487 Thanks for your help. Tony

 

That very high serial number confirms it is a Lachenal then Tony, made at the beginning of 1924 according to the latest estimates, and the parallel reed chambers indicate that it is the Special Anglo Model I'd supposed it to be - they're very nice instruments.

 

They were the most expensive model of Anglo, at £13 0 0 on the c.1920 Price List, though by the time of the c.1930 Price List they'd been overtaken by the new New Model Anglos. 

[doodle]

Thank you so much, Steven, for both your time and expertise.  Brilliant!  Ta Tony

[Joe G.]

Following the topic of this thread, I have a 39-button Lachenal with metal ends/buttons, parallel reed pans and Jeffries fingering. It's tuned to G/D, but I suspect it was originally in Ab/Eb. It has two numbers stamped inside, and they don't quite agree. On the reed pan it's stamped 199776, but on the inside of the bellows frame it reads 199797. I'd like to know anything about the instrument that this information reveals. 

Thanks,

Joe

[Stephen Chambers]

1 hour ago, Joe G. said:

Following the topic of this thread, I have a 39-button Lachenal with metal ends/buttons, parallel reed pans and Jeffries fingering. It's tuned to G/D, but I suspect it was originally in Ab/Eb. It has two numbers stamped inside, and they don't quite agree. On the reed pan it's stamped 199776, but on the inside of the bellows frame it reads 199797. I'd like to know anything about the instrument that this information reveals. 

Thanks,

Joe

 

Lachenal Price Lists reveal that the Special Anglo Model was available "Tuned in C, Bb or Ab as ordered." (Meaning C/G, Bb/F or Ab/Eb - which are the only keys that I've had them in.)

 

Both 199776 and 199797 would have been made in 1927, but components (especially in a band situation) sometimes get switched between instruments. Otherwise, the buyer might have ordered spare reed-pans to play in other keys.

[Joe G.]

Thank you, Stephen. It's a pretty sweet concertina altogether.