Puzzled

[Frosty]

I need to adjust one of the springs in my Wakker English. It's not clear to me how to access the action pan. I've removed the screws that I can see, but there must be something else that needs to be loosened.

I've written to Wim, but no response yet.

 

Any ideas?

 

Thanks,

Frosty

[d.elliott]

have you released the middle screw of the finger slide? under the leather facing.

 

why do you feel the need to adjust a spring?

[Frosty]

Yes, I released that one. I have also now released the other two smaller screws to the left and right of it, but to no obvious effect. Not even sure exactly where to pry, to check whether it is free.

 

One of the pads is not closing quickly enough, and it is obvious that the spring is exerting too weak a pressure, relative to the other  springs and relative to what this particular spring was like until recently.

[Geoff Wooff]

It  is  possible  that  the   friction pressure  of  the  felt  bushings  on  the  buttons  is  causing  a  cumulative  'grip'  which  makes  the  seperation of  the  two  sections   harder than  you  imagine  it  should be.

Edited February 17, 2022 by Geoff Wooff

[d.elliott]

I would try taking the other end off and releasing the screws to see if the split line is more obvious.

 

[dabbler]

It seems to me that if all the finger slide screws had been removed, that the slide itself could be removed.  I wouldn't expect that metal piece to be glued down.

[d.elliott]

Dabbler, experience has taught that, as leather gasketing clamped up firmly can act like a bond to the underside of the padboard, then so can fresh polish. With the ebony trim around the action box split line I cannot tell which side of the trim is the split line. I think that the OP needs to find this out before he can progress with the problem of opening the action box to access the springs, keys and end plate bushings.

[David Barnert]

Don’t forget, this is not a very old instrument. It’s a Parnassus. Wim has only been making them for a decade or so. I wouldn’t be surprised if @Frosty bought it new considerably more recently than that (I don’t think he had it when I met him in Helsingor 8 1/2 years ago).

[Frosty]

Thanks for the suggestions.  Puzzle solved:

 

[David Barnert]

Good news. How did you solve it? Did you hear from Wim? Did you work it with gentle pressure until something gave? Did you find another screw to remove?

[Frosty]

I inserted a razor blade into the most plausible joint, and gently pried. It immediately popped open. 

As expected, there are two wooden posts to accept a screw from the finger rest and a screw from the thumb strap anchor. Once those screws had been removed, it was apparently just the final layer of veneer polish that was holding the pieces together. 

It then took 10 seconds to tweak the problematic spring. Now it's playing perfectly again.

 

For info: the Parnassus has a beautifully balanced tone. It's a bit too large and massive for my taste for Irish traditional, so it takes time to get used to dealing with its momentum. But with concertinas, everything is a compromise. I have a very nice Wheatstone English from the 1920s that is much easier to play rhythm-wise, but it can't compete with the Parnassus on depth and complexity of timbre.