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30 Key Wheatstone Anglo


sympathy

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I recently examined a wooden-ended Wheatstone from the early 1950's - a treble English - to help the owner decide what materials would be needed for repairs. The owner bought it used about 25 years ago, and used to perform baroque, ragtime, and traditional music with it.

 

The construction of the bellows looked traditional. The instrument had plastic buttons, and some of the wood looked like perhaps it could have been plywood, but the general construction seemed solid.

 

The instrument had steel reeds in aluminum frames; the reeds appeared to fit in the frames closely. It was fairly well in tune with itself, very slightly flat of concert pitch. It had a hook action that looked like it could work at least as well as the hook action I have seen on mid-range Lachenals.

 

There were too many deteriorated gaskets, bushings, valves, and pads to know how it might play when restored. The owner said that when he was playing it regularly, he liked the tone of the instrument but the notes didn't seem to have a very crisp "attack".

Edited by Brian Humphrey
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I recently purchased a similar one from the same seller. I'm very happy with it. It honks brightly and plays relatively "fast" compared with Lachenals from the same time period.

 

I'm no expert, but considering the prices that these sell for I thought it a good value. It sounds like a concertina (instead of concertina like) and is not much more expensive than a new concertina with accordian reeds. While you can't compare it with a Wheatstone from golden age, a Jeffries or a Dipper, it's an alternative, a nice "step" towards these more expensive models.

 

Anyone else try/have one?

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