Building a concertina with one kind of wood

[Vitto77]

Hi all. 

Just a curiosity - I would like to build one some day, but not now, I've no time at all at this moment. 

I was wondering, it would be a problem to build a concertina using just one kind of wood? I mean the same kind for bellows, heads, reedplates, lever boards, reed chambers. 

I've got a good amount of old walnut slabs (about 5mm thick) my grandpa left. I suppose that this walnut it's about 90/100 years old, clean and straight (choosing the right cut). 

Thanks. 

[alex_holden]

It should be possible to use walnut for most things, though 5mm is quite thin. You could probably make it work if it's already flat and smooth and you don't need to remove any more thickness.

[David Lay]

If I only had 5mm panels, I would expect to laminate pieces together to get the thickness needed for some components.  Walnut is quite dense, which will affect how you attach lever posts and otherwise detail the project.  I wonder, though, how using only a dense hardwood will affect the sound.

[Marien]

Somehow mahogany seems to be a good wood type to me. 

[wunks]

I have a table leaf and a couple of display case rails of American Chestnut I'm saving for my future Jeff duet build.  Light, strong, decay resistant and a beautiful rich dark brown.  It's probably around 100 years old and the rail pieces have some pinholes so that was probably milled from dead or dying trees ( the leaf is clean).  It's an open pored wood that looks a lot like oak but with more contrast in the grain.  I've contemplated a single wood build ( not by me ) but even though it's properties would seem to be excellent throughout, it's relatively rare and using it sparingly for visual parts only would leave plenty of material for my contemplated line of resurrected JD instruments....😄

[Frank Edgley]

The wood used for the reedpan definitely affects the sound.