2 lovely Aeolas for sale

[david robertson]

The first of these, No.27162, is a brass-reeded treble instrument - but please don't let that deter you! These are top-quality Wheatstone brass reeds, not the gappy, breathy things found in low-end Lachenals. In terms of volume and response, they are virtually indistinguishable from steel, and this is as lively an Aeola as has ever passed through my hands.

 

The instrument is amazingly well preserved - all I have had to do is replace the straps and tune it to modern concert pitch. I listed it over a month ago, but in view of the spontaneous outburst of indifference provoked by that listing, here it is again, with the asking price reduced to £3250.

 

The second offering is a 64-key tenor-treble, No.28290.This one has had the more usual "full Monty" restoration - new pads, valves, bushes and straps, re-finished woodwork, a cosmetic bellows rebind, and tuning to modern concert pitch.

 

Now I'm well aware that most people don't lie awake at night wishing they could own a concertina with those extra bat-squeak notes at the top end. But this one is a lovely player, from arguably Wheatstone's top period. And at £3250, I'm actually asking less than you would have to pay for a 56-key of similar quality.

 

If I can tell you more about either instrument, please ask. And as always, if you're within striking distance of Norwich, you're more than welcome to come and have a squeeze. (If you're not, get in touch anyway, and we'll try to arrange something.)

 

concertina-restoration.co.uk

Edited May 30 by david robertson

[JimR]

Those are two, beautiful concertinas! If only I lived, well,  over there, and had a bit more, you know, on hand. Sigh...

[Geoff Wooff]

It  is  a very long time  since I  examined  the  'Brass'  reeds  of  an  Aeola  but memory  suggests  the metal  was  a  type of  Phosphor  Bronze , perhaps  the  type  used for making  springs ?  It  would    make  perfect  sense  to use  a  metal  designed   to  be  flexible , to  hold its  set  and  have  good  spring  abilities.

Edited June 8 by Geoff Wooff

[Stephen Chambers]

1 hour ago, Geoff Wooff said:

...  memory  suggests  the metal  was  a  type of  Phosphor  Bronze , perhaps  the  type  used for making  springs ?  It  would    make  perfect  sense  to use  a  metal  designed   to  be  flexible , to  hold its  set  and  have  good  spring  abilities.

 

Or maybe a "steel bronze" such as you get on many of the better-quality German melodeons?

 

Steel bronze is defined (here) as "a bronze of about 92 percent copper and 8 percent tin hardened by compression and used as a substitute for steel in making guns (called also Uchatius bronze).

[david robertson]

Frankly, I bow to no-one in my ignorance of matters metallurgical, but I'm happy to believe that the reeds in this particular instrument are not your common-or-garden brass. In terms of tone, volume and response, I find them absolutely indistinguishable from steel.