My southafrikan concertina collection

[Jacokotze]

What is the best way to preserve the bellows , some of them makes like a cracking noise if not played in a while 

Edited December 10, 2023 by Jacokotze
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[Luke Hillman]

Thanks for posting this -- you have quite a collection! I'll leave the bellows question to others who know better, and will add my own question:

Most of the South African concertinas I've seen, including these ones, have bright red baffles. Is this a regional style choice? A trend of a particular time period? Or perhaps something else?

[Chris Ghent]

I have seen them with the actionboard and the padboard painted red also…

[Richard Mellish]

13 hours ago, Luke Hillman said:

Thanks for posting this -- you have quite a collection! I'll leave the bellows question to others who know better, and will add my own question:

Most of the South African concertinas I've seen, including these ones, have bright red baffles. Is this a regional style choice? A trend of a particular time period? Or perhaps something else?

FWIW my 1965 Wheatstone D-A, which I bought on here from a chap in South Africa, has black baffles.

[Jacokotze]

Hi , 😂 had to google what baffles is , on all the concertinas the red is all i know aboute , I think it complements the black of the concertina , one concertina i have the inside is painted red , but i can clearly see it was not (as is) from wheatstone,  some people get creative so ive seen them change the red theam to blue or so just so there concertina looks special , i had a few verry origanal from the factory, specially 3 rows that look unplayed ( il try to post a photo)  so the baffles all are not the same kind of baffles 

 

 

Edited December 13, 2023 by Jacokotze
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