Holding bellows shut for display

[Leah Velleman]

I've got a few concertinas I want to display, but I don't want to leave them sitting with their bellows uncompressed. Does anyone have a good solution for this? Best I can think of is a huge rubber band, but I don't think that would look good.

[Steve Schulteis]

When I don't have a blocked case, I use a hook-and-loop strap (soft side facing in) to hold my concertinas closed. Maybe a little better looking than a regular rubber band, but it covers a lot of the end if your goal is display. If you can find the right size rubber band in black and neatly position it to lay flat all the way around and right up against the hand rests, that might be hard to beat.

[digver]

There is another topic in which someone posted pictures of a nice looking wooden stand they had made. Part of its purpose was to keep the bellows compressed. As I recall the pieces slipped together to interlock them and it looked simple to make.

 

Here's the topic:

https://www.concertina.net/forums/index.php?/topic/21551-storing-concertina-when-not-playing/&do=findComment&comment=199694

Edited May 16, 2024 by digver
added a link to the topic

[fred v]

How about some black string?

[JimR]

Maybe you could find a glass dome big enough for your 'tina.

[gcoover]

Could someone remind me why keeping the bellows compressed is a thing?

 

I've never had the need to do it, the instruments I have out do not appreciably expand on their own.

 

Gary

[Wolf Molkentin]

9 hours ago, gcoover said:

Could someone remind me why keeping the bellows compressed is a thing?

 

I've never had the need to do it, the instruments I have out do not appreciably expand on their own.

 

Gary

I recall several discussions of this topic here, the common approach was keeping the bellows perfectly closed in order to optimally preserve them

 

but some makers objected claiming that this was virtually useless and unnecessary

[Steve Schulteis]

I thought the reason was to avoid getting chastised for not doing it. 😜

 

It's a good idea to secure the bellows when transporting an instrument, but I doubt it makes much difference for storage. I do it anyway, but now that you ask, I don't have a great justification for it. I guess it became a habit back when I frequently carried my concertina around in a lunchbox soft case.

[Leah Velleman]

Fascinating — I'm totally ignorant on the subject, it's just that I've seen a lot of people saying you should do it, and up until this thread I'd never seen anyone saying you shouldn't.

[d.elliott]

The reason for holding the bellows closed is that when you are playing phrases, especially with chords, you can play the bellows stroke almost to closed before you get noticeable changes in resistance from the bellows. 

 

For the same reason you should, from time to time, (with some keys depressed) stretch the bellows out fully. You need to maximise the free movement of the bellows to give you the best shot at playing through phrases. A bit like a singer doing breathing exercises.

 

Edited May 19, 2024 by d.elliott