Edgley “New Model?”

[PaulDa321]

 

I was wondering if anybody here had played the Edgley “New Model.”  As I understand it, he’s put concertina reeds into brass reed frames, 2 each for push and pull. I guess this would be like a hybrid of a hybrid?  I haven’t heard any reviews, but the price is good if it’s got the traditional sound.  Please let us know if you’ve tried one!

[Bill N]

Do you mean his Heritage model?  I'm not aware of a "New Model".  There are some pictures of the reeds and reed pan of a Heritage model on the Construction and Repair Forum (B6 reed not sounding).  Looks like I reed per frame.

 

I haven't seen or played a Heritage model myself, but have owned and played several of his hybrid instruments, and they were all top notch.

 

[David Barnert]

1 hour ago, Bill N said:

I'm not aware of a "New Model".

 

See the 4th post in this thread. Evidently @Parker135 recognized the concertina Frank Edgley is playing in the video as “one of his New Model concertinas.”

 

[Ken_Coles]

If you go to Frank Edgley's blog, he discusses his New Model (in general terms) in a post from mid-2023.

 

Ken

[Takayuki YAGI]

I haven't tried "New Model" by myself but chatting with Frank in early 2024, he said he was using a concertina reed riveted to a rectangular frame (not dovetailed).

[Daniel Hersh]

I think the New Model might be the same as the Heritage.  Perhaps Frank will chime in here.

[David Barnert]

52 minutes ago, Daniel Hersh said:

Perhaps Frank will chime in here.

 

If you want to attract his attention to make sure he’s aware of this thread, tag him: @Frank Edgley

[Daniel Hersh]

8 hours ago, Bill N said:

Do you mean his Heritage model?  I'm not aware of a "New Model".  There are some pictures of the reeds and reed pan of a Heritage model on the Construction and Repair Forum (B6 reed not sounding).  Looks like I reed per frame.

 

I haven't seen or played a Heritage model myself, but have owned and played several of his hybrid instruments, and they were all top notch.

 

Here are those pictures:

 

[PaulDa321]

The heritage is a different model. When I was inquiring about a purchase a year ago he sent some marketing materials that mentioned it. I’m sure he wouldn’t mind me pasting the summary of the New Model from the order form:

Our new Edgley “New Model” Concertinas are all made with traditional English-style concertina reed tongues, and brass reed frames These reeds are made to very strict tolerances and respond quickly with good volume and traditional concertina tone. The reeds are bi-tonal, meaning that each reed frame carries two traditional reed tongues, one reed for the push note and one for the pull note. These reeds have the same sound as traditional concertinas. The New Modelodel is a breakthrough in concertina design and sound. All “New-Model” concertinas also have traditional brass thumbscrews, fully bushed buttons, polished stainless grills, and seven deep-fold bellows.

Edited January 11 by PaulDa321

[Matthew Heumann]

I have contacted Frank. He's on stage performing at the moment, but will address this as soon as he can. I looked inside the New Model at the shop last week. It has steel reed in brass frames, 2 reeds per frame and were screwed down on a leather gasket, not slotted. What I can say is that I've played every model he's made and even a Dipper he had, and I think these reeds are the purest tone, even better than some of my Wheatstones & Lachenals. I'm sure he'll enlighten everyone when he gets into the forum soon.

[Parker135]

How does this work having the two reeds on the same brass plate?  Is there a valve on one side of each reed?   I'd love to seesome photos.

[PaulDa321]

Since there seems to be a lot of questions about it, I’ll put his other marketing material (a lot more detailed) on here.  I’m assuming he wouldn’t mind this. 
 

For my part I was just wondering if somebody had played one before and what they thought of it.

 

Facts About The New Model

 

    Our New Model Concertina offers genuine concertina tone. This is because the reeds have two ground-breaking features: (1) Brass reed Frames. Brass conducts the tone more effectively. (2)Real Concertina reed tongues.Concertina reed tongues ensure that these New Model concertinas will have genuine concertina tone. Accordion-reeded concertinas have differently shaped reed tongues andslightly different harmonics which can be very nice, but different than that of concertina-reeded instruments. Our New Model Concertinas have genuine concertina reed tongues and brass reed frames!

    So what’s different between concertina-reeded instruments and our New Model concertina? (1) Traditional concertina reeds are friction-fitted to the reed pan. If the concertina getsjarred or bumped or with changes in humidity one or more reeds can become loose creating a buzzing sound or even no sound at all. I recently attended the 2023 Concertina Festival in Ennis Ireland. Two top players had to have their concertina opened, reed pan removed and the reed reinsertedbefore they could go on stage to play. Our New Model concertinas have brass-framed reeds which are screwed down and will never work loose… guaranteed. But with the New Model Concertina  it’s the sound, the lightening fast response and the sound!

(2) Traditional concertinas have reed pans which are friction fitted using leather gaskets around the circumference of the inside of the bellows frames. After a while, the leather can be compressed and small leaks can appear resulting in some air leaking between the bellows gasket and the edge of the reedpan, causing a loss of tone and volume for one or more notes. This can be an expensive and time consuming thing to fix. This will never happen with one of our New Model concertinas because the reed pan is built into the body. All reeds are screwed down to the leather gaskets under each reed. They will never work loose!

Again, what’s so different between accordion-reeded concertina and our New Model concertinas? The reeds, the reeds, the reeds! Brass frames and genuine concertina reed tongues! The Tone of our New Model concertinas makes the difference!

    In addition to concertina tone, our New Model has smooth, quick, and quiet button action. Other top makers may be quick, but not quicker than ours, and as time passes, the action with other makers’ concertinas can become noisy with clicking sounds on certain buttons. This can be quite distracting. This will not happen with any models of Edgley concertinas. They are quick, easy, fast and will remain quiet.Changing to new pads in 10 or 20 years will not cause a problem either. If the replacement pads are thinner or thicker than the original pads it is a real problem with other makers’ instruments. If the pads are thinner, the buttons may pop out of the hole in the action board. If the pads are thicker, the new pads will not rise high enough to let to sound out. Our mechanisms have fulcrums which are threaded with 64 threads to the inch and it it fairly easy to make adjustments to button height with a turn of the threaded fulcrums, instead of bending the mechanism arms with other makers’ instruments which can be intimidating and could result in a broken mechanism arm. 

    You have no doubt noticed that Edgley concertinas havethe end bolts (screws) in the corners instead of the centre of the sides. This is a very important design reason. Over the 20 years I did nothing but repairs, before I began makingconcertinas and I saw more than a few concertina which leaked air at the corners. Screw pressure at the centre of the flat side eventually cause a very slight curve to the body of the traditional concertina, causing small leaks at the corners. This will not happen with Edgley concertinas. 

    Added to all the above is the design of our bellows. Our bellows have seven folds and our bellows folds are very deep compared to some makers. This gives greater expansion and flexibility. Add all these features to a reasonably-priced concertina and you have something to talk about……and play!

Edited January 11 by PaulDa321

[Matthew Heumann]

58 minutes ago, PaulDa321 said:

For my part I was just wondering if somebody had played one before and what they thought of it.

I actually played a couple of tunes on the concertina he played on our video and found it very responsive, notes very even tempered, and the bellows easy to move. Though I'm known as an English player, I began on Anglo and can still crank off a few tunes. What amazed me most was that there weren't the usual free-reed harmonics, just very clean mellow tones.

[Tiposx]

The description of Frank Edgley's innovations is very interesting. I like vintage instruments, but I am also interested and excited by positive innovations.

I wonder how/why the tone differs between the concertina reed tongues vs the accordion teed tongues. Is it the taper, or the thickness, or the profile perhaps. I understand that the brass reed plates make a big difference, but I don't understand the effect of the different reed tongues when secured to similar plates.

[Richard Mellish]

5 hours ago, Parker135 said:

How does this work having the two reeds on the same brass plate?  Is there a valve on one side of each reed?   I'd love to seesome photos.

Me too. Also how the reed chambers are arranged.

[PaulDa321]

Perhaps he took a pre-existing hybrid model, but then made brass reed frames shaped like the accordion ones and added concertina reeds to those?  This might be less labor per instrument than the traditional design (Heritage model). 

[Tiposx]

That sounds very feasible. I am still wondering though, if that is the only difference then why would they sound different? What is the physical difference between concertina reed tongues vs accordion tongues? I am just curious.

To be clear, I have access to most types of free reed set-ups, but I haven't heard of or seen the blennd of old and new that (I think) is described.

Cheers

Tiposx

[Frank Edgley]

On 1/10/2025 at 6:33 PM, David Barnert said:

 

If you want to attract his attention to make sure he’s aware of this thread, tag him: @Frank Edgley