Lachenal 7381

[LesJessop]

I recently bought Lachenal 7381 at a local auction. Going by the 2004 article by Stephen Chambers about the history of Lachenal, I think it dates from the early years of the firm, 1858-1861. A similar 32-button  instrument (Lachenal 6599) is illustrated in the article. I'm attaching a few photographs and would welcome comments.

 

The bellows are in good condition and the insides look remarkably clean (no verdigris on the reed holders, for instance). The biggest issue is that the thumb straps are missing - why anybody would take these off is a mystery to me. By an electronic tuner, several of the notes are consistent with A=448 but most are sharp or flat by 20 cents or more from that.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[gregbent31]

You made the right choice buddy👍

[wschruba]

The straps missing probably saved it, TBH.  It couldn't be played, so couldn't be used. 

 

There are several sources/make your own for straps...and as far as tuning, clean the reeds, first, then check again.

[wes williams]

Les - I've copied some of your text to the 'Dating A Lachenal' thread, to keep things in one place.

We'd estimate 7381 as circa 1861.

We only have perhaps 3 32K out of 2700+. The other 2 are the 5921 and  6921 so perhaps one was a misreport!

Edited June 5 by wes williams
Entered onto database, so stats added

[LesJessop]

I must apologise to Stephen Chambers for a mis-quote: the 32-button instrument figured in his I.C.A. article is number 6372, not 6599 as I said in my original post.