Wheatstone duet information

[djangojessie]

Hi all

P.j and Chris Here from the concertina shop Australia. 

Just in the door to is this Wheatstone. Number 26074 which says it's special?

It has raised ebony ends ,steel reeds,8 fold bellows and 24 keys each side and air button. So 24 keys each side does that make it a special duet?

Any information would be great

Also new to the shop but not on our website yet 

Wheatstone aeola 64 key baritone treble 

Wheatstone aeola 64 key tenor treble 

Wheatstone aeola ex treble 

Lachenal 48 key baritone rosewood 

Lachenal 40 key Bb/ F metal ended 

And more to come

Contact p.j. on patrickcullen54@hotmail.com for more information on any of the above 

Thank you

P.j.

[malcolm clapp]

Hi, PJ,

 

That duet looks to me like a Linton system. If so, then each row of 4 buttons should play the same note, but in different octaves. Perhaps you can confirm that this is the case (or otherwise).

 

I owned one of these briefly some 40 years ago, but although the fingering appears logical, I would not call it intuitive, and it never really caught on with players outside of the Linton family.

 

For more information about Charles Linton, see Concertina Newsletter issue 11 page 20.

 

https://www.concertinamuseum.com/FreeReed/FR11.pdf

 

Edited September 19, 2025 by malcolm clapp
added link

[djangojessie]

Hi Malcom

Thank you for your help

After checking with my tuner it is indeed the Linton system

Great to hear from you

P.J.  The Concertina Shop

[djangojessie]

Hi Malcom

Again thank you for your help.

Just reading Australian Concertina Magazine #13 from winter 1985 and the article on Charles Linton and The Linton System.

To quote some of that article..............So there may well be a Linton system instrument still being played in Australia somewhere. Perhaps a reader in Tasmania or someone on holiday can follow this up. Not a great deal to go on im afraid but we would be pleased to hear of any success

 

Well the Linton i have came from Tasmania so that might be part of the answer 41 years later.

I am trying to find out more and will keep you posted

P.J.

[malcolm clapp]

Hi, PJ,

Sadly, I can't locate my collection of Australian Concertina Magazines; is it possible for you to let me have a copy of that article as it may jog a few memories. (Is that the article I contributed???) I recall that I had some correspondence with Charles' grandson, who's father Walter emigrated to Tasmania in the 1950s, so it may be Walter's concertina that you now have.

The one I briefly owned came from the widow of one of Charles' other sons living in Somerset UK, and resold to (then) collector and dealer Phil Inglis. I believe that it eventually found its way to Neil Wayne and later to the Horniman Museum collection.

 

Edited September 26, 2025 by malcolm clapp
Linton family relationship detail amended

[Clive Thorne]

Is it fair to say that this isn't really a "duet", as each note (all octaves) is only available on one side? More of an English derivative, or even in a category of its own?

[Stephen Chambers]

On 9/19/2025 at 5:38 AM, djangojessie said:

Just in the door to is this Wheatstone. Number 26074 which says it's special?

 

"Special" occasionally crops up in the ledgers to describe instruments with non-standard features. My "best hexagonal" 48-key treble English, #25100 is listed as "Black Gilt Fittings Special" - and it has gold plated buttons, endbolts and badges, as well as (unusually) gold-tooled bellows frames.

 

It has a special serial number too, like my amboynawood Lachenal Edeophone #60,000 does (the only concertina serial number that I've ever seen with a comma!) that was made for Grock the famous clown.

 

 

 

Edited September 22, 2025 by Stephen Chambers
Edited to add second paragraph.

[malcolm clapp]

On 9/22/2025 at 2:03 PM, djangojessie said:

Perhaps a reader in Tasmania or someone on holiday can follow this up. Not a great deal to go on i'm afraid but we would be pleased to hear of any success

 

 

Yes, this actually happened. Somebody in Tasmania tracked down Walter's descendants and we had an exchange of letters briefly. Incidentally, Walter reverted to the family's original surname of Gay rather than Linton, partly to disassociate himself from his playing days during which he suffered some degree of unhappiness, details of which I won't share here.

 

And thanks, PJ, for the copy of the article as requested.

Edited September 26, 2025 by malcolm clapp
Corrected text

[djangojessie]

Hi Malcolm and everyone else. 

I got this concertina from a couple who moved to Tasmania a few years ago.

They are from Queensland 

I am told they have started renovating and found this in the attic.

I am waiting to see if there is anything else as it has not been cleared 

But I do notice the hand straps are very small for my hands and I would suggest a lady played it?

It is in tune but as you can see from the end bolts they have been removed many times. There is a  number on the inside 

Hope all this makes sense as I am on the red

P.j.

[malcolm clapp]

An apology may be needed here. My memories of research from 40+ years ago are now a bit vague, and I may have been a little confused regarding the names, relationships and locations of various Linton-Gay family members. Somewhere in a large cupboard full of concertina memorabilia, I believe I have more accurate information which I shall endeavor to dig out in the next day or two and post here.  So please don't take anything referred to in my above posts as accurate until I can correct the errors.

 

Some errors now corrected in my earlier posts , but still a work in progress.....

 

In the meantime, perhaps anyone else who has any information regarding the Linton-Gay story can let PJ or I know. 

Thanks for your patience.

Edited September 26, 2025 by malcolm clapp
Added text