Leaking pads

[Martin Essery]

I just received a new Stagi W40 MS and it is not very air tight. Bellows seem fine so guessing it is leaking at the pads, is there anything I can do? 40 pads to sort!!! Also some of the reeds do not speak very easily, hoping that will be cured by playing but one reed, Bb left side, top row draw is not speaking at all, good job I have a Bb push I can use now 😄

[wschruba]

If it's new, I would go back to the seller and ask them to make it right (either by providing for service that you find yourself, or fixing it themselves).

 

It would be frustrating, to say the least, to have to take it down to the action board to check for leaks on a brand new instrument, but if you are ready to do so: remove the six screws, keeping them in order [more for vintage instruments than new, but good practice none-the-less]***.  There will be one/two/three screws that you can see from the bottom of the action board--remove these, and the action board should lift out of the concertina end.  Using a strong light (I use a halogen desk lamp), hold the bottom side of the action board to it, examining the areas around the pads for any light leaks.  Flip it around, and check from the other side, too.  Keep in mind, bolting the instrument together can stress the action board, and cause pads to not seat perfectly.  If you don't see anything, try again with the board seated back in the end, and look for any light spill through the grill.  Reassemble the action board to the end UPSIDE DOWN.  This helps to keep the buttons from dancing around while trying to wrangle them through the end plate.

 

Setting the reeds is not particularly difficult (the process is the same as a traditional concertina, just they are riveted to plates in pairs on yours), but it can be a huge pain in the behind if they are waxed in place.  The "draw" notes are on the obverse side of the reed plates from what is visible, so correcting the non-sounding reed will require popping the reed plate off.  Follow a guide for tuning an accordion/melodeon, removing/replacing reeds in a waxed concertina is the same.  If you do it carefully, the bulk of the wax usually remains on the block; you can simply place the reed plate back, and use a candle to briefly heat a small spoon-shaped piece of metal enough to pack/seal it (but not make a flowing puddle!) by running it around the outside of the plate.  I use a small wax carving tool for that.

 

I would not remove the reed plate(s) without having extra wax on hand.  It will not fail that if you do not have it, you won't be able to reuse what is there.  Accordion wax is typically cut with other products to make it more pliable at rest, so unless you happen to have beeswax and pine-tar resin [among other things like essential oils] on hand, you may want to purchase premixed accordion wax.  You would nibble off a little chunk with a knife, then roll it around in your hands to warm it up, before making a 'snake', press it into the space around the reed block, then use your tool to melt it in.  You did make sure to put the plate in the right orientation, right?  They usually have a line/something similar scribed on one side.

 

The reeds, in particular, are why I would recommend letting the seller deal with the issue, but perhaps you will be in luck, and the run of concertinas that yours came from will have the reed plates attached with screws.  It is a shame, because I have a pre-Stagi 40-button concertina, and while it is not as good as a Lachenal with hook action (and definitely not as crisp and quiet as riveted), they [40-buttons] are much more affordable/almost as functional.

 

***If your ends do not come off with a wiggle, stop.  You could damage the bellows or ends by attempting to pry them apart.

[Martin Essery]

On 3/3/2026 at 12:40 AM, wschruba said:

If it's new, I would go back to the seller and ask them to make it right (either by providing for service that you find yourself, or fixing it themselves).

 

It would be frustrating, to say the least, to have to take it down to the action board to check for leaks on a brand new instrument, but if you are ready to do so: remove the six screws, keeping them in order [more for vintage instruments than new, but good practice none-the-less]***.  There will be one/two/three screws that you can see from the bottom of the action board--remove these, and the action board should lift out of the concertina end.  Using a strong light (I use a halogen desk lamp), hold the bottom side of the action board to it, examining the areas around the pads for any light leaks.  Flip it around, and check from the other side, too.  Keep in mind, bolting the instrument together can stress the action board, and cause pads to not seat perfectly.  If you don't see anything, try again with the board seated back in the end, and look for any light spill through the grill.  Reassemble the action board to the end UPSIDE DOWN.  This helps to keep the buttons from dancing around while trying to wrangle them through the end plate.

 

Setting the reeds is not particularly difficult (the process is the same as a traditional concertina, just they are riveted to plates in pairs on yours), but it can be a huge pain in the behind if they are waxed in place.  The "draw" notes are on the obverse side of the reed plates from what is visible, so correcting the non-sounding reed will require popping the reed plate off.  Follow a guide for tuning an accordion/melodeon, removing/replacing reeds in a waxed concertina is the same.  If you do it carefully, the bulk of the wax usually remains on the block; you can simply place the reed plate back, and use a candle to briefly heat a small spoon-shaped piece of metal enough to pack/seal it (but not make a flowing puddle!) by running it around the outside of the plate.  I use a small wax carving tool for that.

 

I would not remove the reed plate(s) without having extra wax on hand.  It will not fail that if you do not have it, you won't be able to reuse what is there.  Accordion wax is typically cut with other products to make it more pliable at rest, so unless you happen to have beeswax and pine-tar resin [among other things like essential oils] on hand, you may want to purchase premixed accordion wax.  You would nibble off a little chunk with a knife, then roll it around in your hands to warm it up, before making a 'snake', press it into the space around the reed block, then use your tool to melt it in.  You did make sure to put the plate in the right orientation, right?  They usually have a line/something similar scribed on one side.

 

The reeds, in particular, are why I would recommend letting the seller deal with the issue, but perhaps you will be in luck, and the run of concertinas that yours came from will have the reed plates attached with screws.  It is a shame, because I have a pre-Stagi 40-button concertina, and while it is not as good as a Lachenal with hook action (and definitely not as crisp and quiet as riveted), they [40-buttons] are much more affordable/almost as functional.

 

***If your ends do not come off with a wiggle, stop.  You could damage the bellows or ends by attempting to pry them apart.

Thank you so much wschruba. The pads are visibly not lying flat against the board which explains the air leak which makes it difficult to play.  I cannot even imagine how it was made like that, and the air button sticks. Several weak valves and one not working at all. Still contemplating whether to send it back to Italy, seller says it will play in but I doubt it.

[Theo]

It really should go back if it arrived leaking air.   Speaking as one in the trade, if I sell an instrument and the buyer is not happy with it I want the opportunity to put it right.  Any reputable trader would do the same. 

[Anglo-Irishman]

18 hours ago, Martin Essery said:

Still contemplating whether to send it back to Italy, seller says it will play in but I doubt it.

@Martin Essery, the way things are at the Stagi works at the moment, sending your concertina back to them would probably be the least productive course of action! 

 

I'm not saying that Stagis per se are bad. I have a 30-button, metal-ended Stagi Anglo. I bought it in the 1990s, and it's still in tune. And for a hybrid, it sounds quite concertina-like. I've used it for gigs with my folk group, and there's even a comercially-made promotion video for cruises on a Scottish steam puffer that has sound-track music played by me on my Stagi. 

However, 1990s - thats some 30 years ago. And I must admit that I had to deal with several teething problems before I could really enjoy the instrument. 

 

The first thing was a button that just dropped out. I took the Stagi back to the shop where I'd bought it just a few days before, and the technician tried in vain to open up the end-box to get at the offending action - but failed! Back home, I unscrewed all the screws, but the end still wouldn't open. The joint between action-box ad bellows seemed to be stuck. So I resolutely applied a wrestling hold (a side head chancery, if I remember rightly) and twisted very gently. The joint parted without damage. The rest was easy. End off, lower half of offending button fished out of a corner, upper half of button (which had fallen out) glued to it, and the button replaced on the lever. End-plate put in place, box screwed to bellows, and that was it! Music!

 

Then came the jamming buttons. Frequently used buttons would sometimes stay pressed, making their notes sound on. I noticed that the jammed buttons were not straight in their holes. This was a result of the connexion between button and lever, which on Stagis can slip along the lever. When you play, you tend to either pull the buttons towards you or push them away from you, as well as pressing them down. This push (or pull) activity, when repeated often enough, finally results in a button getting jammed obliquely in its hole. My remedy for this was simply to form a habit of surveying the buttons for inclination whenever I picked the instrument up, and simply pressing against the side to make it straight again. I've been living with this "technique" for decades now ...

 

The biggest problem I had was with the bellows. It was rather stiff, so I thought a bit of leather balsam might supple it up, as it did with my leather jacket. But alas! No. The bellows now collapsed on the pull. The leather had come unstuck from the card erinforcements. Fortunately, at that time, Concertina Connection (then in the Netherlands) offered new bellows for old concertinas. Send them the old bellows, and they used the wooden end-pieces to build a new belows. The result fitted the old concertina perfectly. I took this course, and my Stagi became twice the instrument it had been before. (This was the version on which I played the video sundtrack.)

 

I now have Dallas-Crabb Anglo, which is in a different league, soundwise (trad. as opposed to hybrid). But where volume and presence are not an issue, my Stagi plays easily and tunefully, with well-balanced bass and treble (thanks to the old Stagi reeds) and good articulation and volume control (thanks to the CC bellows). Playing comfort and bellows control are good, thanks to the stout, leather Stagi handstraps.

 

In short, Stagis (at least, vintage Stagis) can be good instruments, if you're prepared to do your own maintenance, or enlist professional help where appropriate.

 

That's my experience. As the Americans say, your mileage may vary. But hey, Stagis are European, so "mileage" doesn' really count ...)

Cheers,

John