Aldon Posted February 27, 2006 Share Posted February 27, 2006 Hey ya'll! I haven't posted in a long time. Fiddle has become my new obsession, though I still play my English Concertina. In fact a local group just hired me to play fiddle and concertina in their historical band. Anyway, I need to find a concertina repair shop in my neck of the woods - anywhere in the San Francisco Bay Area would work. I tried to find Boaz Accordions on line but had no luck. Does anyone know of any repair shops around here? Thanks for any leads! Aldon Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boney Posted February 27, 2006 Share Posted February 27, 2006 Howdy Aldon, keep up posted on gigs with your new band. Smythe's Accordion Center in Oakland works on concertinas. He had a nice 24-button Lachenal there when I dropped by last fall. http://www.sonomalinks.com/accordion/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
m3838 Posted February 28, 2006 Share Posted February 28, 2006 Smythe is reasonable and rather knowledgeable guy, but he's swamped with work. Boaz is in New Yourk working for Hohner. 28 button (not 24) Lachenal is sold at the (as I thought) inflated price. It was a good sounding instrument, but slow and probably with brass reeds. Crazy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jggunn Posted February 28, 2006 Share Posted February 28, 2006 It would actually cost very little to send it off to Paul Groff in Florida where you could sure of a first-class job which would probably be done promptly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daniel Hersh Posted February 28, 2006 Share Posted February 28, 2006 Paul Groff isn't taking in any outside repair work right now, just working on instruments that he owns and plans to sell. Kimric Smythe has a good reputation for accordion work, but I don't know how much he knows about concertina repair. So far as I know, Button Box is the only real concertina repair shop in the US at the moment--and they generally have a six-month backlog. Aldon, what kind of concertina do you have, and what work is needed? Daniel It would actually cost very little to send it off to Paul Groff in Florida where you could sure of a first-class job which would probably be done promptly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
m3838 Posted February 28, 2006 Share Posted February 28, 2006 Kimric has done a number of concertinas, reed replacements and tuning. If Button Box has only 6 months backlog, Kimric has something like 8. It's about time for players to become tinkers. I tried to tune my "A" reed going flat - success. Very easy actually. It still went flat, but it's because of a crack in a reed. A replacement is going my way from the UK. Having a piano works as a tuner just fine. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richard Morse Posted February 28, 2006 Share Posted February 28, 2006 I'd be very leery about Kimric if theye know for accordion repairs but also do "concertina reed replacement" real concertinas almost NEVER need to have their reeds replaced. If Kimric did indeed do that I suspect that that was a CSO (Concertina Shaped Object) and had accordion reeds. What kind/brand of concertina do you have, Aldon? There's also the issue of "players to become tinkers" as we've (the Button Box) repaired many concertinas that have been "repaired" so ineptly (most with the best of intentions, I'm sure) that they've been seriously compromised (irrecoverably to the extent that the instrument had lost significant response and/or esthetics - which correspondingly lowered its sales value). Also, the amount of time for us to set everything to rights would quite exceed the time it would have taken to fix the problems in the first place. Concertinas ARE customer servicable to an extent. Getting David Elliott's The Concertina Maintenance Manual is a great start to learning what you can do and what you should leave to people that know what to do. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
richard Posted February 28, 2006 Share Posted February 28, 2006 (edited) Hello I live in San Francisco and alas I don't know of any repairers near here (there still could be some) who have the experience and skill to do significant work on a great instrument. I highly recommend The Button Box. In the last year year I have sent both my Wheatstone and my Jeffries to have Bob Snope at The Button Box work on them. Shipping is an extra wait (3-7 days) and expense, about $40.00-$50.00. That is a small burden inorder to be confident your box will be repaired and enhanced. Bob is great to work with and he did a great job with my concertinas. Richard Edited March 1, 2006 by richard Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aldon Posted February 28, 2006 Author Share Posted February 28, 2006 Thanks for the leads folks! I have a Wheatstone 64 button English (Aeola? - I think). It has the amboyna ends. It needs a stopper/damper put on one of the buttons (the B natural that corresponds to the middle line of the treble clef). I can hear the part that lifts up hitting the inside part of the wood every time I play that note, and don't want to do any damage to the wood. The clacking noise is annoying too. It also needs one or two reeds tweaked up to pitch. They're only slightly out (flat), so I may decide to take this on myself. (I used to tune pianos, and have tuned harmonicas and melodicas before.) Heck, now that I think about it, I may go ahead and see if I can figure out how to put a damper thingy on myself. I definitely don't want to go for more than a week without my concertina! If anyone can decipher what part I'm talking about and give me the proper name I'd appreciate it. That way I can order the part without sounding like a complete doofus. Thanks ya'll Aldon Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richard Morse Posted February 28, 2006 Share Posted February 28, 2006 I have a Wheatstone 64 button English (Aeola? - I think). It needs a stopper/damper put on one of the buttons (the B natural that corresponds to the middle line of the treble clef). If anyone can decipher what part I'm talking about and give me the proper name I'd appreciate it. That way I can order the part without sounding like a complete doofus.While I'm not sure what the "proper" name for that part is, we call them "button donuts" (or "key donuts"). We stock new (from Steve Dickinson/Wheatstone and our own shop made) and used ones. We keep the old ones around which are in reasonable shape as replacing just a couple on an older box would retain similarity of feel rather than to have new ones on a few keys that would feel noticably different than the others. Give our shop a call or e-mail to talk to them about it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JimLucas Posted February 28, 2006 Share Posted February 28, 2006 I have a Wheatstone 64 button English (Aeola? - I think). It has the amboyna ends. It also needs one or two reeds tweaked up to pitch. They're only slightly out (flat), so I may decide to take this on myself. If you've never done this before, please don't! If you had a Stradivarius violin that you felt needed adjusting, would you carve into its face to try to alter the tone? An amboyna Wheatstone may not be quite a Strad, but in the concertina world it comes close. Æolas are 8-sided, but even a 6-sided Wheatstone with amboyna ends would have been very special, and would have been assigned to the very best craftsmen, with the very best care in its construction. I will repeat what I have mentioned in the past: When Paul Davies tried my old Æola (most sadly, it was stolen, and has not been recovered), he named the person who had set the reeds and done the final tuning, based on the way the instrument responded when played. According to Paul, even among the Wheatstone professionals, most could not do as good a job as the best. And you think that you'll be able to do that well on your first try? Please, send it to the Button Box! Maybe Bob Snope isn't as good as Wheatstone's best, but thanks to his years of experience and careful attitude, he's probably close (and for all I don't know, maybe he is as good). No disrespect meant, but -- barring a miracle -- he's certainly better than you. And your instrument deserves only the best. As a further argument I'll point out that there's more to tuning that just tuning. To avoid changing the response or tone quality of the reed, both its thicknes profile and its elevation profile (how far above or below the edge of the frame it is at each point along its length) need to be maintained, and a tuning file can easily change either or both if special care isn't taken. Well, having said all that, I notice that you say a couple of reeds need to be tweaked "up" to pitch. If they'e slightly flat, check for rust. If you find some and its powdery, remove it by brushing or very gentle scraping. That may be all that's needed to get those reeds back into pitch. If not, please send it to the Button Box. Or Concertina Connection, but the BB is closer. And the only reason I'm not saying Colin Dipper or Steve Dickinson is the long waiting time. One good thing about the Button Box is that instead of keeping a queue of instruments needing work, they keep a queue of names of people with instruments needing work. When they're ready for yours, they let you know, and you send it. That way you only have to part with it for the length of time needed to do the work. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richard Morse Posted March 1, 2006 Share Posted March 1, 2006 As a further argument I'll point out that there's more to tuning that just tuning. To avoid changing the response or tone quality of the reed, both its thicknes profile and its elevation profile (how far above or below the edge of the frame it is at each point along its length) need to be maintained, and a tuning file can easily change either or both if special care isn't taken.All very important points! I'd like to add that using the "correct" FILE is also quite important. What size/shape, type, tooth design, quality - and *how* to file are all of major concern in tuning concertinas. The ones we use are special ordered (no one seems to carry them) by the case. Even though they are hellishly expensive, we go through them rapidly as you should always us a sharp file or risk damaging a reed by applying too much pressure when you file. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aldon Posted March 1, 2006 Author Share Posted March 1, 2006 Thanks again ya'll. I guess I won't try and tweak the tuning. It sounds way more involved than I was expecting. I would however like to do something about the other problem, the clacking button - if only a temporary fix until I can get a pro to fix it. Do any of you pros out there have any suggestions? Aldon Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JimLucas Posted March 1, 2006 Share Posted March 1, 2006 I would however like to do something about the other problem, the clacking button - if only a temporary fix until I can get a pro to fix it. Do any of you pros out there have any suggestions? Does it clack when you press it down, or when you let it up? If it's the former, then the problem is probably as Rich suggested, a missing "donut". If Rich can provide you the part, then it will probably be fairly easy to install. (There are sometimes exceptions to that, if the action for an individual button is a particularly tight fit. Even then, it's probably not dangerous if you're careful.) If it's the latter, then I can think of two possibilities: ... It might be that tip of the lever is striking the underside of wooden end. There could be various reasons for this, a loose fulcrum post being one. The solution depends on the cause. ... A bushing -- or even just part of a bushing -- may have been displaced from where it surrounds the button, with the result that the button is banging against bare wood at the side of its hole. The more you can tell us about the details, the better we can help you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aldon Posted March 2, 2006 Author Share Posted March 2, 2006 Jim - It's when I press down on the button. I notice the button travels down a little farther than the others too. Could this be the donut thing? Thanks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JimLucas Posted March 2, 2006 Share Posted March 2, 2006 Jim - It's when I press down on the button. I notice the button travels down a little farther than the others too. Could this be the donut thing? Sure sounds like it. (Pun acknowledged, though not intended. ) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aldon Posted March 2, 2006 Author Share Posted March 2, 2006 Thanks. That's where I'll start then. Much obliged! Aldon Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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