Concertina Repair By Accordion Specialists

[Daniel Hersh]

After reading another thread re concertina repair in the San Francisco area, I started wondering...

 

I've often heard (and said myself) that it's not a good idea to turn an English-made concertina over to an accordion specialist for repair or tuning--but I know that there are some members of this group who work on both, as well as a number of concertina specialists. So here's my question: is the standard wisdom true? What are the mistakes that an accordion specialist might make on a concertina? And how can one tell whether accordion specialists who say they can work on concertinas really know what they're doing?

 

Daniel

[malcolm clapp]

It probably helps if the repairer is also a player of both accordions and concertinas. Also, word of mouth is the best recommendation for finding a good repairer. An incompetant one, on either accordions or concertinas, wouldn't stay in business for too long.

 

I know many deisel mechanics who are also skilled on petrol and LPG motors, which is probably a similar analogy to that of accordions and concertinas.

 

Multi-skilling is alive and well, at least in my workshop.

 

I can even walk and chew gum at the same time!

 

Malcolm Clapp

Accordion and Concertina Repairer and Tuner.

 

 

 

Edited to put the correct "and" in bold.

Edited February 28, 2006 by malcolm clapp

[Chris Timson]

SFAIK, there is nothing mutually exclusive about repairing concertinas and accordions. I think this dates back largely to the earlier years of the concertina revival when accordion repair people did not, in the main, see concertinas. I know of a few cases 20 years back (and one or two more recent) where an over enthusiastic and under knowledged accordion repairer damaged a good concertina.

 

I think you are much less likely to meet such a person than you used to be, at least in the UK. People like Theo and Roy Whiteley demonstrate this nicely. Nevertheless, unless you know or have seen evidence that the accordion man before you has handled concertinas, play safe! Would you really want someone to teach themselves concertina repair on your box?

 

Must be feeling a bit jaundiced today ...

 

Chris

[davidcorner]

From personal experience, I can add that I was very pleased with the work of an accordion repairer.

About ten years ago, I acquired a Wheatstone tenor treble in old pitch.

A friend, an accordion player, told me how good a repair job John Crawford, of Freuchie, Fife, Scotland, has done on his accordion.

I contacted him and he said, yes, he had the tuning bellows for concertina reeds, and would be able to do the retuning for me.

Eight days after leaving it with him, I got a call to say it was ready.

I have since had him do minor repairs (broken spring, valve replacement) and I have been very pleased with the result.

I have since found out that John is very highly regarded by the top accordion players in Scotland, and has been repairing instruments for something like fifty years, and is a very good accordion player himself (3-row British Chromatic).

[JimLucas]

A friend, an accordion player, told me how good a repair job John Crawford, of Freuchie, Fife, Scotland, has done on his accordion.

I contacted him and he said, yes, he had the tuning bellows for concertina reeds, and would be able to do the retuning for me.

I think that says something important. John C. had the equipment. He knew that there was a difference, and he knew what to do about it. Beware of an accordion expert who doesn't know the difference between English-made concertinas and accordions, especially if he thinks that it doesn't matter.

 

The same goes in any field. An auto repariman who also knows motorcycles is fine, but I wouldn't let him get near a vintage Harley if he seemed to think it was just a funny kind of Ford.

[Richard Morse]

So here's my question: is the standard wisdom true? What are the mistakes that an accordion specialist might make on a concertina?

"Standards" depends upon the person considering the situation. I've known some accordion repairs specialists (very highly regarded) to make very poor repairs to vintage concertinas. Things like adding a perforated mylar grille "cloth" behind the fretwork because they thought someone had removed it, using accordion valves (cow) rather concertina valves (hair sheep), using non-standard replacement springs (different pressure characteristics), etc. While nothing was technically harmful to the instruments, but having the correct parts and the knowledge of how concertinas are constructed and why would have resulted in better service.

 

It would be good to get references before trusting a repairs person/shop. I remember one instance where we were approached for a *second* opinion. The concertina owner wanted us to "okay" a prospective work order (from a very large and unnamed by me accordion place in NYC) that specified that her Lachenal English concertina needed a number of the reeds replaced at a cost of $600! Needless to say we ended up doing the work which turned out to be a minor tuning job.

[JimLucas]

So here's my question: is the standard wisdom true? What are the mistakes that an accordion specialist might make on a concertina?

"Standards" depends upon the person considering the situation. I've known some accordion repairs specialists (very highly regarded) to make very poor repairs to vintage concertinas. Things like adding a perforated mylar grille "cloth" behind the fretwork because they thought someone had removed it, using accordion valves (cow) rather concertina valves (hair sheep), using non-standard replacement springs (different pressure characteristics), etc.

One thing I remember from my days on rec.music.makers.squeezebox is the number of accordion aficionados who spoke of "scratching" a reed to fine tune it. This is considered anathema for concertina reeds, as it provides stress lines, which can lead to broken reeds. I also noticed that these same people didn't think it unusual to replace at least a couple of reeds in an accordion after only a decade or two. Concertina folk seem to think that replacing even a single reed -- at least a steel reed -- in even a hundred-year-old instrument is unusual.

[d.elliott]

Its always down to the individual and his/her knowlege, plus intuitive grasp of the repair situation. I don't get too many complaints (if any...) and my speciality has more to do with engine components for fast jets. No real affinity with squeeze boxes of any type.

 

My main concern would be the use of wrong materials, and the cross cutting of reed tongues to tune them. Not all accordian techniques would necessarily translate to REAL squeeze boxes. Just check your potential repairer's concertina experience

 

Dave

[Pete Dickey]

Been to Royal Concertinas tonight and listened to a very interesting talk from Geoff Crabb about the latter days of the Crabb business. It seems that a heck of a lot of their work in the 1970's was redoing bad repair work carried out by "repairers" who didn't know what they were doing. Apparently the work was frequently to such a poor standard that the costs of repairing the repair were often significantly higher than the cost of fixing the original problem.

 

The message is therefore to leave it to someone who knows what he (she) is doing.

[Michael Eskin]

Well, my experience when I took my Tedrow concertina to a local accordion repair person for a tuning adjustment was extremely negative. The guy was highly recommended, so I thought, how hard could it be to make a minor tuning adjustment.

 

1) He scratched the wood on the instrument and denied it.

 

2) He installed the retuned reed rotated 180 degrees from where it should be (despite that all the other reeds in the pan were rotated the other way) and could not hear the difference, which had that reed sounding like a amplified trumpet compared to the others. I'm guessing by his age, which was probably 80+ that he might have had difficulty hearing the difference.

 

3) When I pointed out the problem, he ranted and raved at me about how he's been doing accordion repair for 40 years and yadda-yadda-yadda. Bottom line is I put $20 on the table, took my concertina and walked out, the whole time I'm heading to my car he was screaming at me how this was a very bad thing I was doing.

 

Next stop was the UPS store, where I shipped it back to Bob for adjustment. Should have been my first choice.

 

Michael

Edited March 13, 2006 by eskin

[JakeScheiderer]

Hello all!

I am so VERY glad that I finally found somewhere on the net where there are people actively talking about accordions. YEAH! ok, now for the real story of me. I have a Mondolfo Accordionette La Nova Stella Italia. It was given to me as a child as a gift because I had taken a couple years of lessons. I have had it now for about 15 years and it is in need or repairing and tuning. There is a R-shifter missing and many notes on both sides are out of tune. I am wondering a couple of things and hoping someone might be able to offer some suggestions for me. First, is there anyone/anywhere in the States that can work on my accordion?

 

Many thanks!

[Richard Morse]

I am so VERY glad that I finally found somewhere on the net where there are people actively talking about accordions. YEAH! ok, now for the real story of me. I have a Mondolfo Accordionette La Nova Stella Italia... First, is there anyone/anywhere in the States that can work on my accordion?

Jake, I think you're barking up the wrong tree here. We're into concertinas, not accordions. Try the rec.music.makers.squeezebox newsgroup who're big into accordions. When you post you could add what kind of accordion it is (piano, button, chromatic) and size (48 bass, 72, 120, etc.) how many treble reeds and shifters... which all helps. Edited March 17, 2006 by Richard Morse

[JakeScheiderer]

I am so VERY glad that I finally found somewhere on the net where there are people actively talking about accordions. YEAH! ok, now for the real story of me. I have a Mondolfo Accordionette La Nova Stella Italia... First, is there anyone/anywhere in the States that can work on my accordion?

Jake, I think you're barking up the wrong tree here. We're into concertinas, not accordions. Try the rec.music.makers.squeezebox newsgroup who're big into accordions. When you post you could add what kind of accordion it is (piano, button, chromatic) and size (48 bass, 72, 120, etc.) how many treble reeds and shifters... which all helps.

 

Ahh! Thank you so much!