Change Of Humidy And Leaking

[Bremner]

Hi

I've just moved up to Dawson City, in the Yukon, and it's really really dry. My concertina (Lachenal 43888) has lost all it's pressure... there's just wind and breathy tones coming out of it. Is it the humidity, or the change of pressure in the flights? (though it's flown before with no problem)

 

any advice?

 

many thanks

Bremner

[Greg Jowaisas]

Hello Bremner,

 

If you don't already have a copy it is time to get Dave Elliott's Concertina Maintanance Manual.

Dave will have a checklist of possible problems fitting your instrument's symptoms.

 

If the breathiness happened quite suddenly and without the accompanying drone note of a slipped pad I can imagine a couple of scenarios:

 

A fairly easy repair: the corner blocks supporting the reed pan gave way (not uncommon in older instruments) and the reed pan no longer makes a tight seal with the action board.

 

Worse: the dryer climate was indeed a shock and an action board cracked or an existing hairline crack grew larger with the humidity difference.

 

All the above can be fixed. While you are waiting for the Elliott book to arrive and summoning your resolve to become more intimately acquainted with the inside workings of your concertina, you may want to start a humidification program for your instrument. Think England, which is rarely dry except for its humor.

 

Good luck, and let us know how things turn out.

 

Greg

[Mike Pierceall]

Hi

I've just moved up to Dawson City, in the Yukon, and it's really really dry. My concertina (Lachenal 43888) has lost all it's pressure... there's just wind and breathy tones coming out of it. Is it the humidity, or the change of pressure in the flights? (though it's flown before with no problem)

 

any advice?

 

many thanks

Bremner

Bremner, did you carry the instrument on board, or did it travel in the cargo hold? Mike

[Dana Johnson]

You aren't kidding about dry, and you are likely to have a bit of work getting it tight again. Wood dries out much faster than it takes up moisture, and you can get a lot of structural change as a result. Extra dry hide glue can get very brittle and the varying shrinkage around corner blocks can easily cause them to let go. The reed pan will also shrink a lot perpendicular to the grain and cause major leakage around the ends and sides of the outer chambers. The reed pan chamber walls will also shrink and allow a lot of leakage over the tops of the chambers. Reed shoes can easily all slide far enough out of their slots enough to allow the air to bypass them completely. I'd expect to find a multitude of shrinkage related problems . Some minor and some major. Most repareable, but watch out if the humidity goes up in the summer ( with the mosquitos ) if you do a lot to it now, it may want to reverse the process when the humidity goes up and you may have pinched reeds and buckled pans. Traditional concertinas just weren't made to cope with wide swings in humidity.

Dana

[Bremner]

Hi Greg and Dana

 

thanks for your advice - i put the concertina through a re-humidification program and it gained back about 70 percent of its tone. Then I did some exploratory surgery and found that indeed it had cracked along an old repair scar on what I guess is the action board: there's a small crack between three holes. It's obviously already been repacked and glued once, so I have Dave Elliots book on order and I'll see if there are any cures possible with the materials available up here.

 

thanks again for your advice

Bremner

[buikligger]

i put the concertina through a re-humidification program and it gained back about 70 percent of its tone.

Bremner

 

Hi Bremner,

 

what was the re-humidification program you used?

 

Dirk