Bellows

[A2fan]

Just wondering what the ballpark price of a 6 or 7 fold bellows to suit a Lachenal 30 key C/G would be - and who would supply the same

[David Helmore]

Just wondering what the ballpark price of a 6 or 7 fold bellows to suit a Lachenal 30 key C/G would be - and who would supply the same

 

Hi!

 

Anything upward of £100. Check out http://concertina-spares.com/

 

David

[Dirge]

I was looking at these the other day and wondered how the continuous card bellows play, relative to the more expensive ones with the individual cards and internal and external hinges.

 

I couldn't help thinking that Messrs Lachenal and Wheatstone would have done it this way on their cheaper models if they hadn't thought it important. Anyone care to report?

[tom leahy]

Hello, Check with Bob Tedrow Of Tedrow Concertina's. He just put a 7 fold set on my c/g lachenal concertina and they play great! Tom

[Theo]

I was looking at these the other day and wondered how the continuous card bellows play, relative to the more expensive ones with the individual cards and internal and external hinges.

 

They a a lot less flexible with continuous card. OK for cheaper concertinas, but IMO not suitable for anything of reasonably good quality.

 

I've had very good traditionally built bellows from Wim Wakker.

[d.elliott]

I was looking at these the other day and wondered how the continuous card bellows play, relative to the more expensive ones with the individual cards and internal and external hinges.

 

They a a lot less flexible with continuous card. OK for cheaper concertinas, but IMO not suitable for anything of reasonably good quality.

 

I've had very good traditionally built bellows from Wim Wakker.

 

I agree with Theo that the continuous card bellows are less flexible, and they do take longer to break in, the separate card self-fit kits from David Leese, are a very good mid quality option at an affordable price. To get the very best quality from any of the manufacturer-repairers, you will probably be double the cost of the Leese option, and have your instrument out of commission for some months

 

Dave E

[Ken_Coles]

My recollection is that Bob Snope told me he uses continuous card (in fact, he showed me a sample) from accordion suppliers in Italy for the Morse bellows (perhaps Rich can comment). Bob was adamant that they worked just as well from the start as separate cards, and that has been my experience. I once had a different brand of concertina that was slow to break in and it was the leather, not the (individual) cards, in that case.

 

Ken

[Richard Morse]

Yes, what Bob had said is the case. There are shades of gray here though - from really stiff continuous-carded AND separate-carded bellows to very supple continuous-carded AND separate-carded bellows... and how they all wear in and wear out.

 

The best continuous carded bellows (high quality card, machine folded, hand-scored and skived, with top grade leathers, stress fabrics, papers/butterflies, top and bottom runs, gussets... all dimensioned, positioned, and glued up just right... will be better than most separate-carded bellows (but will not compare to the best separate-carded bellows) for flexibility and durability. I've also seen (and experienced) new separate-carded bellows that were extremely flexible right off but had very poor durability (and lousy bellows control too!).

 

We've patterned our bellows design/fabrication after Wheatstone's standard concertinas which have continuous-carded bellows. We figure - what worked well for the bulk of Wheatstones will do fine for us too. Our Morse hybrids aren't Aeolas. And having the more affordable type of bellows helps keep our boxes well away from the Aeola prices too.

 

-- Rich --

 

PS: Interestingly enough - we've now had a number of people trade in their Aeolas for our Morses which probably goes to show that the bellows type is probably a moot point compared to the other qualities they sought our boxes out for.

Edited July 8, 2007 by Richard Morse