Aeola On Ebay

[Pete Dunk]

Nice looking 56 key extended treble Aeola here but I've never seen a red action board before. Was this common on later Wheatstones?

[Mark Davies]

I suspect that this instrument was exported to South Africa and when it was subsequently repaired/re-furbished the the action board was painted red.I have seen a lot of Wheatstone's from South Africa where this has been done.I have no idea why.The concertina on Ebay looks a very fine instrument.I have a similar instrument that plays very well.As I have said before,a lot of "tosh" is spoken about Wheatstone instruments made in the 1950'd.Admittedly they changed the construction methods but generally speaking they play very well and thats the most important consideration as far as I am concerned.

[david robertson]

I suspect that this instrument was exported to South Africa and when it was subsequently repaired/re-furbished the the action board was painted red.

 

Well, I'm the restorer and seller, and as far as I know, there was no South African connection. I can certainly promise you that I didn't paint it! The evidence is that this is how it emerged from the factory. I guess it was cheaper and easier to paint it than to cut and apply the red gauze that they used to use. Steve Dickinson had a look at it last Friday night, by the way, and pronounced it "quite nice" - which, given Steve's usual attitude to later Wheatstones, I take as high praise!