W. Jeffries Maker

[reg]

I understand a bit more about this maker from reading some posts here that someone from another forum linked me to. I found this concertina at an estate sale. I've only ever owned one other concertina and it was another odd one. I gave up trying to play my previous find and finally sold it out of frustration. When I saw this one for sale, I looked upon my good fortune as another chance to get involved with playing once again.

 

This one has 24 buttons per side and is set up as an anglo, not an english, style instrument. After reading some of the posts here I decided to open it up to inspect the inside. It has just six screws per side holding the metal plate and ends onto the bellows. It looks to have steel reeds and they all seem in good condition (no rust). That's remarkable given the age of this. I'm uncertain as to how to explore the opposite side (inside the bellows) except through the hole and won't try to disassemble this any further.

 

On the metal ends inside an oval area is stamped

 

W JEFFRIES

MAKER

38. Craven Park <-(Craven Park was stamped in a script style font)

LONDON. N. W.

 

This concertina seems in playable condition. I'm not a player, yet. I checked to see that all of the reeds worked and found that they all worked but one reed on the bass side. The reed won't sound when the bellows are pulled but it does when the bellows are pushed. Not being a player, I can't attest as to how well they might all work or the quality of the sound. That determination might be best left to someone with a trained ear and/or a background in the art. But being a musician, I can say that they all seem to function well, well, except for the one. I'm not certain what the problem might be.

 

The rest of the reeds all have a bright and rather loud sound. The left side has bass notes that seem to go down quite low, while the right side has higher notes. The lowest notes on the left are at the bottom of the four rows of six buttons. The low notes on the right side are at the top of the four rows of six buttons.

 

While examining the reeds I noticed that some of the leathers seemed in newer condition than others. Perhaps it's been kept in good playable condition by its previous owner. I don't know why the one reed was not functioning when all else seemed to work fine.

 

It came in what appears to be it's original leather case. The handle of the case had a bit of twine inside. It was probably used to form the rest of the handle around. I noticed that the twine in the handle had two small pieces of news paper wrapped around it. I unraveled the paper and was surprised to see that it held some advertising that dates back to the late 1880s and early 1900s. An ad for a shipping line out of London called The Nelson Liners was on one of the pieces of paper. There was also part of the sports section that mentioned the Barnsley Club. Upon looking this reference up, I was surprised to learn that it was started in the late 1800s.

 

That's about all that I can offer about this unusual concertina at this time. I'll try to offer pictures later.

 

Many thanks for your info and input about this.

 

Was W. for William?

 

Reg

[spindizzy]

.....

This one has 24 buttons per side and is set up as an anglo, not an english, style instrument.

......

The rest of the reeds all have a bright and rather loud sound. The left side has bass notes that seem to go down quite low, while the right side has higher notes. The lowest notes on the left are at the bottom of the four rows of six buttons. The low notes on the right side are at the top of the four rows of six buttons.

 

Hi Reg,

 

This sounds more like a Duet than an Anglo.

Does each button sound the same note on the push as on the pull?

 

There are some keen duettists here who I'm sure will jump in and tell you all about your new concertina !

 

Chris

[michael sam wild]

Hi Reg. I have a 26 button Anglo. You indicate there are 24 each side So the duet sounds right. Although i have a Jones with a lot of buttons which is an Anglo with a lot of accidentals. It's a good buy so congratuations. Try to play a scale sarting on the left hand side push and pull and report back.

 

Mike

[Ivan Viehoff]

Does each button sound the same note on the push as on the pull?

He said nothing sounds on the pull at the moment so he doesn't know.

 

"4 rows of 6 reeds", if an accurate description, is not a good description of any usual kind of Duet, though it comes closest to a Jeffries Duet. Jeffries Duets do often have keys in 4 rows, but do not usually have the same number of keys each end, the row-lenghts are usually uneven, and 46 keys is most usual: see http://www.concertina.com/jeffries-duet/index.htm.

 

"4 rows of 6 reeds" is a perfect description of a common English concertina, though normally we would say 4 columns. This shows it as 6765 on one end, but 6666 is also possible: http://www.concertina.com/english/index.htm

 

Since Jeffries made very few English concertinas, and 48 keys is unusually many for an Anglo, it all seems a bit of a mystery so far.

[Ivan Viehoff]

The reed won't sound when the bellows are pulled but it does when the bellows are pushed.

There should be two reeds per button, one each for push and pull. I'd have a look to check the pull reeds are actually present. Someone might have taken them out to use in another concertina. There are also rare single action instruments with only one set of reeds, but obviously not Anglos.

[spindizzy]

Does each button sound the same note on the push as on the pull?

He said nothing sounds on the pull at the moment so he doesn't know.

 

 

I think from the first post that was only on one reed.

 

The left side has bass notes that seem to go down quite low, while the right side has higher notes. The lowest notes on the left are at the bottom of the four rows of six buttons. The low notes on the right side are at the top of the four rows of six buttons.

 

Low notes on the left and high on the right made me think it was a duet, but the second bit low notes on the RHS are at the top ... I don't know at all!

I think we need pictures

[reg]

Yes, that's right. There's only one note (reed) out of all 48 buttons (96 possible reeds) that doesn't make a sound. It's one of the buttons on the left side (where more bass tones are) and though it does play when the bellows are pushed it won't make a sound when the bellows are pulled.

 

Does each button sound the same note on the push as on the pull?

He said nothing sounds on the pull at the moment so he doesn't know.

 

There are two different notes (two reeds) per each button. So, I believe that makes this an anglo.

 

 

I think from the first post that was only on one reed.

 

The left side has bass notes that seem to go down quite low, while the right side has higher notes. The lowest notes on the left are at the bottom of the four rows of six buttons. The low notes on the right side are at the top of the four rows of six buttons.

 

Low notes on the left and high on the right made me think it was a duet, but the second bit low notes on the RHS are at the top ... I don't know at all!

I think we need pictures

 

What I meant is that the lowest notes available are on the left side of the instrument. Among those, the lowest notes can be found as you finger the lower buttons from that group on the left side. They gradually get higher as you move upward. Conversely, the right side has higher notes. Among this group, the lower tones of that group's reeds can be found along the top and the lower down you go the higher the tones you'll find to play. So, from top to bottom, the left side reeds go from high to low and the right side reeds go from low to high. Is that at all clear? I had no idea as to whether all concertinas were set up the same way or if each is distinctly different.

[reg]

To clear up some of the questions, yes, this concertina has 24 buttons per side, 48 reed buttons in all, plus the one button that adds air to the bellows which is located on the right side and each button has two reeds that are different notes, one note when the bellows are pushed and another different note when the bellows are pulled.

[Stephen Chambers]

Curiously, I was emailed about a W. Jeffries English concertina yesterday, could this (24 buttons each side... ) be the same one?

[reg]

So, does a Duet have a distinct difference from an Anglo? A local repair person says that it has more deep bass notes. But, given that I'm unfamiliar with just how many deep notes an average concertina might have, I'm stumped by how the determination might be made regarding the difference between and Anglo and a Duet.

 

After the comment was made regarding the reed, perhaps, being missing as a possible explanation as to why it would not sound off, I checked inside again and saw that it was still there but merely not cooperative. Maybe some coaxing will be necessary to get it vibrating again. Might this no-cooperation have something to do with the leather flaps?

 

I also noticed that though the reeds themselves were steel, the reed plates were brass and most had a discernible musical key note stamped on them. C, F, D, A etc. I guess that I could sit down and write out where each is located and then determine how best to play the buttons from there.

 

Closer examination revealed that there was some slight surface rust on some of the steel parts but it didn't appear that anything was actually damaged. What rust was there was very minor.

[reg]

Curiously, I was emailed about a W. Jeffries English concertina yesterday, could this (24 buttons each side... ) be the same one?

 

Nope. This is not an English type. It has different notes when pushed and pulled. I understand English concertinas have the same notes.

[Stephen Chambers]

Curiously, I was emailed about a W. Jeffries English concertina yesterday, could this (24 buttons each side... ) be the same one?

Nope. This is not an English type. It has different notes when pushed and pulled. I understand English concertinas have the same notes.

So do duet concertinas, but a little rust is enough to make reeds very out of tune, so that they play different notes.

 

Whilst a W. Jeffries is an extremely rare concertina...

 

Edited August 20, 2009 by Stephen Chambers

[Daniel Hersh]

Sounds like it's probably an Anglo with an unusually large number of buttons. I think that there may be some confusion caused by your use of the terms "top" and "bottom" of each side. Using the position of the player's hands as a reference point, I believe that what you call the "bottom" of the left side is what I would call the "left" end of the left side, while your "top" of the right side is what I would call the left end of the right side. If you look at it this way, the notes on each row on each side get higher in pitch as you go from left to right, roughly similar to a piano keyboard.

 

Daniel

 

Yes, that's right. There's only one note (reed) out of all 48 buttons (96 possible reeds) that doesn't make a sound. It's one of the buttons on the left side (where more bass tones are) and though it does play when the bellows are pushed it won't make a sound when the bellows are pulled.

 

Does each button sound the same note on the push as on the pull?

He said nothing sounds on the pull at the moment so he doesn't know.

 

There are two different notes (two reeds) per each button. So, I believe that makes this an anglo.

 

 

I think from the first post that was only on one reed.

 

The left side has bass notes that seem to go down quite low, while the right side has higher notes. The lowest notes on the left are at the bottom of the four rows of six buttons. The low notes on the right side are at the top of the four rows of six buttons.

 

Low notes on the left and high on the right made me think it was a duet, but the second bit low notes on the RHS are at the top ... I don't know at all!

I think we need pictures

 

What I meant is that the lowest notes available are on the left side of the instrument. Among those, the lowest notes can be found as you finger the lower buttons from that group on the left side. They gradually get higher as you move upward. Conversely, the right side has higher notes. Among this group, the lower tones of that group's reeds can be found along the top and the lower down you go the higher the tones you'll find to play. So, from top to bottom, the left side reeds go from high to low and the right side reeds go from low to high. Is that at all clear? I had no idea as to whether all concertinas were set up the same way or if each is distinctly different.

[Irene S.]

I understand a bit more about this maker from reading some posts here that someone from another forum linked me to....

 

Reg

That would probably be me, if the other forum was Mudcat Reg! Glad to see that you finally made it over here, and hope that your illumination continues ...

[Simon H]

"Maybe some coaxing will be necessary to get it vibrating again."

 

I suggest if you are working with what could be a rare Jeffries Anglo/Duet/whatever - that you put things back together carefully and get an expert to do the coaxing and rust removal for you. Enthusiastic amateur attempts are likely to work out very expensive.

 

The most illumination we can get is photographs.

Edited August 20, 2009 by Simon H

[reg]

I understand a bit more about this maker from reading some posts here that someone from another forum linked me to....

 

Reg

That would probably be me, if the other forum was Mudcat Reg! Glad to see that you finally made it over here, and hope that your illumination continues ...

 

Hi Irene and thanks for the info about this place!

[Irene S.]

No probs Reg (although I think that there were two of us who provided you with links, weren't there?) ... hope you're going to put some photos up, so that those who do know something about these things can provide you with more informed opinion ?

[reg]

Hello Simon,

 

I couldn't agree more. I wouldn't dare to do the coaxing on something that I'm so unfamiliar with as this. I merely wanted to check to see if in fact the reed was still inside and intact and it is. I confirmed that by carefully lifting the leather flap. Doing so, revealed the reed underneath.

 

It seems like it would be quite a trick to simply even get to the offending reed as it is located inside the bellows area. Access to that area seems as though it would take having to disassemble the leather covering of the bellows. How one would get inside that part is a mystery to me.