Lachenal English Non-playing Notes

[Jay Lamsa]

My english concertina has decided to act up. The A and A flat below middle C only work in one direction. Interestingly, they both went south at the same time, one on the push, one on the pull. I took the cover off, figured out which reeds they were, and just made sure something wasn't caught in them. This simple attempt did not fix the problem.

 

I read an earlier thread about Henk's self-healing concertina, but after several days the situation has not changed. It is cold here in New England, but I have not taken the concertina outside, although I suspect the cold weather has dropped the household humidity somewhat.

 

Anyway, is there something further I should be doing to fix this?

 

Thanks

Jay

 

Until I get this repaired, I am only playing the piano accordion . I really like the PA, but I need this EC back in action. I feel the need to play after digging out from the 2 feet or so of snow we just got.

[Paul Read]

Jay,

 

Open the end again and have a look at the valves and make sure they can open easily. If the valve is OKJ, take the reeds out again and look up at a light through them. You may see something between the reed and the frame that is jamming the reed. If it isn't this, there may be a need for reed adjustment, but I doubt it is that

Good luck.

[Ken_Coles]

My english concertina has decided to act up.  The A and A flat below middle C only work in one direction.  Interestingly, they both went south at the same time, one on the push, one on the pull.  I took the cover off, figured out which reeds they were, and just made sure something wasn't caught in them.  This simple attempt did not fix the problem.

 

I read an earlier thread about Henk's self-healing concertina, but after several days the situation has not changed.  It is cold here in New England, but I have not taken the concertina outside, although I suspect the cold weather has dropped the household humidity somewhat.

 

Anyway, is there something further I should be doing to fix this?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

Humidify your concertina. Your humidity has likely dropped _drastically_ . As you know, I was only 10 or 15 miles from you last winter, in that drafty basement apartment. When it got dry in winter (yes, it was January), two reeds, also below middle C, quit working on my Lachenal EC (you remember my box). Doug Creighton even fooled with them on my next trip to Amherst. One day I tried putting the sponges-in-a-cassette-box-in-closed-case trick to work, and within 48 hours all was cured. I am now a believer. About the same time Doug got a room humidifier in the BBox shop, and he noted fewer problems, as I did, with the old concertinas there. For Christmas Santa got me a room humidifier and tonight I am finally going to fire it up, having shoveled my way out and bought the requisite bleach and vinegar for the frequent cleanings. There is a long thread on this topic from about a year ago, long posts by Paul Groff, Rich Morse, etc. 5 gets you 10 it is a dryness problem.

 

Your house, especially if you have forced air heat, may be down to 10% RH, not good for a box built for damp old England. Eliminating the annual dry-wet cycle is also better for the longevity of the reed pan. Again, see the old thread (I'll see if I can find it)

 

Ken (in equally dry winter Pennsylvania)

[Ken_Coles]

I found it here. I had forgotten; I chimed in on a thread about cracked action boards. I humidified the case to get the crack to close up, and found a side-benefit when the silent notes came back. Read all about it.

[Jay Lamsa]

I found it here.  I had forgotten; I chimed in on a thread about cracked action boards.  I humidified the case to get the crack to close up, and found a side-benefit when the silent notes came back.  Read all about it.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

Ken, Paul -

 

Thanks for the suggestions. I will try the humidifying first for a couple days and see if that works. It makes sense, given how #$^*#^$# cold it has been this past week or so. And this is this particular concertinas first New England winter after a long life in Olde England.

 

Jay

[Sandy Winters]

I'd bet a small amount of money that the humidity (or lack of) is the culprit. What typically happens is that the wood shrinks and the reed frames get loose in their slots, allowing air to travel around the frame rather than thru the reed. Usually this just causes a note to be very weak but it can cause the note to be silent. Pushing the frame tightly into the slot may help, but often a shim is required. Cut a small strip of paper to fit between the reed frame and one side of the slot.

 

Yesterday we had to perform emergency surgery on John Williams' Dipper at the weekly session. A tiny strip of 'sugar packet' paper did the trick.

 

To paraphrase Henry David Thoreau, "Humidify, humidify, humidify."

 

Good luck

[David Barnert]

Remember that the reed that should sound on the push is on the inside surface of the reed pan and the reed that should sound on the draw is on the outside surface of the reed pan.

 

After accessing the reeds (as suggested by Paul, above) and checking that there is no debris stuck between the reed and the frame, make sure that they are firmly seated in their dove-tail joints. That should do it.

[Ken_Coles]

Paper and other shims, resetting reeds has worked for me many times for other instruments, but for the Lachenal EC in the anecdote above they were no help on several occasions (two by more expert repairpersons than me). For that box only when I finally humidified did I get a cure. So both approaches are worth a try.

[Jay Lamsa]

Epilogue:

 

After a couple of weeks of increased humidity (a film canister with a damp not wet sponge in the case) the two offending notes (the low Ab and A) were still doing a moose call impression. So I took a road trip to the Button Box. With Doug's expertise (kudos and many thanks, Doug!), the mystery was solved.

 

The reeds were clean and in tight. As it turned out, they were in too tight. This particular concertina had very narrow clearances for these reeds, and the reeds actually had to be loosened in the wooden slots. There do not appear to be shims in this concertina, by the way. The diagnosis is that there may actually have been some squeezing on the reeds from the wooden slot. So it is now no surprise that, when the symptoms appeared, trying to make the reeds tighter in the slots had no effect on the sound (a sort of rattling, which I now presume is the reed rattling on the metal around it). Once loosened, the offending reeds play well. A similar problem seems to have developed slightly on the other side with the F above middle C.

 

My house certainly is not humid, but this problem almost seemed like one of increased humidity (wood swelling squeezing the reeds). So while we have a fix. I still am puzzled about the cause.

 

And as an aside, I had a chance to play both baritone and treble Morse concertinas - VERY nice, and the action is great!

 

Jay

[d.elliott]

Humidity is still the probable cause, it depends if the reed slots concerned were cut along or accross the grain of the reed pan. big reeds tend to run more or less parallel with the grain, so shrinkage would tend to tighten the reed slots onto the reed frames. Alls well that ends well, until the summer! then paper shims may still be needed.

 

Dave

[Theo]

Epilogue:

 

My house certainly is not humid, but this problem almost seemed like one of increased humidity (wood swelling squeezing the reeds).  So while we have a fix. I still am puzzled about the cause.

 

Jay

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

Not such a mystery really. If the humidity is low (likely in a centrally heated house in cold winter conditions) then the wood willl shrink. As the entire piece of wood shrinks, the holes get smaller too, thus exerting an extra squeeze on the reeds. As Dave has already pointed out, the amount of movement is greater across the grain than along the grain, so reeds fitted parallel to the grain will be worst affected.

 

Theo