- 48-button treble English concertina
- Lachenal #50634
- A.O. Windsor label
- unrestored (but in excellent original condition)
- concert pitch
- Features:
- brass reeds - long scale (see Comments)
- rosewood ends
- bushed bone buttons, w/ colors and note names
- fabric under fretwork (but not heavy baffles)
- original 5-fold, black bellows, with papers
- original wooden case is intact, but missing the key and leather handle
- Comments:
- This is a quality instrument, not your usual
low-end brass-reed concertina. From the dark rosewood, bushed buttons and fine
fretwork to the 5-fold bellows to the reeds, which are about 10% longer than
those of another Lachenal English I have, it was clearly a higher-grade instrument.
- It's also in exceptional condition. Though its response suffers a bit
from leakage through sagging valves (from having been stored on end in its
original hexagonal wooden case) the pads are tight, the bellows are
tight and almost without wear, and even the thumbstraps are in fine
shape.
- The
wear on the buttons and the wearing away of the thin leather inside the
finger plates suggests that is has in fact been well played, but the
player must have had excellent technique, since only the tops of the
buttons are worn, and the two tiny marks on the wood next to the
buttons don't seem to have been made by fingers or nails.
- Everything
is original and intact. The only
"maintenance" I've done is to lay some thin leather around the reed
pans, to compensate for minor shrinkage. But "lay" is the word; I
have used no glue, but just laid the leather in and then very carefully
set the reed pans in without displacing the leather. This is why
I haven't included pictures of the undersides of the reed pans...
because I didn't want to disturb that and then take the trouble to redo
it. I'm not hiding anything.
- Even the reeds appear not to have been touched since
their original tuning, yet they seem to be tuned to A440, or close
enough that my ear can't tell. (I don't have a tuning meter, but
this instrument seems generally in tune with the others I have, which I
know are tuned to A440.) Some reeds -- the low D and C are the worst -- have shifted and need
adjustment, but the instrument is mostly in tune with itself and
with my other instruments, and if you're not playing chords you might
not notice. Most of the included sound files use these notes, and I've included "examples" demonstrating the extent of the problem, so you can judge for yourself.
- This
instrument is quite playable as it is, though currently
it's a bit breathy from the drooping pads and the reed response is
somewhat inconsistent. It deserves a
quality restoration, which I believe could turn it into a truly
beautiful instrument for both singing and tune playing, and a joy to
play. Such
a restoration would be minimal: new valves, a little tightening
around the reed pan, fresh bushings, and touching up the tuning the set
on
the reeds. I don't think it's even
necessary to replace the pads, which seem tight as they are, though it
certainly shouldn't hurt to do so. I want to leave it to the new
owner to decide how much to do, and when.
- I've recorded several sound files with this instrument to give an idea what it's like.
- By the way, I'm told that A.O. Windsor was a well-known
English maker of banjos, but like so many other music dealers they must
have rebadged Lachenal concertinas for sale in their own shop.
- Some sound files of this instrument:
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