The English Concertina The English Concertina
Let's start with the acknowledgment that this will not be of interest to everyone. However, I hope that it is of interest to those who have concertinas to keep functional, restore, or evaluate for purchase. It will also probably be of interest to others like myself, who want to know how everything works. You are probably capable, over time, and given exposure to many instruments, of developing this information just as I have, but perhaps you don't (yet) have that time and exposure to many instruments.
Since there doesn't seem to be a better place for this, I'll show some outside views of tina's here to start things off.
Wheatstone English-system treble concertina
of the late 1920s -- 510,173 Bytes
This concertina is one of my own collection, and is an example of the ebony-ended concertinas made by Wheatstone prior to the Boosey and Hawkes buyout.
manufacturer's label
from the above concertina. -- 215,770 Bytes
Note that the label mentions "Æolas" (for those whose browsers don't handle that gracefully, that should be "AE" run together followed by "olas") in addition to Concertinas. This is a part of the "Model wars", to show just how old that game is. The "Edeophone" (which had 12 sides) was invented by Lachenal. You didn't dare set it down on a hillside -- it was gone. :-) Subsequent to that, Wheatstone invented the Æola to compete. (I used to believe that the Wheatstone invention came first, but have since discovered that the order of invention was with Lachenal being first, which spoils a perfectly good story about how it came about. :-(
The same treble with an older Wheatstone tenor
for a size comparison. -- (jpg) 106,335 Bytes
A gif of the same photo 277,428 Bytes
The tenor is an older design, note the flat end plates (perhaps not too visible in the photo, since everything is black.) As it turns out, this particular instrument has the deep reed chambers which was characteristic of the brass-reed instruments, even though it is fitted with steel reeds. It also started out life as a rosewood or mahogany ended instrument, probably with a green leather bellows. Both the bellows and the endbox were stained black at some time.
Instruments of much greater and smaller size also were produced, but I don't have any photos of them. I also now posses a Baritone, which I intend to photograph with the other two, to expand the range of sizes shown.
Anglo
concertina -- 470,739 Bytes
Most of what follows applies as well to the English-made Anglo concertinas as to the English-system ones. Here is an example of an English-made Anglo. Needless to say, they come in as many variations of design and construction as the English system do, and more if you allow each of the various key combinations, and the special arrangements of buttons in the third row (when present.) Note that this one has only a partial third row.
To show the relationship of the major sub-assemblies. From left to right we have (1) the bellows (with the other end still assembled), (2) the reedpan, and (3) the action box, seen from the reedpan side. Below, you may choose to visit a detailed exploration of each of the three subassemblies.
I hope that this has been some help to you.
Thanks for taking the time to visit.
Note that I have had to block any messages above a certain size, thanks to the massive flood of "SWEN" virii. Anything that gets near 30,000 bytes (currently) *will* be blocked. However, it is bad practice to send attachments to anyone unless they agree to receive it beforehand -- especially so in these days of virii running rampant. Contact me, and we will try to find a way to exchange images if you really have to. Donald Nichols ( dnichols@d-and-d.com )
