6 Concertina Repair Techniques
Description
This article is from the Concertina FAQ, by Chris Timson chris@harbour.demon.co.uk with numerous contributions by others.
6 Concertina Repair Techniques
This section only describes repairs on a conventional concertina.
Bastari/Stagi type concertinas that are derived from accordions
require different techniques that are described in the accordion FAQ
(see section 12). Don Nichols Home Page (also section 12) has much
useful information.
The South Riding Folk Network have (as of December 1997) published the
Concertina Maintenance Manual, written by Dave Elliott. Well produced,
clearly laid out and nicely illustrated, there is, so far as I know,
nothing else like this book around at present time. It should be widely
purchased, especially by those not in reach of one of the established
repairers. However, it does contain a few errors and should carry a
large health warning: unless you have the requisite skills to carry out
some of the tasks described you could end up doing some damage to your
concertina. Send a cheque for UKP8.00 (UKP9.00 overseas) payable to
SRFN, to 24 Chapel Street, Mosborough S20 5BT, England.
First, a couple of dos and don'ts.
Don't try and tune a concertina unless you are *absolutely* certain
of what you are doing. It is very easy to ruin a reed. It is very
much a specialist job.
Don't touch the two screws that hold a reed in place in its metal
frame.
Don't leave a concertina dismantled overnight. The screws keep the
wood clamped into shape. If left too long the wood can warp and the
repair will be expensive.
Work on one end at a time and reassemble it before starting work on
the other end. There are an awful lot of screws in a concertina,
sometimes hand-turned, so keep careful track of where they come from.
If you have a concertina with leather baffles fitted to sweeten the
tone think very carefully before removing them. The spacers inside
the end of the concertina sometimes assume their presence and you
can cause the wood to distort when you reassemble it. Personally I
prefer to fit baffles in our concertinas - I like the sweetness for
song accompaniment and it is an easy job with double-sided tape!
Many of the makers in section 8 will supply spare parts such as pads,
valves and springs if requested.
If you remove the screws round the endplate of the concertina you can
remove the end containing the action (i.e. the buttons, levers and
pads which control the air flow). This exposes the reed pan which is
held in the end of the bellows. Remove the screws one at a time from
opposite sides of the endplate so as to distribute the strain, and
replace them the same way when you are reassembling the instrument
(do not overtighten as you may cause the ends or reed pans to warp).
The reed pan has reeds on both sides as a reed is only designed to
play in one direction. Reeds on the inside play when the concertina
is being pushed or closed, and reeds on the outside play when the
concertina is being pulled or opened. Small leather flap valves on
the opposite side of the pan from their corresponding reeds control
the air flow. If you look on the inside of the end then you will see
the holes through which air passes as you play. Press on a button
and you will see the corresponding pad lift to allow air through.
If you are having a problem with a reed then to identify it press
the button on the end corresponding to the note of the problem reed.
This will show the hole for that reed, which you can then tie up
with the reed pan. Sometimes the reed has the note it plays stamped
on its frame.
The pan is not normally screwed in and can be removed by careful
pulling with one finger hooked through the centre hole. Make sure
before you remove it that you know which way round it must be to go
back in! (Frequently matching numbers are stamped into the reed pan
and frame to help with this).
There are two repairs that can be carried out easily on reeds:-
silent reeds and buzzing reeds. Silent reeds are frequently due to a
small piece of dirt or fluff lodged in the reed, and can be cleared
by gently twanging the reed with a Stanley (US X-acto) knife, or by
gently sliding a piece of thin, clean, stiffish paper under the reed
and over the frame to dislodge the offending object. A buzzing reed
can be due to the reed having shifted slightly in its frame. You
should be able to see or feel the reed snagging on the frame. Gently
ease it straight with your knife or a thin steel shim
A note sounding when not being played in one direction only may be due
to a flap valve getting stuck out of position. This can sometimes also
prevent a note from playing (again in one direction only). Ease the valve
back and all may be well.
Reed frames can come loose within the pan. This sometimes manifests
itself as a sort of mournful mooing sound. Remove the reed frame, cut
a thin, short piece of masking tape and wrap it round the top and
side of the frame before easing the frame back into the reed pan.
Don't force it - if you have to force it you have put on too much
tape and you may cause the reed to jam in its frame. Try removing
some tape from the side of the reed frame.
If the spring breaks on a button or a pad gets dislodged causing a
note to sound continuously in both directions you have to get inside
the end to expose the action. The way you do this differs for English
and anglo concertinas. For an English there are normally two screws
that need to be removed, one in the middle of the thumb strap and one
in the middle of the little finger support. Remove these and the whole
faceplate should come off the end, exposing the action.
On an anglo there is normally a screw on the inside of the end which
you can remove. There may be additional screws in the centre of the
outside on some instruments which will also need to be removed.
The action looks quite complex but is quite logical in its layout and
you should be able to work out the required repair by comparing the
action for the broken button with a working one. You may need a new
pad or replacement spring from one of the makers or repairers in
section 8, however I have heard of cut-down safety pins being used in
an emergency!
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