Verifiable Jeffries Duet Concertina For Sale

[lghriver]

I have just discovered that the conertina I bought in London 38 years ago is a 51 button Jeffries duet. From reading on the net I realize this is a very rare instrument. I would like it to go to someone who will love it and play it. I don't play (I couldn't find a teacher or any books on it - this was pre-internet .) -I'm a healer, not a musician - and I need the money. When I bought it , it was leaking sound and I had it fixed. Fixed, not restored, as I had no idea what I had. I haven't looked inside it since it was fixed, and I don't know how he did it. There's a small hole in the bellows (six fold, with gold fillagree and what looks like paper decals on the inside of each fold.) I think it's in C, and it is tuned slightly higher than 440. All the buttons work.

 

Please contact me through this forum or at (970) 879-6412 (United States). My mailing address is PO Box 773865, Steamboat Springs, CO 80477, USA.

 

I would like to sell it fairly, the sooner the better.

 

Thank you to the concertina family I havediscovered on the net. Maybe I'll learn to play a less unique one!

 

Lila Henry

[David Barnert]

You might want to get in touch with Nick Robertshaw of the Washington, DC area. He has a website at http://www.paraglyph.com/concertinas/nickr.html. As far as I know, he is the only person on this continent who plays one.

 

Good luck.

[Lester Bailey]

As far as I know, he is the only person on this continent who plays one.

 

Good luck.

 

Maybe the only one on your continent but when out with Aldbury Morris last night one of the locals bought her concertina along as we were there and it was a Jefferies Duet. She played it for us and it was a fine sounding instrument but when she explained the fingering I was totally lost.

[lghriver]

Hello, Greg,

I got your email. I will be taking photos tonight or twm (Sat.) I'm not sure what you mean by "the bellows away from the handrests." I'll be taking a picture of the part of the bellows that is damaged. I don't think I can get a photo of the reed pan because I don't feel I know enough to take the instrument apart that far. Is there any other way I can get the information to you? Please send me your email so I can send photos to you. I don't know how to post them to this forum. Thanks!

[lghriver]

Thanks, David, I will try to get in touch with Nick.

[lghriver]

Hi, Lester,

 

Thanks for your story. Maybe there are more than 10 people who play one in the world, even if has wacky fingering!

[David Barnert]

... even if has wacky fingering!

As Nick explained it to me (if I understood him correctly) it is like an Anglo, but with the tones an Anglo would play on the squeeze and the tones it would play on the draw in alternate rows, so that all the notes are available on both the squeeze and the draw.

 

Don't hold me to this. I don't even play an Anglo.

[JimLucas]

As Nick explained it to me (if I understood him correctly) it is like an Anglo, but with the tones an Anglo would play on the squeeze and the tones it would play on the draw in alternate rows, so that all the notes are available on both the squeeze and the draw.

That's the basic idea, with the other anglo idea that anything not in the pattern of the central key(s) gets stuck around the outside. Here's the layout.

 

It's really not so bad, and no more difficult than the Maccann, in my opinion. It's based on a different concept than the other duets, but it's still a reasonable concept, and quite playable. I had the chance to examine one that was for sale last November (and posted photos and comments). I figured out which notes were on which buttons, and then proceeded to play "Off to California" almost up to speed.

 

If you can only learn by instruction -- through a book or teacher -- then this system is probably not for you. But if you like to teach yourself through experimentation, then I think it would be great. Be the first in your neighborhood to play Jeffries duet!