A Sad Story

[asdormire]

I was on e-bay and saw a posting (I was going to say ad, but since this an international crowd, I decided not too) for an Trinity College Concertina, that looks just like the one I bought in 1990. So I got out my old friend, as I have been ignoring it in favor of my very pretty Tedrow box and the old beat up italien box I bought off of ebay in 1999. Was I ever shocked. I could only get one note to sound on a full bellows, or pulling the bellows fully out. It truly saddens me that I spent that money, and now the thing is unoperatable. I know that when I had it with me at the Dublin (Buckeyeland) Irish Festival, it was slow, and Bob Tedrow gave it a disgusted look and told me I should by a decent one, especially since I had regularly purchased descent instraments for my wife. As a matter of fact, he told me I deserved it, (a good friend that Bob is). He had a black british made concertina there that I would have loved to have had, (this was before he was making his instraments, I believe, and for a while, there was a lovely picture of me playing it at the festival on his website) but the cash flow wouldn't allow it at the time. Any way, as you all can see, my first box is dead.

 

For those of you out there thinking of buying an inexpensive box, don't. This boxes bellows are cardboard and cloth, and I can't even feel any air coming from them, like I can from the italien box, which is cardboard and extremely thin leather, when it has a small leak. Yet, I know, they aren't holding or more to the point, allowing enough air pressure to do their job. I also know, as stated elsewhere, the inexpensive boxes held me back, because I am picking up tunes at a fair clip on the Tedrow, especially since I already had the basics down, but I can't imagine how this could have affected a child who wanted to lay music, but really didn't have a decent instrament to play on.

 

One last thought, would it be worth trying to improve the bellows, ie rebuild, or completely replace?

 

Alan

[Ken_Coles]

One last thought, would it be worth trying to improve the bellows, ie rebuild, or completely replace?

 

Alan

 

More fun might be to put different colors of plastic tape on the various bellows folds and thereby make a "clowncertina," as John Townley suggests on his repair tape (no pun intended), er, video.

 

Ken

[asdormire]

I have repair tape that I use on the Italien box, but the Trinit College I think that the air is going straight through the bellows everywher, more like cheesecloth.

 

Alan