How to choose a Vintage Concertina

The most basic concertinas are Lachenals, with simply fretworked wooden ends, and bone keys. An Anglo of this quality will have at least 20 keys, and as many as 30. An English system one will always have 48, coloured white, black for half notes, and red for C. They generally have brass reeds, but there are some with steel, especially those with rosewood rather than mahogany ends, so check.

Jones made some quite good Anglos with mahogany ends, and there were better quality student English concertinas made earlier, by Wheatstone, Louis Lachenal, Rock Chidley, George Case and others. These have rosewood ends, bone keys, and brass, or nickel silver reeds. These latter can be easily confused with steel, but they play more like brass. These early examples have a more muted sound, often with a wooden baffle to hide the action.

The next range of concertinas have a more intricate fretwork pattern and nearly always steel reeds, Lachenals made a lot of Anglos like this, and some Duets and Englishes. They play very well usually.

Anglos are rare with rosewood ends and metal keys, but there are a lot of English and Duet ones, and again they usually play well. There are some with brass reeds, but these are much better than the cheap ones, and their softer tone can be useful. The Wheatstone ones have the best action, and examples by Lachenal and Case sometimes have brass inlay, and fancy bellows papers, known as the Excelsior model. Similar instruments with ebony ends are also found.

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Stagi