The "Edgley Concertina" is hand-crafted, one at a time, from the best materials and components.
The reeds are the very best hand-made Italian reeds available, made to Frank's specifications, with leather valves, and fine tuned in his workshop. All reeds are installed with leather gaskets to insure an absolutely airtight seal. Frank has nineteen years experience in tuning concertinas, and has tuned the concertinas of all three "All-Ireland" concertina champions residing in North America.
The body, bellows frame, reed-pans, buttons and mechanism are all hand-made. The body of the instrument is solid cherry, stained either in ebony, mahogany, or rosewood, and finished with a satin finish. It is also available in sycamore or zebrawood, by special order. The end-grills are solid German silver, and there is also a wooden-ended design available.
The bellows are finished in genuine black leather. Handstraps are constructed of tooled leather with the traditional knurled brass thumbscrew adjustment system. The buttons are slightly domed to make the most comfortable buttons possible.
The pads are extra thick felt and leather to make the quietest mechanism possible. The stainless steel mechanism is very fast and quiet, and the hand-made Italian reeds have been modified by the maker to Frank's specifications, to provide quick response and sweet tone. The volume can be modulated to either accompany singing, or be heard in sessions.
The "Edgley Concertina" is guaranteed against defects in workmanship or materials.
Download an audio sample of the "Edgley Concertina" being played.
Construction Features
Nickel Silver
There is no silver in Nickel Silver, otherwise known as "German Silver. It is an alloy of copper, zinc, and nickel. When polished, it looks very much like sterling silver. However, due to the copper content, nickel silver can react with the acids in the skin and discolour the grills. I have started to coat the grills with a couple of coats of conservator's wax, which should delay this, but, for most people, this greying effect is only a matter of time. Frequent cleaning will also help, but once discoloured, the grills need buffing to restore the silver appearance.
Stainless Steel
When polished to a mirror finish, stainless looks just about the same as sterling or nickel silver. During manufacture, it is necessary to be polished professionally, as standard buffing equipment is inadequate for the job of polishing. It is also very hard on the tools needed to drill the holes in the grills. This accounts for the extra cost involved with stainless grills. It does have the advantage that the grills will never tarnish, or discolour, and will retain the appearance of newness indefinitely. Stainless also resists scratching.
Reed Pans
This is the term, which refers to the wood and chambers to which the reeds are attached. Most other competitors route their reed pans from one solid piece of some composite material akin to MDF (medium density fibreboard). This is a very cost effective way to produce reed pans, but does not produce optimal tone. Others route their reed pans from a single piece of hardwood, such as mahogany. This is better, but chambers, which run the direction of the grain invite splitting where the reed-mounting screws come within 3/32" from the edge of the wood. My reed pans are made up of two different kinds of hardwood :one chosen to produce the best tone, and separate rock maple blocks into which the reed-mounting screws are placed. These blocks are mounted cross grain to reduce the chances of splitting. Instead of one piece, the Edgley reed pans are made up of seventy-four individual pieces, in the case of the "standard" reed pan, and 104 pieces, in the case of the "angled reed pan."
Solid Hardwood Reed Pans
All my reed pans are now made of solid hardwood selected to produce the best tone. Laminated reed pans are available at special request for those who live in areas where there are wide differences in humidity. Many believe solid reed pans do have a better tone, however.
Angled Reed Pans
This is available on the "Professional" model. This option tends to produce a slightly purer tone than the standard reed pan, but tone quality is a largely subjective matter. No matter which reed pan is fitted, the tone continues to improve over the months and years, depending on how long and often the concertina has been played. There is also the contention that moderate playing, as opposed to rough playing, contributes to a better "mellowing-in" process.
Wood Choices
The standard wood that the "body" of the concertina is made from is cherry. There are other wood options, including oak, curly maple. Flamed curly maple, and more exotic woods, such as cocobolo, bubinga, Bolivian rosewood, padauk, chechen, ebony, zebrawood etc. are available on the "Professional" model only. There may be subtle differences in tone produced by instruments of different wood bodies, but these are difficult to describe. Generally, the harder the wood, the brighter the tone.
Bellows
Most of the instruments I have produced have had seven-fold bellows, but some models come with six-fold bellows as standard. Six folds are adequate for most purposes, but for players who make use of multi note chords, or lower-pitched instruments, a seven fold bellows is recommended. A six-fold bellows can be upgraded to a seven-fold bellows for a nominal fee. All my bellows are finished with top grade garment leather, which has been edge-skived for a smooth finish.
Buttons
The buttons on my concertinas are made from Delrin. Delrin is a very tough plastic, which will never wear out or break. The black colour makes them look like ebony. Each button of an "Edgley Concertina" has two bushings, or dampers: one below the button to eliminate the sound of the button bottoming against the button board, and one dense woven felt bushing around the individual holes of the guide plate to eliminate the annoying clacking sound of the button hitting against the edges of the upper guide plate. Several makers do not use the second bushing which lines the holes of the upper guide plate. I take the extra time to double "bush" each note button. "Edgley Concertinas" have one of the quietest actions of any being produced today.
The Fastening
You may notice that the "Edgley Concertina" has the end bolts at the corners of the instrument rather than at the centres of the "flats". This is for a very definite reason. With most concertinas, the seal between the "action box" and the bellows frame may begin to fail. This is because the pressure of the end bolts at the centre of the flat sections does not support the corners and leaks sometimes occur at the corners. If the end bolts are located at the corners, it produces a much better seal over the years.
Reed Chambers
The edges of every reed chamber of an "Edgley Concertina" are lined with gasket leather. This insures that every reed chamber is 100% air efficient, and the effort required to play the instrument is less. Many other concertina makers do not do that. It takes time to gasket every chamber, but we take the time so that every instrument plays as efficiently as possible.
Fingering Systems
There are two basic Anglo fingering systems, Wheatstone and Jeffries. The only difference is with the notes on the right side, third row. Basically the Jeffries has two C#s, but the Wheatstone system is more symmetrical with the notes on the left side. The Wheatstone (Lachenal) system is by far the more popular, and is the system played by notables such as Chris Droney. I also favour the Wheatstone system for my own playing, but Jeffries fingering is also available.
Strap Fasteners
There are two different systems available for fastening and adjusting the handstraps on an "Edgley Concertina". The first is the traditional knurled brass thumbscrews. Adjustments are made by unscrewing the brass thumbscrew and moving it to a different hole in the strap. The other method is a quick release system which enables the player to rapidly adjust the strap size in seconds. While many believe the brass thumbscrews are more attractive, the quick adjustment mechanism is very practical where the concertina is shared by more than one player. Both systems are available on the "Edgley Concertina".
Natural Oak Celtic Lion
Black Traditional Ends
Sycamore
Zebrawood
Rosewood
Cocobolo
Curly Maple
Concertina Case
