Concertina Production

In spite of the pandemic, we are continuing to work at our orders for concertinas, seven days a week. However, it has slowed down production. Please be advised that, if you intend to place an order, the completion date will probably be longer than anticipated. Considering, though, that these are hand-made instruments, the waiting period is probably not longer that other makers of hand-crafted instruments. With vaccinations in progress, we should be able to resume a normal production schedule in the not-too-distant future. Also, If you would like to order an instrument, please allow us to send you a Pay Pal invoice for the deposit. If you want to send a personal cheque, please note that the company name is now "Edgley Concertinas."

 

 

 A LETTER FROM IRELAND

 

I have recently bought two vintage concertinas, a Lachenal and Jeffries. I have been playing concertina for nearly a decade (I am now 30) and was finally at a financial point where I could afford the instrument.

I hope to buy a newly made one for playing at some point, and my absolute favourite sound on the concertina is that of Sean O'Dwyer's album Trad Music from Beara where he plays two of your own. Might I inquire as to which models of concertina those are. They sound absolutely fabulous. In addition to this, for the purposes of saving and planning, could I inquire as to the cost and what your waiting lists are usually like. Another musician I have heard is Zohra C.... of St. Louis in the US who plays your boxes.

I have listened to Suttners, Dippers and other new concertinas and I find the sound of the Edgley's most appealing of all.

Timothy

 

 A Recent Letter

I recently received this letter from a customer who is a concertina and fiddle player:

"Hello from Cape Breton. I hope you are well! Thanks so much for rising to the challenge during Covid times and making me the Bb/F. I look forward to being an owner and player of an 'Edgley.' As you know, I have long been an advocate of the "Old Man" and his very talented daughter (Gwen Edgley). I will continue to sing your praises.

All the best to you, and please God we'll stay in touch.....

David

 Concertina for Sale

The Heritage concertina that was recently posted has been sold.

 Heritage Concertina for Sale

It is not often that we get instruments to sell. This is one of those times. The owner received it new from us three years ago. A year after, there was a back and arm injury which prevented her from playing. She finally decided to sell her,concertina: "Fair journey, concertina. You were a pleasure to play, and will bring joy to a more gifted player than I," said the owner in an email. This concertina is made of a very smart, figured wood, with  Wheatstone fingering. Before shipping I will do a touch up tuning, but little is needed. As standard with our instruments, it has polished stainless grills, and seven fold bellows, and yes, you might be able to see from the photo, matching handles. Please contact me at frankedgley@gmail.com for further details.

 OUR CONCERTINAS

    Edgley Concertinas has been in the business of making concertinas for over 20 years. Before we started making instruments, the founder, Frank Edgley, repaired and tuned vintage concertinas like Wheatstone, Lachenal, Jones, Jeffries and Crabb for 20 years more. Frank Edgley and Harold Herrington collaborated on their early designs, but eventually developed their own signature way of making concertinas. Edgley Concertinas uses the best quality "Hand-Made" reeds available from Italy for the Session Box, Performers and Professional Models. The quality of all these instruments is the same....the best we can make it, no exceptions, as all our instruments are made in Canada, one at a time, and are all hand-crafted. Our action mechanism is unique and the quietest of any concertina made. Further, it will NOT develop a "clicking sound" as most other instruments do when the rivets develop wear. Our mechanism is also the fastest by our design's ability to reduce the friction which Wheatstones, Jeffries and other actions of their type suffer from. It is also far superior to Lachenal action which is notoriously noisy when trying to play fast tunes. We recently (2019) had the experience of seeing our first concertina made over 20 years previous. It had no problems other than it could have used a bit of a tuning, and is still playing today. Edgley Concertinas are well-built to a very sturdy design. As part of our custom service, customers can specify the wood they would like; a contrasting wood trim; trim on the handles. We offer wooden ends or stainless steel ends, which will not corrode or discolour. With the aforementioned models, the Italian reeds are screwed down to the reedpan, NOT waxed in, and we use a leather gasket under each reed for tone purposes and to ensure an airtight fit. This makes it very easy for dust removal, and the eventual touch up re-tune. (in 5 or 6 years depending how hard it is played.) On all our bellows we use SEVEN folds ensuring that it is quite unlikely that you should run out of air. With our Professional Models we install what we call the "angled reedpans" which are unique to Edgley Concertinas, and provide our Professional Models with the most refined tone of any concertina using Italian reeds.

     About 10 years ago we began our Heritage Model. These are concertinas using traditional concertina reeds. This is a completely different design within the instrument, with single reeds per reed frame (Italian reeds have two reed tongues per frame). These reed frames are tapered and bevelled to a five degree angle, and are fitted into the hardwood reed pan. On some traditional concertina reed pans, like Lachenal instruments, and some others, the reed pans can warp over time and this is not a good thing and very difficult to remedy. We use a different wood than any other maker. This wood does not warp, and is proprietary to Edgley Concertinas. It also provides a very good tone.

    We stand by our concertinas, as we have since we began the business, but have had very few concertinas returned for repair or modification. If you are interested in acquiring an heirloom quality concertina that you can pass on or resell at a good price, please contact Frank Edgley at fedgley@cogeco.ca , Ph. 519-991-3100, or Gwyneth Edgley at gwen.edgley@gmail.com. I believe there is no one making concertinas with as much experience as we do. Also, you can visit our web page at http://www.concertinas.ca/ and our Facebook page.

 Some Shop Pictures

I recently came across a few old pictures taken in my shop. I can't date them, but they are a few years old. I thought I would share them.

Birdseye maple with ebony trim.

                                                      A very red piece of bubinga.

Ebony with maple trim.

                                                            Matching wooden Handles.

Wooden-ended oak instrument.

                                                                     Sapele Concertina.

                                                                Book-matching the body.

Sorting the reeds for a Heritage Concertina.