Blackbird

My eleventh instrument was another C/G Blackbird Anglo, this time a 6″ model with 32 buttons (+ air).

Specification

• 32 button C/G Anglo based on the Jeffries layout with some customisations.
• Six sides, six inches wide across the flats.
• Seven fold plain black goatskin bellows with sycamore pattern papers.
• Flat laminated end plates, dyed-black tulipwood veneer on a solid sycamore core, with traditional-style foliate fretwork pattern and bloodwood border inlay.
• Wheatstone-style ogee border shape.
• Sycamore action box walls with black tulipwood veneer.
• Bloodwood flat hand rails with leather thumb pads and integral brass strap fixings.
• Dimensions and location of hand rails, and length of strap customised slightly.
• French polished finish.
• Brass reed frames with long scale steel reed tongues.
• Sycamore reed pans with parallel Jeffries-style chambers.
• Sycamore action boards.
• Brass sheet riveted action levers.
• 3/16″ diameter brass capped buttons.
• Slotted brass end bolts.
• 3mm button travel (giving 6mm pad lift at 2:1 action lever ratio).
• Black wool bushings.
• Tuning: Equal temperament A=440Hz.
• Weight: 1238g

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No. 11: A 32 Button C/G Blackbird AngloRead More »

My latest concertina is a new, slightly smaller and lighter version of my Blackbird Anglo. It is a 30 button C/G with a low D drone in a 5 3/4″ (146mm) wide frame.

Specification

• 30 button C/G (Jeffries pattern) + low D drone on left thumb.
• Six sides, 5 3/4″ wide.
• Seven fold black goatskin bellows with 1 1/8″ deep cards and fancy custom bellows papers.
• Amboyna burl laminated end plates with black Ebano borders.
• Amboyna action boxes with black Ebano decorative stripe.
• Curved-top Ziricote hand rails.
• French polished finish.
• 5.7mm diameter boxwood buttons.
• Brass thumb levers on both sides (drone on the left, air release on the right).
• 2mm button travel (giving 4mm pad lift at 2:1 action lever ratio).
• Traditional concertina reeds in aluminium frames for weight saving.
• 1/5th comma meantone tuning, with A as the root note.
• Solid sycamore parallel-chamber reed pans.
• Experimental modifications to lower the volume of the drone note.
• Weight: 1138g.

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No. 8: A Smaller BlackbirdRead More »

My latest instrument is a 38 button G/D anglo, with raised metal ends.

Here is its full specification:

• 38 button + air Jeffries layout Anglo in the keys of G/D.
• Six sides, 6 1/4″ wide.
• Six fold black goatskin bellows with 1 1/8″ deep cards and Pictish key pattern bellows papers.
• Traditional long scale steel reeds in brass frames.
• Laminated maple parallel-chamber reed pans.
• Black walnut burr veneer sides with Rocklite Ebano borders and decorative stripes.
• Solid English walnut curved-top handrails (plus a spare set with straight tops).
• Brass riveted action levers.
• Sycamore pad/action boards.
• Raised inset nickel silver end plates with hidden fixing screws.
• 3/16″ nickel silver capped buttons with acetal cores.
• 3mm button travel (giving 6mm pad lift at a 2:1 action lever ratio).
• Black wool bushings.
• Nickel plating on all external metalwork apart from stainless steel bushing board screws.
• Weight: 1484g.
• Italian hard case with custom fitted corner blocks.

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No. 6: A 38 Button G/D AngloRead More »