Why vintage concertinas reward regular attention

A well-made Victorian or Edwardian concertina is a remarkably durable thing. Brass reeds, a riveted action, a sturdy mahogany or rosewood end, and six sides of hand-made leather bellows can easily outlive two or three owners. But durability is not the same as indifference. These instruments were built in an era when owners expected to maintain them at home, and a fifty-minute session in a warm pub followed by a cold car boot is exactly the sort of treatment that slowly loosens joints, stiffens bellows and dulls response.

The good news is that most of what keeps a vintage concertina reliable is simple, inexpensive and requires no workshop. A little attention twice a year, plus a handful of habits on stage, will keep the instrument speaking cleanly, holding air and staying in tune with the rest of the session.

Bellows: the instrument's breathing

Bellows are the heart of the matter. If they leak, no amount of reed work will help: the instrument will wheeze, sag under pressure and demand far more air than it should. Check for leaks by playing a single low note firmly and listening for hissing at the corners and along the folds. Turning the instrument into a darkened room with a small torch inside the open bellows will show pinpricks of light at any tired gussets.

For routine care:

• Work a very small amount of proprietary leather dressing into the gussets and corner bindings once a year, using a cotton bud. Less is genuinely more; over-dressing softens the leather and attracts grit.
• Keep the metal corners tight but never brutal. A slack corner lets the paper or linen hinge creep.
• Never store the instrument with the bellows fully closed under pressure, and never leave it standing on one end. Rest it on its base, bellows lightly compressed.
• If the bellows are original and paper-hinged, treat them as fragile. New leather bellows are not a failure; they are restoration, and they will transform the feel of the instrument.

Inside the ends: valves, pads and springs

Before blaming the reeds for a sluggish or buzzing note, look at the valves. These are the small leather flaps that sit over the reed slots on the reed pan. Over decades they curl at the tip, harden, or lose their seating. A sagging valve lets air bleed into the neighbouring reed, producing a delayed start, a breathy tone or an intermittent buzz.

Inspect them with a good light and a magnifying glass. Curled valves can sometimes be gently re-seated with a warm (not hot) iron and a little patience, but replacement is often quicker and better. Use the correct weight of valve leather for the pitch: heavier on the low reeds, lighter on the top ones. On Anglo and duet instruments, check the pads and their seating faces as well, and look for weak springs. A drop of clock oil at the spring pivot, never on the pad face, is plenty.

Reed inspection without drama

Reeds rarely need anything beyond a clean and a close look. Remove the end screws carefully, noting which screw came from which hole, and lift the reed pan out level. Work over a tray lined with a cloth, because a dropped reed shoe can be a genuinely expensive moment.

• Check each reed tongue for rust, verdigris or a fringe of lint. Fine brass wire wool, used with a light hand and followed by a soft brush, will deal with most surface corrosion.
• Look for moths, dust and dried-out fragments of old valve leather lodged under a tongue. These cause the classic "buzzing on one note" fault.
• Make sure every reed shoe sits flat and firm in its slot. A rocking shoe leaks and speaks poorly.
• Never bend a reed tongue to "adjust" it. Steel tongues work-harden and will eventually snap.

Tuning: gentle is the watchword

Concertina tuning is best thought of as weight and stiffness. Metal removed near the tip of the tongue raises the pitch; a touch of solder at the tip, or a few careful strokes nearer the root, lowers it. The margins are tiny. A couple of light passes with a fine file or slip stone can shift a note by several cents, so work incrementally and check with a tuner after every pass.

Tune on the instrument, with the reed shoe in place, because the chamber affects the pitch. Let the instrument come to room temperature first; reeds that are cold read flat and will tempt you into damaging adjustments. If a reed is badly out or the pitch of the whole instrument has drifted, resist the urge to do a full re-tune at the kitchen table. Set aside the few reeds that are genuinely offensive and let a specialist handle the rest.

Session and stage habits that add years

How you play matters as much as how you clean. Avoid hanging the instrument fully extended from one hand for long stretches, which puts all the weight on a single set of corners and wears the bellows unevenly. Support the left end properly on the knee or in the hand, and work the bellows in a moderate arc rather than pulling them to the limit.

Keep the case out of radiators, lofts and car boots in July. Aim for a steady 40–60 per cent humidity, and use a small silica gel sachet in the case if the instrument lives somewhere damp. Wipe the ends with a dry cloth after playing, and let the instrument settle before putting it away. Do those things, and a good vintage concertina will still be holding its own in the session in another thirty years.