Why older Anglos drift out of tune

Most traditional Anglo concertinas carry individual reed shoes screwed or clamped into a wooden reed pan, one reed for the press and a separate one for the draw. Steel reeds hold their pitch well; the softer brass reeds found in many older Lachenals and cheaper models move more readily, and they can be nudged sharp by nothing more than a careless knock or a heavy-handed previous repair.

Pitch drifts for the usual reasons: temperature, humidity, metal fatigue, dried wax or varnish, and reed tongues that have simply taken a set over eighty or a hundred years of playing. There is also the question of pitch standard. Plenty of pre-war instruments sit at A=439 or thereabouts, while some are high pitch or at an old philharmonic standard. Before you reach for a file, decide whether you want a player's instrument at A=440 to sit with fiddles and melodeons, or a historic instrument left as it was made. Both answers are legitimate; they just lead to different work.

Remember too that a note can be sweet on the press and sour on the draw. That is rarely a tuning problem — it usually points to a tired valve, a reed sitting slightly off its slot, or a shoe that has worked loose.

When to adjust the reeds — and when to leave them alone

My rule of thumb is that anything within five to ten cents can be lived with. In a session, with a fiddle and a melodeon in the room, small deviations vanish. Test in a warm room at playing temperature, and give each reed a few seconds of playing before you trust the tuner reading.

If a reed genuinely needs work, free-reed practice is straightforward in principle: removing metal from the tip raises the pitch, and removing metal from the root, close to the rivet, flattens it. Adding a small blob of solder to the tip flattens a reed that would otherwise be filed away to nothing. A few strokes with a fine file, then check, then a few more.

What you must not do is file across the rivet, bend the tongue to force a reading, or work on a reed without supporting it from underneath with a thin shim. Reeds are spring steel under tension, and a snapped tongue means a new reed and a very different repair bill.

Valves: the cheapest fix with the biggest payoff

Valves are the thin leather or plastic flaps that sit over the reed slots and stop air escaping back through the opposite reed. When they curl, harden or come unstuck, the symptoms are unmistakable: a breathy or choked tone, notes that sound weakly on one direction, sluggish response, and a general sense that the instrument has lost its voice.

Replacing valves is inexpensive and transforms an old instrument. Do them in sets, on both sides of the reed pan, and match the weight of the valve to the reed — thin, light valves for the high notes, stouter leather for the bass. Keep the old ones in a bag until you are sure the new ones suit, and glue sparingly with a tiny dab of the appropriate adhesive rather than flooding the slot.

Small jobs you can safely do at home

• Check for bellows leaks by closing the instrument, pressing gently and listening at the gussets and external corners.
• Snug up end bolts and fretwork screws — finger-tight only. Over-tightening splits hundred-year-old wood.
• Brush dust from buttons and fretwork with a dry, soft brush. Never use oil, spray lubricants or furniture polish inside a concertina.
• Replace pads that hiss, and treat sticking buttons as a bent lever or weak spring rather than dirt to be washed out.
• Keep a notebook listing which notes are out, by how much, and whether on the press or the draw.

Knowing when to call in an expert

Hand the instrument to a restorer for anything structural: cracks in the reed pan or end plates, loose reed shoes, failed wax, reeds that have gone badly sharp across the board, a bellows needing a rebuild, or anything at all inside a Jeffries or a good Wheatstone, where a slipped tool costs hundreds.

A reed that buzzes, chokes or has lost its voice should be looked at rather than tuned. A hairline crack in a tongue cannot be filed out, and no amount of tuning will cure it.

When you do make contact, talk about the instrument's history first. Ask what pitch the repairer tunes to, whether original reed shoes and clamps will be preserved, and how long the queue is — good concertina repairers are booked months ahead, so plan around the festival season. If you must post it, strap the bellows, protect the ends, and pack it so it cannot shift.

Everyday care that keeps an Anglo sweet

Play it. An Anglo left in a case for months goes stale: valves dry and curl, springs lose their snap, reeds collect dust and rust.

Aim for a steady 45 to 55 per cent relative humidity, out of direct sunlight, away from radiators, cars and lofts. A hard case with a little silica gel in a damp house is sensible. Warm the instrument before a session — a cold concertina plays flat and sticky, then sharpens as your hands heat it up. Wipe the ends with a dry cloth, keep crumbs and beer out of the fretwork, and store it with the straps slack rather than tight against the ends.

Above all, mention drift early. A note that has moved ten cents this year will have moved thirty by the next, and an instrument that is looked after every few years will still be playing sweetly in another fifty.