This is a Jeffries 50-Key Duet. It has been fitted with new 6-fold bellows, bushings, pads and valves, and has been tuned to concert pitch (A=440hz).

Jeffries Duets are rare instruments, and this one is might slightly more unique due to the key it is in. It is centred around a Bb as opposed to a C, meaning that every note on the instrument is as you would expect from a Jeffries Duet layout, but a step down. Whilst Jeffries Duet players are few in number, this would be the perfect addition to allow easier playing in different keys.

This concertina once belonged to Douglas ‘Dougie’ Gray, a founding member of surrealist post-war anti-establishment band ‘The Alberts’. You can find clips of the band on Youtube by searching ‘The Alberts- An Evening of British Rubbish’. When it arrived with us, this Jeffries was evidence of a life well lived on the road, and it’s a joy to bring an instrument like this back to its former glory.

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