This is a Lachenal Edeophone Tenor-Treble with steel reeds. It has been fitted with new pads, valves and straps, and tuned to concert pitch (A=440hz).

This is a concertina that has been in our own collection for about 25 years. It is most likely the first Edeophone ever made by Lachenal -and almost certainly the first tenor-treble ever made.

It is number 28821 which we date roughly to 1889, as that is believed to be the date of Lachenal’s patent for the Edeophone and, as of yet, no Edeophone has turned up with a number anywhere near it. The next Edeophone number in our records is 32898, which would be quite a few years after this one -and that was a treble. The serial number of the next Tenor-Treble that came to us at some point is in the 40,000s.

It has a unique fret design, which was never seen again, and is stamped all over inside with both the serial number and the Patent number.

Make no mistake-this is an extremely rare and unique instrument-which has been illustrated in historical articles about Lachenal and Co-but it is also a playing instrument. It plays well and could certainly be used ,although such fretwork is old and care would be needed to be taken in handling it.

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