This is a Wheatstone Aeola 56-Key Tenor-Treble with steel reeds. It has been fitted with new pads, valves and straps, and tuned to concert pitch (A=440hz).

The serial number of this concertina is 25358.

This is a great opportunity to get a good-period Wheatstone Aeola for a lower price. It is cheaper than a usual Aeola due to the fact that it has 5-fold bellows, a big of minor damage to the veneer at the top of left side of the instrument, and although the ends have been polished as much as possible, the metalwork is a bit untidy in places. Having said all of those things, they don’t detract from the fact that this is a very good instrument.

The concertina is responsive and had a signature rounded Wheatstone tone, and the 5-fold bellows aren’t noticeably lacking too much in comparison to a usual 6-fold set (although this obviously depends on the way you play the concertina). For tunes and single-note pieces, you wouldn’t notice any difference.

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