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On arrival, the apertures in the fretwork which should have the serial number and the makers name were empty, and there was no baffle inside the fretwork, so the action was visible. However the number 36733 is stamped on both the reedpans, the bellows and the action frame. This would date it to about 1898.
Condition on arrival was OK, (considering its age), but it had obviously not been played in decades. On first try at playing it, the right thumbstrap came off in my hand! There were various notes not sounding properly.
I replaced thumbstrap screws, exercised a few valves, and generally cleaned and polished the instrument It then became playable, though still in need of fettling. The reeds are steel, in brass shoes. It was not tuned to modern concert pitch of A=440, but to old London philharmonic pitch of A=452.
Subsequently I've retuned the instrument to concert pitch (A=440), which involves filing the right amount of metal off the belly of 96 reeds - not a trivial task! I've also put in cloth baffles (red artificial silk) behind the fretwork to keep dust out (without impeding sound too much) and replaced new serial number and maker's name labels.
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