Fdracula110 Posted March 28, 2017 Share Posted March 28, 2017 (edited) I have aquired a lachenal, C/G, mahogany with brass reeds. Its currently tuned in old pitch about(433). I do have a couple of other, nicer C/G concertinas. My question is, is it worth the effort to retune to 440? And secondly, would it be possible to retune, (with a good deal of "shuffling,") to G/D? I have some limited experience with reed tunning with mixed, improving results. But I have the impression that brass is more difficult to work with than steel. Thank you, I would appreciate any input. JH Edited March 28, 2017 by Fdracula110 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dana Johnson Posted March 28, 2017 Share Posted March 28, 2017 The problem going to modern pitch will be in the higher notes where the metal is already very thin. It is easy to wreck a thin reed. A good tuner could do it, but I'd play it by itself and leave it in old pitch. G/D would be out of the question in my opinion. The reed lengths are so far off. If you want a G/D, sell this C/G and look for one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
d.elliott Posted April 5, 2017 Share Posted April 5, 2017 I have one on the bench at the moment, Dana is right, but over the years I have re-pitched plenty of brass reeded instruments to A=440, it takes time and patience and a 600 grit diamond file and at least one visit to Chapel within the process, especially the English system's upper octave Dave Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fdracula110 Posted April 9, 2017 Author Share Posted April 9, 2017 (edited) Thank you so much. I'm retinking my project. I'm leaning towards mostly reshuffling positions in another, steel reed 30 button and purchasing the additional reeds needed to covert to G/D. That way I can label, preserve and keep the original C/G available. (I hope) Edited April 9, 2017 by Fdracula110 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Theo Posted April 10, 2017 Share Posted April 10, 2017 You will still have the same difficulty that Dana mentions that reeds for GD are longer and the reed frames are wider. If you want a quick way to appreciate the difference just try moving your existing G row reeds to the C row. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fdracula110 Posted May 7, 2017 Author Share Posted May 7, 2017 Thank you for the sound advice. I have taken it and found a different concertina. You've likely saved me a lot of time and expense. I'll definitely check here first when puzzled by my next project. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Willum Posted July 30, 2017 Share Posted July 30, 2017 Just doing a Brass reeded English. I'm a raw beginner to this, (so please correct me if I'm wrong so others can learn!) but so far I reckon for every 5 swipes of a file for steel you only need one for brass and a tiny tickle when you are in the rarified atmosphere at the high end, but it seems it will comfortably go from old pitch to concert. Also, and I'm sure this has been said plenty of times before but the reed is likely to be slightly lower in pitch in the concertina than it is on the bench. In my case if you tune 5 cents high on the bench it'll be pretty good then reassemble the box and fine tune with a second pass. So you definitely need a tuner that reads out Cents. I bought a Seiko SAT501 seems fine to me. I've made up an aluminium plate with a cropped off nail pushed in to it, the cropped off nail is to push the reed out from underneath so you can get the feeler gauge under it. Hope this makes sense. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now