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Auldfellowmelad

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  1. I don't think there is any place on this website for this sort of pedantic annoying bad behaviour you are displaying ttonon. Stop it. With regards to the accuracy of free reeds, here is a quote from one of the greats of the original concertina manufacturing industry (who will remain un-named and is no longer with us) when he was questioned about the accuracy of tuning: He reminded the asker that the Concertina is not an electronic organ – and that the asker should “stop listening to the hi-fi and get on with playing some music. The instrument was designed in 1827 so any improvements we can make should be considered as a bonus”! Basically what he was saying was "yes the pitch will fluctuate a bit depending on humidity or temperature but not by an amount that really matters, or can do anything about so just get on with it". We should all remember that.
  2. That is a great aim, I wish you all the best in it. I have often wondered if any of the larger or older reed manufacturers from Italy (or the resulting modern versions on the form of mergers) ever tried to perform such research. Or if their approach was something different more akin to a tradition with incremental improvements. Who knows, in either case they might not necessarily want to share those ideas and knowledge, business is business after all. May I recommend visiting someone who makes reeds and if they are amenable to it just spend a day or so having them explain and make some reeds to directly show the ins and outs of what problems have been encountered here and there, I have found it very hard to describe or understand what someone means by say "buzzing" or "beating" without actually hearing it in person, not just recordings. Perhaps even a collaboration with a reed maker would be possible. In my experience of academia there is sometimes a disjuncture between academic pursuits and the world of business - even to the point of each side not understanding what the other is even trying to say, when really they should be getting on well. Your research could be of real interest to existing reed makers, its great you are talking to some on here but I really would recommend visiting someone as well, you would be very surprised what unexpected approaches and practices you might find, in practice sometimes applied sort of like rules of thumb. Best of luck with the project, I will follow it with great interest and respect.
  3. Might I add a small thought: This is all very admirable trying to quantify this stuff scientifically but if the aim is to make a musical instrument, or reeds for one: should such sounds not be judged aesthetically, or artistically? In how it feels and sounds to play? To get too bogged down in the science of it we might end up missing the point. I am pretty sure that most people who make musical instruments are not usually thinking about things in such a scientific way or imagining fluid mechanics, rather they have a physical knowledge of how things are supposed to be and feel. Charles Jeffries was supposedly illiterate, though apparently was a performing musician if sources are to be trusted. What is actually the aim here?
  4. The sad thing is valves can be an issue as well, a very thin valve will give a note with a hard edge to it (and the valve probably curls or malfunctions later). I see a lot of concertinas with all of these very very thin curly valves, agh, its no good.
  5. Well IMHO Minimum bellows pressure would be a slow waltz played in the lounge whilst your wife reads the paper next to you, and maximum pressure would be a morris team. When playing at morris team pressure DONT SPANK IT TOO HARD Y'hear? If you do that it can go flat, especially the low notes. Its important to file the reeds not too thick and not too thin, its sort of a matter of opinion what is too thick and too thin. Practice and get a good understanding of the instruments dynamics. Then practice more, THEN MORE!!!! The mark of a true musician is to practice.... eeeeven more. A good musician can tell when a reed has the right level of pitch deflection, basically you have to be a player to make reeds I reckon.
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