mper

Jim has referred to work-hardening as a potential life-shortening problem for "brass" reeds. I should prefer always to use the term "non-ferrous" for those reeds which are not some form of steel. whether they are 70/30, 60/40 brasses, aluminium bronze , phosphor-bronze or "nickel silvers"they will all rely, not only upon their single or two-phase microstructure but actually upon initial work-hardening , by rolling or hammering for their desirable spring-like properties. In use, they remain well within their elastic range and are not subject to work-hardening. As with steel reeds, their main enemy will always be fatigue failure, often starting from internal inclusions or second phases but also from residual file marks and tuning damage. I have always been interested in non ferrous materials which derive their properties from precipitation or dispersion hardening, produced by heat, rather than mechanical, treatment. Copper-Beryllium is a typical example, which I have, once or twice, used in my very old non-ferrous reeded Wheatstone tutor model. Carbide precipitation is, of course involved in the tempering of steel reeds, so the principle is well established. I always wanted to try an ultra-high-strength maraging steel for reeds but never got round to it ! mper

This looks like an extremely valuable website,Pauline. The only trouble, for me, is that no scroll bars etc appear on my iMac screen and I have been unable to locate the pdf files and mp3 material. The home page disappears off the foot of the screen ! Is there any hope that your webmaster colleague may be able to rectify this problem ? All good wishes ! Michael (EKCP)

I am another player who would be grateful to Keith (Sourdoh) for links to sources for music of Cornelius Lyons piece "Miss Hamilton" Many thanks in advance ! Michael

I should be grateful to know whether some correction is needed for the contact details offered by Bruce Boysen, in connection with the Lea Nicholson Concertina Record ?

I note a brief reference in the above thread to "natural gums". I understand that these are particularly valuable for revalving, because water-solubility gives damage-free release. The most readily available is probably gum-arabic but gum-benzoin and gum-tragacanth are also of interest.