Creaky Reeds

[L'Albatroce]

I recently got myself a new (old) concertina reeded instrument. It's a real joy to play except for one thing. I suspect it took a bit of a bumping around on its way in the mail, and some of the notes have a creaky, gravelly kind of sound, like there's a kind of shudder to the reed. Any ideas on what this could be? I opened up the ends and looked at the reed pans and there wasn't anything obviously out of whack (though most things that can go wrong are probably not obvious to me). I can post sound files if that would help, but I'm hoping you the collective intelligence of the boards can help me.

[Greg Jowaisas]

There is a good chance that in shipping that some of the reed shoes became loose in their slots. The shoes should be snug. Check by removing the reed pan (Make sure you put it back with the same orientation) Make sure all the reed shoes are up to their tips in the slots.

 

Another test would be to try and remove each shoe. If it slides out with little resistance it is too loose. Sometimes less humidity can cause loose shoes. Use a thin paper shims or a tiny dab of white glue on the side of the slot near the clamp of the reed to help tighten things up. (let the dab dry for a few minutes; try the shoe; wipe off any tacky excess from the shoe; let the glue thoroughly dry and insert reed shoe. Be careful not to get glue on the bottom of the slot; only a little on the side) Either of these methods should provide a fix.

 

The symptoms you describe are associated with loose in the slot shoes. However, there can be other causes. Start with checking the shoes, doing a fix and let us know the results.

 

Good luck!

 

Greg

[L'Albatroce]

I tried the paper shim, and it worked for one of the reeds. I can feel how much more snug they are when I shim them, but it doesn't seem to improve the tone for a couple of the reeds. A couple of reeds are quieter, and I need a lot more pressure to make them sound at the same volume as the others. More specifically, when I hit my push f#, it feels like I'm hitting molasses. Any other ideas? Alternately, there wouldn't happen to be any concertina savy people in the Seattle area who could have a look-see would there?

Edited February 24, 2010 by L'Albatroce