Jake Middleton-Metcalfe Posted August 28, 2011 Share Posted August 28, 2011 hello I have a question about voicing concertinas. It is my understanding that a reed can be adjusted to sound quickly but not as loud by having the reed tip closer to the frame or the reed can be set higher and further away from the frame to make it loud but not quite as quick to respond. I have an ap james concertina and recently played an instrument made by the same guy at a festival (it was on a stall at sidmouth folk festival) and it was quicker to speak but quieter. These are hybrid concertinas with accordion reeds. I am wondering If I could have the reeds set a bit lower to make it quiet and responsive as I dont really need it to be that loud. Has anyone tried doing this themselves, and if so how did you find it? jake Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alan Day Posted August 29, 2011 Share Posted August 29, 2011 hello I have a question about voicing concertinas. It is my understanding that a reed can be adjusted to sound quickly but not as loud by having the reed tip closer to the frame or the reed can be set higher and further away from the frame to make it loud but not quite as quick to respond. I have an ap james concertina and recently played an instrument made by the same guy at a festival (it was on a stall at sidmouth folk festival) and it was quicker to speak but quieter. These are hybrid concertinas with accordion reeds. I am wondering If I could have the reeds set a bit lower to make it quiet and responsive as I dont really need it to be that loud. Has anyone tried doing this themselves, and if so how did you find it? jake You are opening up a can of worms here Jake,99% would say leave well alone the other 1% don't know. Reed setting has been discussed for years on this site and some prefer the more mellow sound of a low adjustment, but it's disadvantages is that the reed can choke ,particularly the lower ones. I like higher set reeds I cannot have an instrument that performs slower than I am playing it and choking reeds on stage are a nightmare, as if you havn't got enough distractions already. Loud instruments can be played softer, it just needs practice. Reed setting I suppose can be accurately calculated to exact dimension ,but most reasonable tuners will set a reed how they prefer it.It is a personal thing and if you are not experienced in this work, put me in the 99%. Al Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alan Day Posted August 29, 2011 Share Posted August 29, 2011 hello I have a question about voicing concertinas. It is my understanding that a reed can be adjusted to sound quickly but not as loud by having the reed tip closer to the frame or the reed can be set higher and further away from the frame to make it loud but not quite as quick to respond. I have an ap james concertina and recently played an instrument made by the same guy at a festival (it was on a stall at sidmouth folk festival) and it was quicker to speak but quieter. These are hybrid concertinas with accordion reeds. I am wondering If I could have the reeds set a bit lower to make it quiet and responsive as I dont really need it to be that loud. Has anyone tried doing this themselves, and if so how did you find it? jake You are opening up a can of worms here Jake,99% would say leave well alone the other 1% don't know. Reed setting has been discussed for years on this site and some prefer the more mellow sound of a low adjustment, but it's disadvantages is that the reed can choke ,particularly the lower ones. I like higher set reeds I cannot have an instrument that performs slower than I am playing it and choking reeds on stage are a nightmare, as if you havn't got enough distractions already. Loud instruments can be played softer, it just needs practice. Reed setting I suppose can be accurately calculated to exact dimension ,but most reasonable tuners will set a reed how they prefer it.It is a personal thing and if you are not experienced in this work, put me in the 99%. Al Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frank Edgley Posted August 29, 2011 Share Posted August 29, 2011 I would agree with Alan on this. It's one thing to adjust one or two reeds which are stalling or take too much air, but it is quite another thing to do this with a whole set of reeds. Resetting a reed level can also put it out of tune. I don't think you want to go there. Reed response can be due to more than just the setting of the reed level. It could also be due to the reed quality (durale, tipo a mano, a mano, bombato etc), pad travel, vent hole size, chamber size etc. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jake Middleton-Metcalfe Posted August 29, 2011 Author Share Posted August 29, 2011 ok thanks for letting me know Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Ghent Posted August 30, 2011 Share Posted August 30, 2011 Jake, don't let people put you off, its not rocket science, have a go. Yes, it might not be as straightforward as "lower all of the reeds for a quieter faster effect" but there is a large amount of truth to that statement. If you do some research, perhaps go looking for a few old reeds to practise on, ask more questions just as you started doing, and look for encouraging people who know more than you do, you can do this. Try on melodeon.net as they have the same sort of reeds. An email to AP James would not be a bad move, he may be completely happy to talk about it. He might tell you his reed setting parameters and if yours will respond to this treatment. If you had asked about traditional concertina reeds you might have obtained a more positive response here, many people here who can sort out their concertine first did it because they had to, now they know what they are doing. Few would be as familiar with the inside of hybrid concertinas because they are mostly fairly new and well built and have not yet developed the sort of issues which have you reaching for a screwdriver at inopportune times. Just don't be in a hurry, do your research, practise and go for it. You can make a nice job of this and then put it back if you don't like it when you are finished. Did I say, just don't be in a hurry? Oh, and watch out for addiction, in no time you will be repairing and making them... Chris Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jake Middleton-Metcalfe Posted August 31, 2011 Author Share Posted August 31, 2011 Jake, don't let people put you off, its not rocket science, have a go. Yes, it might not be as straightforward as "lower all of the reeds for a quieter faster effect" but there is a large amount of truth to that statement. If you do some research, perhaps go looking for a few old reeds to practise on, ask more questions just as you started doing, and look for encouraging people who know more than you do, you can do this. Try on melodeon.net as they have the same sort of reeds. An email to AP James would not be a bad move, he may be completely happy to talk about it. He might tell you his reed setting parameters and if yours will respond to this treatment. If you had asked about traditional concertina reeds you might have obtained a more positive response here, many people here who can sort out their concertine first did it because they had to, now they know what they are doing. Few would be as familiar with the inside of hybrid concertinas because they are mostly fairly new and well built and have not yet developed the sort of issues which have you reaching for a screwdriver at inopportune times. Just don't be in a hurry, do your research, practise and go for it. You can make a nice job of this and then put it back if you don't like it when you are finished. Did I say, just don't be in a hurry? Oh, and watch out for addiction, in no time you will be repairing and making them... Chris haha, cheers, I might send mr james an email and ask him a bit about it Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
superbeta Posted September 21, 2011 Share Posted September 21, 2011 Jake: I researched about how to retuning the reeds of a vintage concertina, and I almost do it ¡¡¡, I will post some of my experiences here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tomo Posted October 1, 2011 Share Posted October 1, 2011 Hello. When I set concertina reeds, I usually refer to The Concertina Maintenance Manual by David Elliott. I bought it from David J. Leese. I wrote the article about setting reeds on my blog today, using a video and some pictures. http://irish.cocolog-nifty.com/flute_concertina/2011/10/setting-the-ree.html I hope you enjoy it! Cheers, Tomoyuki My blog : http://irish.cocolog-nifty.com/flute_concertina/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andy Holder Posted December 4, 2011 Share Posted December 4, 2011 Jake,don't let people put you off, its not rocket science, have a go. Chris I agree totally Jake. I certainly don't agree with the "leave it to the experts" camp. There is no faster way of learning that just doing something. Can you imagine Charles Wheatstone or Louis Lachenal saying "ooer, I'd better not do that because I'm not an expert!" I spent 10 years doing state of the art optical physics in medical devices, despite having failed physics at school. I really believe that that the lack of a conventional training makes you more inventive and less concerned about what you "don't know" and "shouldn't do". One thing is for certain, it won't be long before you're an expert too! When you get to that stage, remember, encouragement of beginners is by far the best way. Now, what to do next? I think I might have a go at rocket science! Andy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andy Holder Posted December 4, 2011 Share Posted December 4, 2011 Hello. When I set concertina reeds, I usually refer to The Concertina Maintenance Manual by David Elliott. I bought it from David J. Leese. I wrote the article about setting reeds on my blog today, using a video and some pictures. http://irish.cocolog-nifty.com/flute_concertina/2011/10/setting-the-ree.html I hope you enjoy it! Cheers, Tomoyuki My blog : http://irish.cocolog-nifty.com/flute_concertina/ Hi Tomo, love the blog. Excellent photos, thanks. Andy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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