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Crabb Reed Pan


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I was looking at pictures of the inside of a Crabb Concertina and was wondering what the purpose of the hole in the center of the reed pan was. The hole is only in the reed pan and not in the action board so no air gets through. Is it just a chamber to let the sound reverberate? I noticed in Bob Tedrow's photo journal about making a zephyr here that he doesn't include one but Wim Wakker has the reed pan center hole also here

 

I'm not a concertina builder but I'm interested in the construction of them and was just curious as to what that hole in the middle of the reed pan was for.

 

Thanks

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It's there so you can hook your finger through it and pull the reed pan out. There may be some reason it's impractical to put it there on hybrid concertinas like the Tedrow (and my Morse); the Crabb and the Wakker (and my Wheatstone) have traditional reeds. Others with wider experience will know if there are examples of hybrids with the hole and/or traditionally-reeded instruments without it...

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I was looking at pictures of the inside of a Crabb Concertina and was wondering what the purpose of the hole in the center of the reed pan was. The hole is only in the reed pan and not in the action board so no air gets through. Is it just a chamber to let the sound reverberate? I noticed in Bob Tedrow's photo journal about making a zephyr here that he doesn't include one but Wim Wakker has the reed pan center hole also here

 

I'm not a concertina builder but I'm interested in the construction of them and was just curious as to what that hole in the middle of the reed pan was for.

 

Thanks

 

Hi Sean.

In the case of the Lachenals and Wheatstones, the hole was used in the manufacturing process for the routing of the reed slots. Look at this fantastic footagethat Henrik Muller sent to me.

 

I did an experiment. I stuck a piece of paper over the hole and drew lines along the edges of all the reed frames. Guess what? They all ended up at the centre of the hole (obviously!) The reason the hole is offset towards the small reeds is that the angle of the slots then stays the same. If it was in the centre, the long reeds would have a much steeper angle than the short ones.

Andy

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...

...

Thanks to Henrik for unearthing it. I've started work on a replica machine (with some more modern bits!)

Andy.

Oh, I am not the un-earther - it was quite a long time ago, forgotten who. Even more interesting I found the out takes (not-used film) that varney found. Much found close-up details of the router at work.

 

- and a Happy, Belated New Year to all!

 

/Henrik

Edited by Henrik Müller
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