Purchasing Reeds

[P. Bogausch]

Hello All,

Long story short, I'm building a C/G 30 button Anglo Jefferies style concertina with the help of these forums, Bob Tedrow's photo essay and my father who is a Master Machinist from Germany. And yes, for those of you thinking it, I have to be nuts to take up a challenge like this.

 

I'll give a background of myself and an explanation as to why I want to do this at a later time but for now let's stick with the topic at hand, purchasing reeds for a concertina.

 

My plan has always been to make a hybrid concertina with either Tipo A Mano or A Mano accordion reeds as this is 100x easier that making my own. I've done some research and have found a number of companies that produce and sell the reeds I'm looking for.

 

Here is a list of the companies I've been able to find so far:

 

Binci - Not accepting new orders at this time.

Cagnoni - Requires a 5 set minimum purchase.

Armoniche - Requires a 10 set minimum purchase.

Harmonikas - From my understanding, they will sell individual sets and has a special set that sells under the DIX name.

Homewood Music - Bob has a set he is willing to sell me.

Button Box - Still waiting for an email back.

 

So my questions to all of the fine folks who reads this:

Do you know of any other reed manufacturers I might be able to bug for pricing / availability?

Has anyone purchased / used reeds from any of the aforementioned companies? And what have your experiences been with them.

Is there a general consensus of who makes the best hybrid reeds?

 

Thanks and I can't wait to hear the responses.

[Henrik Müller]

Hello All,

Long story short, I'm building a C/G 30 button Anglo Jefferies style concertina with the help of these forums, Bob Tedrow's photo essay and my father who is a Master Machinist from Germany. And yes, for those of you thinking it, I have to be nuts to take up a challenge like this.

...

...

...

He, he - you are not nuts - in my eyes you are very normal !

 

I don't know how much help this is, but anyway: in 2006 I bought a set of 27 reeds (for EC) from

Antonelli. It seems like they have changed the company policy since then. I simply sent them an email,

asking "Can you supply this [specification]" and they said "Sure, send the money" (€102). A couple

of weeks later they arrived.

 

I didn't understand the reference to the czechs - would they not sell you a single set?

 

May be the reason is that they will need to make "specials" - I mean, some of the reeds will be identical

to accordion reeds, but some will be anglo-specific. And only as long as they can pull reeds of the

storage shelves, they are willing to sell just one set.

 

As I said - not much help. But more power to ya elbow!

 

/Henrik

[malcolmbebb]

You didn't list Ciccarelli. You might want to sign up to melodeon.net, there is a forum there you could use and a number of people who buy reeds.

[P. Bogausch]

 

I didn't understand the reference to the czechs - would they not sell you a single set?

 

I'm waiting on a response back from Harmonikas right now to see if they will only sell one set. They hadn't mentioned any limits when I first emailed them so we'll see what they say when they reply back. I'd really like to get a set of their DIX reeds if they are willing to work with me.

 

I'll have to check out Ciccarelli too just in case Harmonikas doesn't pan out.

Edited November 9, 2012 by P. Bogausch

[psmooze]

 

I didn't understand the reference to the czechs - would they not sell you a single set?

 

I'm waiting on a response back from Harmonikas right now to see if they will only sell one set. They hadn't mentioned any limits when I first emailed them so we'll see what they say when they reply back. I'd really like to get a set of their DIX reeds if they are willing to work with me.

 

I'll have to check out Ciccarelli too just in case Harmonikas doesn't pan out.

I have ordered reeds from

http://www.harmonikas.cz/

I had to wait a while for a production run but for 200 euro they sent

me a number of single sets (I wanted to try them all). They do have a

special concertina set which looks like concertina reeds.

I must admit that I haven't done anything with them yet.

I had to wait a few months though for the delivery, probably production

run.

Regards,

p

[Henrik Müller]

...

They do have a

special concertina set which looks like concertina reeds.

...

What?! Really? That's not something that is shown on their site, as

far I can see.

 

When you say "look like" - do you mean a single reed on a single,

tapered reed shoe, brass or dural, not riveted?

 

/Henrik

[Graham Collicutt]

...

They do have a

special concertina set which looks like concertina reeds.

...

What?! Really? That's not something that is shown on their site, as

far I can see.

 

When you say "look like" - do you mean a single reed on a single,

tapered reed shoe, brass or dural, not riveted?

 

/Henrik

 

http://www.harmonikas.cz/harmonium.htm ?

 

and reed sets on this page http://www.suttnerconcertinas.com/parts.html

Edited November 20, 2012 by Graham Collicutt

[adrian brown]

There's a nice video on their site showing how they make them - some serious machines...

 

http://www.harmonikas.cz/video/

 

Adrian

[psmooze]

Here's 2 pictures of the reeds I received. 2 sets of 30 reeds.

Now just need to find the time to do something with them

[ttonon]

Here's 2 pictures of the reeds I received. 2 sets of 30 reeds.

Now just need to find the time to do something with them

In the picture of the single reed, it looks like the brass reed carrier is gouged out near the free end of the reed tongue. Does that gouge stop before the slot, leaving a thin brass surface that is not gouged very near the slot edge and still contiguous with the top surface of the brass? Can anyone explain the purpose of this gouge? Do many of the reeds have this gouge?

 

Regards,

Tom

[Chris Ghent]

Tom,

 

My reading of the gouging was it is a crude method of tightening the clearance at the tip. Mind you, I say crude but it is only in appearance as it might have worked very well.

 

Chris

[ttonon]

Tom,

 

My reading of the gouging was it is a crude method of tightening the clearance at the tip. Mind you, I say crude but it is only in appearance as it might have worked very well.

 

Chris

Chris, it reminds me of the high output piccolo reed (HOPV) invented a couple decades ago, as a way to increase the volume of the highest pitch reeds on accordions, so that they can compete better with other reeds. According to an Italian reed maker that I talked to, it was effective, although it seems like the concept never made it into commercial use. Photo is attached.

 

Regards,

Tom

[Chris Ghent]

Tom,

 

the obscure structure I thought might be a clearance adjustment is on the top of the reed, while the round aperture on the "high-output" reed is underneath. It looked to me like a way of leaving the frame as a relative knife edge at the point where the reed first passes through the frame. I remember seeing it years ago but thought because it did not become prevalent it might not be very effective. I did something similar a long time ago but couldn't detect a difference.

 

Cheers

 

Chris

[Henrik Müller]

Here's 2 pictures of the reeds I received. 2 sets of 30 reeds.

Now just need to find the time to do something with them

So close! They could do a much better job, considering the quality of the rest of their reeds. I pretend I don't see the [unmentionable] at the tip...

 

/Henrik

[Geoffrey Crabb]

No Idea what that mess is looks even worse enlarged.

 

 

Geoffrey

[Geoffrey Crabb]

[

Chris, it reminds me of the high output piccolo reed (HOPV) invented a couple decades ago, as a way to increase the volume of the highest pitch reeds on accordions, so that they can compete better with other reeds. According to an Italian reed maker that I talked to, it was effective, although it seems like the concept never made it into commercial use. Photo is attached.

 

Regards,

Tom

 

And here's an experimental one I made earlier, (36 years ago actually).

 

 

 

Comparison tests with a standard reed using an oscillascope to measure max level (volume) showed no difference.

The experimental reed was, however, slower to respond.

 

Increased volume of top end notes can be achieved by double reeding (unison tuned) but installation would be difficult in a standard sized instrument.

 

Geoffrey

[Henrik Müller]

Here's 2 pictures of the reeds I received. 2 sets of 30 reeds.

Now just need to find the time to do something with them

So close! They could do a much better job, considering the quality of the rest of their reeds. I pretend I don't see the [unmentionable] at the tip...

 

/Henrik

Come to think of it: it doesn't really fit with Czech mechanical engineering

- the rest of the stuff on the site looks fine, and the Czechs have a good reputation for high quality.

So this is puzzling.

 

/Henrik

[psmooze]

Here's 2 pictures of the reeds I received. 2 sets of 30 reeds.

Now just need to find the time to do something with them

So close! They could do a much better job, considering the quality of the rest of their reeds. I pretend I don't see the [unmentionable] at the tip...

 

/Henrik

Come to think of it: it doesn't really fit with Czech mechanical engineering

- the rest of the stuff on the site looks fine, and the Czechs have a good reputation for high quality.

So this is puzzling.

 

/Henrik

I'm looking for a decent camera to post some new highres pictures but meanwhile I do not see

that artefact on most of the other reeds. I do see it on some though. I'll also post some more

info about where I got them and what I paid for them.

Cheers,

i