Brass Reeded Budget Instruments

[malcolmbebb]

 

Try to find some old scrap piece of spring steel, ( an old clock spring for instance) and file or cut it in comparison to a piece of Brass and you will see what the difference is.

 

 

In particular, spring steel - it is harder (and often more brittle) than everyday steels that you might come across.

[Geoff Wooff]

Geoff, again your explanation makes sense. Seems we did not yet discover a new answer to Dirge's question. Cost + added benefit of corrosion resistance, offset by other less durable qualities of brass, comes down to just cost of manufacturing. Not surprising, as most business decisions are primarily cost-driven. Anyway, maybe others have more unique observations - I'll go back to the "reading mode" on this one.

 

 

 

 

Well, perhaps there is no "new answer". There was some discussion recently concerning the throw away concertinas and accordions that were available many years ago. Stories like this one that I heard on a couple of occasions;

 

"The dance commitee would give my dad Ten shillings on a friday and he would buy the accordion on his way home from work. He'd spend the evening 'playing it in' and do a bit of practice at the same time. Saturday night Dad would play for the Dance, starting at Eight and going on well past midnight... and on his way home he would deposit the ruined accordion in the dustbin.

So, Dad never got paid for playing at these dances but he always got to play a new accordion each week".

 

 

I did not believe the story the first time I heard it ( somewhere in eastern Victoria, Australia) from an old man that I met whilst buying an old concertina. I then heard the same story from another accordion player of venerable age in the western district of Victoria. I have since heard the same story in Ireland.

 

These 'one-shot' squeezeboxes had Brass reeds.

[harpomatic]

my dustbin is always ready for such deposits, if anyone is in need of relief from all that brass.

 

Geoff, again your explanation makes sense. Seems we did not yet discover a new answer to Dirge's question. Cost + added benefit of corrosion resistance, offset by other less durable qualities of brass, comes down to just cost of manufacturing. Not surprising, as most business decisions are primarily cost-driven. Anyway, maybe others have more unique observations - I'll go back to the "reading mode" on this one.

 

 

 

 

Well, perhaps there is no "new answer". There was some discussion recently concerning the throw away concertinas and accordions that were available many years ago. Stories like this one that I heard on a couple of occasions;

 

"The dance commitee would give my dad Ten shillings on a friday and he would buy the accordion on his way home from work. He'd spend the evening 'playing it in' and do a bit of practice at the same time. Saturday night Dad would play for the Dance, starting at Eight and going on well past midnight... and on his way home he would deposit the ruined accordion in the dustbin.

So, Dad never got paid for playing at these dances but he always got to play a new accordion each week".

 

 

I did not believe the story the first time I heard it ( somewhere in eastern Victoria, Australia) from an old man that I met whilst buying an old concertina. I then heard the same story from another accordion player of venerable age in the western district of Victoria. I have since heard the same story in Ireland.

 

These 'one-shot' squeezeboxes had Brass reeds.