Reed Cleaning

[bazza]

I have a lachenal anglo I wish to restore the first job is cleaning up the reeds they are brass and a few are a bit green ,whats the best method to clean them up?

[Pete Dickey]

Using a Fibreglass pen is probably favourite as it doesn't damage the reeds or knock them out of tune particularly. I think these pens were designed for cleaning up electrical contacts. Broken fibres from the pen can be a bit unpleasant though.

 

Pete

[Alan Day]

Tread very carefully Bazza, brass reeds are normally brittle and will snap if you over bend them.

Al

[Robin Harrison]

Hi Pete.....where would you gey a fibre-glass pen from. A computer shop ?

Thanks Robin

[Pete Dickey]

Hi Robin

 

Generally you can get them from electronics shops although mine came from:-

 

http://www.proopsbrothers.com

 

You'll find that Nick at Proops is a fellow concertina fan.

 

Cheers

Pete

[Pete Dickey]

More specifically you'll find Proops have it listed as a Scratch Brush

 

Pete

[Dave Prebble]

Hi,

 

If you happen to be near a Maplins shop, they stock them too but give Old Nick a try first.

 

Do be careful with the 'dust'. The tiny little bits of glass fibre are unpleasant enough to the skin when you have wiped the bench clear with the side of your hand so The Lord only knows what they would do in the lungs.

I simply use use a new damp tissue to wipe up the dust at regular intervals and bin the used one immediately.

 

Please don't try sounding the reed with your mouth.

In the context of this post, I'm thinking of the dust, but there are other reasons too such as condensation forming on the steel reeds and leading to corrosion and the distinct possibility of inadvertantly releasing the reed and choking to death in C#

 

Be lucky

 

Dave

[d.elliott]

There is a veron of the scratch brush that has fine brass 'bristles' rather than fibre glass filament. So far I have failed to get hold of one, but its worth asking around.

 

Latex gloves save a lot of 'scratching' later

 

Do support the reed tongue at all times, and ensure that the reed edges are nice and clean, as also the vent slot in the reed frame.

 

Oh, and don't mess about with the reed clamp!

 

Dave

[OLDNICKILBY]

You could always try Proops as we sell them. You are right about the dust it is horrible but a vacuum cleaner or wet wipes solves the problem

[bazza]

thanks for all your advice,bazza

[d.elliott]

Nick,

 

do you still list the brass cored scratch brush?

 

Bye-the-bye, the use of this tool in this application was gleaned from 'Old Nick', his idea!

 

Dave

[Theo]

Using a Fibreglass pen is probably favourite as it doesn't damage the reeds or knock them out of tune particularly

 

But it does remove some metal from brass reeds and in fact works very nicely as a fine tuning tool for brass reeds. The amount of metal removed is very small and controlable, and it leaves a very smooth surface finish. Has anyone else tried this?

 

Theo