Rod Posted March 1, 2016 Share Posted March 1, 2016 A cluster of four or five of the very highest ( right hand ) reeds on my my 36 button Anglo have, suddenly, and without warning, simultaneously lost the quality of their tone. I can understand that after 37 years a single reed might be reacting to its age but I am surprised that four or five should choose to have deteriorated so suddenly and simultaneously. For the first few years I rarely used these very highest notes but they have since become very much part of my music making. Are the highest reeds inherently less robust than lower reeds ? Any ideas anybody ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Geoff Wooff Posted March 1, 2016 Share Posted March 1, 2016 I would check that a reedpan support block has not come unglued or perhaps a warp in the pad board or reedpan... or some small amount of wood shrinkage has caused a loss of compression in the the area of those reeds... check the chamois gastkets for a good fit around the joints. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rod Posted March 1, 2016 Author Share Posted March 1, 2016 Thanks for your reply Geoff. I have so far had the good fortune to never have to strip the instrument down beyond removing the metal ends in order to access springs, pivots etc. Anything beyond that has been foreign territory to me. I guess I have been lucky. Very grateful for your advice. Shall not rush into anything at this stage. Rod. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Hornett Posted March 1, 2016 Share Posted March 1, 2016 Hmm ... would it have something to do with age do you think, your age, things are getting a little quiet around here lately and i suspect my kids have not started whispering. Upper frequencies go first as we approach eternal peace. David Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wolf Molkentin Posted March 1, 2016 Share Posted March 1, 2016 Hmm ... would it have something to do with age do you think, your age, things are getting a little quiet around here lately and i suspect my kids have not started whispering. Upper frequencies go first as we approach eternal peace. David This post is part of what I love about concertina.net... Best wishes - Wolf Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rod Posted March 2, 2016 Author Share Posted March 2, 2016 Thanks for the replies. I was referring to an obvious mechanical failure of some sort which happens to be affecting a small cluster of the highest notes on both push and pull. I am aware that advancing years can do higher frequency hearing no favours but, at the moment, I am thinking that Geoff's assessment of the problem is probably nearer the mark. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Geoff Wooff Posted March 2, 2016 Share Posted March 2, 2016 Rod, I'm not sure where you live,but I hope you can find someone to help with this. By the way you did not mention the make of instrument or if it has been suject to a significant climate change. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rod Posted March 2, 2016 Author Share Posted March 2, 2016 Geoff, Many thanks indeed for your moral support. I am the bringer of glad tidings. By way of experiment, for twelve hours overnight, I transferred the instrument, in the hard-shell, close-fitting, padded case in which it always resides, to a room with significantly less background central heating and I am delighted to find that the instrument is now back to behaving as it should. In all these years I have always taken extreme care to avoid any significant fluctuations in temperature and humidity, but on this particular occasion I had been taken by surprise. Never experienced a similar problem before. A salutary reminder of just how very sensitive these complex lttle mechanisms can be to the environment to which they are subjected. A valuable lesson learned. Best wishes, Rod. ( Somerset UK ). ( Shire Anglo ) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Geoff Wooff Posted March 2, 2016 Share Posted March 2, 2016 Rod, I am happy that your problem has abated but such a rapid change in the wood of your instrument, due to humidity and/or temperature suggests that (if the air tightness of the gaskets is the problem) this could happen again. I strongly urge you to go to a maker or repairer for a check up. Cheers, and happy music, Geoff. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stephen Chambers Posted March 2, 2016 Share Posted March 2, 2016 ( Shire Anglo ) In that case, I hope the reedframes were better fitted, in the first place, than in the 36-key one (#28) I'm working on (and having lots of "fun" with ) at the moment Rod. In #28, apart from many of the frames being too loose in their reedpan slots (guaranteed to cause poor sound/response), most of the highest ones have been made with the reedslot and the dovetail chamfer cut contrary to oneanother - so that (at first sight, until you examine the slot) the reed appears to have been installed on the wrong side of the frame... Whilst (with an upside-down chamfer) those reedframes had nothing more than (very little) friction to hold them in place in the wood, and were failing miserably! But it's slowly getting better... (or is that wishful thinking?) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Geoff Wooff Posted March 2, 2016 Share Posted March 2, 2016 But it's slowly getting better... (or is that wishful thinking?) Better wishfull thinking than wistfull drinking! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JimLucas Posted March 2, 2016 Share Posted March 2, 2016 Better wishfull thinking than wistfull drinking! Or playing whist while full of drink? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rod Posted March 2, 2016 Author Share Posted March 2, 2016 Interesting to read your comments Steve. I have been playing my 'Shire' daily for the best part of 37 years and this was the first mechanical problem I had encountered in all that time......apart from the occasional spring replacement and the odd bit of simple routine maintenance. Have always handled it with great respect. Nice tone. The tuning has remained spot on. Good luck with the one that you have the misfortune to be working on ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stephen Chambers Posted March 2, 2016 Share Posted March 2, 2016 I have been playing my 'Shire' daily for the best part of 37 years and this was the first mechanical problem I had encountered in all that time......apart from the occasional spring replacement and the odd bit of simple routine maintenance. Have always handled it with great respect. Nice tone. The tuning has remained spot on. If only the same could be said of #28! It came with an Invoice from 2008 showing it'd already had new bellows, bellows frames relined, pads, valves, straps, bushings & dampers, and tuning at Marcus Music, but they still didn't manage to turn this sow's ear into anything vaguely resembling a silk purse... Good luck with the one that you have the misfortune to be working on ! Thanks, it may take a while yet! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stephen Chambers Posted March 2, 2016 Share Posted March 2, 2016 But it's slowly getting better... (or is that wishful thinking?) Better wishfull thinking than wistfull drinking! It could turn to that yet Geoff! But I've got a rather gorgeous 1910 48-key Wheatstone "Special" (#25100) on the bench too, to keep my spirits up - an ebony-ended "best hexagonal" with gold-plated fittings, gold-tooled bellows and Aeola reeds. Now that one is a veritable "silk purse", and no denying!!! :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Theo Posted March 2, 2016 Share Posted March 2, 2016 If you lack any of the gold plated parts Stephen, I have a very sad example of that type that sat in a leaking cupboard for some years. The steel parts have crumbled, the wood glue is all gone, wood is split warped and decayed, but all the non ferrous metal parts are fine! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Geoff Wooff Posted March 2, 2016 Share Posted March 2, 2016 But it's slowly getting better... (or is that wishful thinking?) Better wishfull thinking than wistfull drinking! It could turn to that yet Geoff! But I've got a rather gorgeous 1910 48-key Wheatstone "Special" (#25100) on the bench too, to keep my spirits up - an ebony-ended "best hexagonal" with gold-plated fittings, gold-tooled bellows and Aeola reeds. Now that one is a veritable "silk purse", and no denying!!! :) Will it be for sale though ? That is a key question... sounds yummy!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stephen Chambers Posted March 3, 2016 Share Posted March 3, 2016 (edited) But I've got a rather gorgeous 1910 48-key Wheatstone "Special" (#25100) on the bench too, to keep my spirits up - an ebony-ended "best hexagonal" with gold-plated fittings, gold-tooled bellows and Aeola reeds. Now that one is a veritable "silk purse", and no denying!!! :) Will it be for sale though ? That is a key question... 'Twon't I'm afraid , I already played it in The Westbridge, last night, and it silenced the bar... Oh, and a P.S. - another "Special" feature to add to the list is that it also has the 81 fret design in the fretwork. Edited March 3, 2016 by Stephen Chambers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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