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Jeffries reed swap


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Can anyone tell me if it is a simple swop to change the reeds of a 38 key C/G Jeffries and put them into a 38 key Bb/F Jeffries and vice-versa? In other words, are the slots for the reed shoes pretty much 'standard' between similar instruments in similar button positions -  I'm not currently in a position to check sizes, so this is just a general query in principal.  I'm guessing that slots are not so specific as to make this impossible.  Any thoughts, please? Regards, Tony.

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In my experience there is no such thing like a "standard-sized" slot - they're all rooted and fitted individually, and hence a swap would often require some removal of wood or shimming with a piece of paper. OTOH there are dimensions spanning not just one single note, but I would expect that at a certain point in a scale the lower-pitched instrument would have a larger reed shoe...

 

Can't really be answered in general I reckon - apart from: 1. it could be done, 2. it might not be perfectly simple (and reversible) all over...

 

Best wishes - ?

 

Edited by Wolf Molkentin
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Many thanks, Both.  I know your joint knowledge is based on massive experience, so I'm happy to leave this thread at this point and put the idea aside as impractical for me to take forward.

Thanks for taking the time to respond, it was a thought I had for a future plan which I'm content to forget. Regards, Tony

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  • 3 weeks later...

Tony, another possibility. Do you have the reedpans that the C/G reeds will be coming from? If so, and you can not use the donor concertina body/bellows anyhow, then there is the possibility that you can fit the C/G reedpans into the Bb/F concertina with the C/G reeds in their original slots. The fit may not be precise but occasionally the judicious addition of more chamois in the recipient concertina bellows frames will allow the C/G reedpans to fit.

 

Otherwise as everybody else has already told you, your suggested plan will be difficult.

 

Ross Schlabach

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