Wheatstone Reeds Sounding Very Sharp

[Ricfry]

I have just obtained a 48-button Wheatstone Concertina that hasn't been worked on as far as I know.

 

The funny thing is every reed is sharp, quite sharp.  Almost every single reed sounds so sharp that it is half-way to the next note.  For example I play A3 and the sound is half way between A3 and B'3.  If I play c#4, the sound is half-way between c#4 and d4; and so forth.

 

When I look at the reeds I can see a little rust on about 1 in 5 reeds. But most reeds look good visually.  All of them sound sharp.

 

Has anyone worked with this type of problem?  Is regular tuning required?  Are new reeds required?

 

[Alex West]

This sounds like it might be in one of the old high pitches - for example Old Philharmonic pitch where A=452Hz instead of A=440Hz.  This pitch was quite common in provincial orchestras until the 1920s and in brass bands until the 1960s (according to Wikipedia).  I've had (and still have!) a number of concertinas in high pitch which I've either tuned down to A=440Hz to play along with other folk or left alone and accepted that I'll be playing solo. 

 

There's another thread dealing with reed tuning drift over time, but once tuned, they should stay in tune for many years without regular tweaking

 

Alex West

[Little John]

Yes, it's probably in old high pitch, so it may not have been tuned since it was made. This means it could well be tuned to a mean tone temperament rather than equal temperament. You can test this by playing G# and Ab together (also D# and Eb together). If they sound out of tune it's a good indication that the instrument is in mean tone tuning. This will make the triads (three-note chords) and the major thirds sound much sweeter than in equal temperament.

 

LJ

[Geoff Wooff]

Many ( perhaps most ?)  concertinas  made before the  current  International Pitch Standard  was agreed in 1939  will be  in the    pre-war  A=  452hz pitch , which is not far off  half a semitone  sharp.  A  good carefull  re-tune  would be needed if  playing with other  instruments  but, note that  not  everyone  tunes to  A440  and  do check  the temperament as  per Little John's  comments above.

[d.elliott]

Alex is probably correct, at one time probably half of the instruments I got sent to me were in 'old' pitch A-452Hz, The one I have just finished is from the late 1830's, it is in A=452, and mean tone temperament, and the owner wanted it not only made playable, but retaining it's original tuning. It has taken ages to do, soft brass reeds with the low Ab's to be be down tuned to F nat's by tip weighting. (English system). But it is done now.

 

One you have re-pitched the concertina to A=440Hz, that should be it, but do replace the valves first. 

[Dana Johnson]

Rust actually adds weight to reeds (iron plus oxygen ) and thins the working metal.  At the tip, the added weight lowers the pitch  slightly,  nearer the root or center,  the removal of working steel weakens the reed. Also lowering pitch slightly.  The higher pitch the reed the more it can be affected.  Especially higher notes can need retuning after rust removal.