Tuning a stagi haydn duet

[Ernst Rolf]

Hi!

I recently bought a new stagi haydn duet and when it was delivered everything was fine except one thing! The lowest C on the bass side is out of tune and rustling and wheezing a bit.

 

I opened the concertina up to look at it and the reeds are attached to reed blocks but the space is really narrow so it seems hard to be able to tune one reed, and even hard to tune noth in and out.

 

I could remove the reed block but its waxed/glued on, so it seems a bit much just to tune one set of reeds.

 

Now, I am an accordion player and have some experience with tuning accordions so that part isn't the problem, the problem is getting to the reeds.

Any ideas?

 

Regards, Ernst Rolf

[David Barnert]

If it is “rustling and wheezing a bit” in addition to being out of tune, the problem may not be the tuning of the reed, but that air is leaking past it. If it were constructed like a classic English concertina, my first instinct would be to open it up and press the reed shoe firmly into its dovetail joint with my thumb, which would likely solve all the above problems. Stagis don’t have dovetail joints. I’m not sure how the reeds are held in place, but I’d want to see that whatever is holding it is good and secure before trying to retune the reed.

[Ernst Rolf]

2 minutes ago, David Barnert said:

If it is “rustling and wheezing a bit” in addition to being out of tune, the problem may not be the tuning of the reed, but that air is leaking past it. If it were constructed like a classic English concertina, my first instinct would be to open it up and press the reed shoe firmly into its dovetail joint with my thumb, which would likely solve all the above problems. Stagis don’t have dovetail joints. I’m not sure how the reeds are held in place, but I’d want to see that whatever is holding it is good and secure before trying to retune the reed.

Thank you very much for your answer! I will try your trip and check it. I'll post a picture on the inside too.

[Don Taylor]

A picture of the inside might help, but if you recently you bought this new then have you spoken to the seller?  They really should fix an issue like this for you. 

 

Where are you located?  In the US the Button Box is probably the most experienced in dealing with Stagis.  Even if you did not buy it from them they might be able to advise you on how to fix the problem.   

 

Hopefully, the reed block is waxed in and not glued in otherwise it is going to be very difficult to remove without damage.  Look at a few YouTube videos about working with accordion reed blocks, this might give you an idea on how to fix this problem.

 

If you have a local accordion repair shop then take it into them, the reeds and reed blocks on a Stagi are constructed much more like an accordion than they are on a vintage concertina.