Bellows fouling a reed

[Richard Mellish]

I have hesitated whether to mention this, but it may be worth it for anyone who encounters a phenomenon that was baffling the person who had the loan of my Rock Chidley English and baffled me at first when she brought it to me for investigation. One note on push sounded fine most of the time but sometimes went up in pitch and sounded very odd. It seemed to be random until I noticed that it was happening when the bellows were almost closed, or getting towards closed with the end tilted. I then surmised that the nearest bellows fold must be fouling the reed.

 

I thought of fitting something that the bellows fold would touch before it reached the reed. I consulted Steve Dickinson who suggested a very small woodscrew, but there was no space between the reed frames and valves where a screw could go and do the job. So I bodged up a little strip of steel, clamped at one end nearer the center of the reed pan and resting against the pan near the edge. It isn't pretty but it does the job, I don't think it will harm the bellows, and it can be removed in future, only needing a scrap of filler for the two holes in the reedpan for the tiny clamping screws.

Edited August 4, 2021 by Richard Mellish
Edit: corrected a typo.

[richard]

Hi

My Lachenal Baritone Anglo has a small post adjacent to the tip of the lowest reed (C) which I assume is to fix the same problem. 

 

 

Edited August 2, 2021 by richard

[alex_holden]

I've seen vintage ones with the wood screw solution. Not sure if they came out of the factory like that or it was a later modification.

[Frank Edgley]

It would be interesting to see the other side.

[richard]

Voila!

[d.elliott]

I too have seen the wood screw solution, and also wire 'staple like bridges' that pass over the reed concerned. I have not seen the wooden block, probably because of space constraints. in this case the wire bridge would work, but I like the wooden block better

[Jody Kruskal]

I've had the same problem, but I used a block of thick leather, thinking that it would be more gentle on the bellows. Works fine.

[Alex West]

I had this issue in a bad way on one concertina I refurbished.  Here's my solution - thin wedges of wood alongside the valves with the tallest part of the wedges where it would touch the inside of the bellows

 

Alex West

[alex_holden]

50 minutes ago, Alex West said:

I had this issue in a bad way on one concertina I refurbished.  Here's my solution - thin wedges of wood alongside the valves with the tallest part of the wedges where it would touch the inside of the bellows

 

Alex West

 

I wonder if it's possible there used to be wood screws in those two small holes?

[Alex West]

Alex

 

No, the reed pans were clear and free of holes when I got the concertina.  I tried the trick with screws but the bellows were still fouling the reeds at the intermediate position so rather than "nail gun" the pans with screws I decided to use the wooden wedges as a neater solution

 

Alex West