Hybrid anglo with brass reed (Clare by IrishConcertinaCompany)

[papawemba]

Hello everyone,

 

I have seen a few thread comparing steel/brass reeds...but for vintage concertina, or kind of confusing response because some talk about brass reed plates 😉

Just find out Irish Concertina company propose the Clare concertina but with brass reed (that's new to me for a hybrid).

https://www.irishconcertinacompany.com/concertina-models

 

There are 3 surprises for me :

1. It is more expensive than steel reeds...Usually the opposite for vintage concertina.

2. They describe it as "Bright sound" (of course always relative) but I was expecting more mellow...

3. They say same as the Vintage model (has concertina reeds) concerning brightness : I always thought accordion reeds sound more bright than concertina reeds...

 

I find it interesting 😉

Any thought ? 

 

Best

Nicolas

 

 

[alex_holden]

I'm pretty sure they mean steel reeds on brass plates. The cheaper Clare model claims to have "Aluminum Accordion Reeds" which probably means steel reeds on aluminium plates.

[Łukasz Martynowicz]

What Alex wrote. Go to the details page on the site you linked, there’s a picture with those reeds mounted. For at least a decade now, some reed manufacturers, like e.g. Harmonikas.cz make brass (and also zinc) plated accordion style reeds. I have such reeds mounted in my box. I would describe their tone as having more trumpet like character, full and „round”, compared to a bit more „dry” and „sharp” tone of aluminum reeds. To my ear it is much more pleasant. It can be then shaped further with the endbox/fretwork design to be either piercingly bright or mellow but deep (as opposed to more muted/dampened feel of mellow aluminum reeded instruments). They are a bit heavier though.

[arti]

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Edited November 18, 2022 by arti

[Richard Mellish]

There's some confusion here. Is anyone currently building concertinas where the reeds themselves (i.e. the vibrating bits) are made of brass?

 

Insofar as some makers offer reed frames made of brass as an alternative to any other material, what advantages does that offer?

[Clive Thorne]

I guess a different tone, and possibly smaller reed plates (so can fit more in)? Though traditional concertina reeds with aluminium frames(E.g. some Crabbs )are (afaik) the same size as the brass ones.

[Łukasz Martynowicz]

1 hour ago, Richard Mellish said:

There's some confusion here. Is anyone currently building concertinas where the reeds themselves (i.e. the vibrating bits) are made of brass?

 

Insofar as some makers offer reed frames made of brass as an alternative to any other material, what advantages does that offer?

Both brass shoes and zinc shoes sound significantly different from aluminum, with brass towards concertina sound and zinc towards bandoneon sound. Size is also a factor, my brass reeds are couple of mm shorter than typical accordion reeds.

[papawemba]

Many responses, thank you ! Yes this kind of topic bring confusion again lol 

But yes Alex is probably right looking at the pictures 🙂 But why the put brass reeds on description...crazy !

Good to know the difference. I did try the Clare once and really like the sound but found it kind of "introvered" (hoping it make sense). So as I understand, the brass one will make a bigger sound (which is strange from brass vs Aluminium).

I'll probably should go there and try it (no video yet on youtube).