Reed Materials

[erica]

I am currently working on a project characterizing the materials used for concertina reeds. I know that brass is considered more traditional but that it has problems with cracking due to work hardening, and that steel is the most common now. But that is about all the information I've been able to find. Does anyone know of any other materials that are used for reeds or why these materials work? Is there something in the properties of the material that affects tone? I'd appreciate any information anyone has on this subject.

[Frank Edgley]

I wouldn't say that brass, at least for the reed tongues, is more traditional. It may have been used earlier (?) than steel, but I suspect that far more instruments were made using steel for the tongues. As far as the frames are concerned, brass is used more often in the making of English-style reeds, but aluminum has also been used. There is some theory that it produces a better tone than aluminum, but I don't think that has been proven. I believe that this opinion comes from the fact that some 1960s Wheatstones used aluminum for the frames and these were not stellar instruments. However, they were not top instruments for many reasons. The workmanship of the entire instrument, including the reeds did not match up with earlier instruments. Colin Dipper has used aluminum for reed shoes (frames) and these instruments have not suffered at all with regards to tone. Anyone haering Matt Heumann's Dipper Baritone at the last few Squeeze-ins can attest to that.

[red]

A student at London College of Furniture's Musical Instrument Department was carrying out experiments with carbon fibre reeds about three years ago. His results were quite encouraging - for example there was no variation in pitch no matter how loud or quiet. This was reported to me by a fellow student - a concertina player of long standing who was impressed by the result. I know no more than this, the tutor's name escapes me but I could easily get it as he is a friend of a friend.

Edited October 18, 2005 by red

[Henrik Müller]

I am currently working on a project characterizing the materials used for concertina reeds. I know that brass is considered more traditional but that it has problems with cracking due to work hardening, and that steel is the most common now. But that is about all the information I've been able to find. Does anyone know of any other materials that are used for reeds or why these materials work? Is there something in the properties of the material that affects tone? I'd appreciate any information anyone has on this subject.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Hi, Erica -

 

Take it for whatever it is worth: in my very young and naive days, when I started fiddling with concertinas, I had one (my first instrument) of the Wheatstones Frank mentions. What surprised me was that it looked great, looked very well made, the insides clean and neat like a laboratory, but after a while I realised (by listening to other instruments) that it actually wasn't very good.

 

At this point I heard Alistair Andersson talking about concertinas in general and saying: " - and you need the hardest steel for the reeds". As it happens I had an Anglo for a (simple) repair, and it dawned on me than I was able to make a comparison of the reeds.

 

At the time I worked at a technical institute with had, amongst many others, a department of metallurgy. So I carefully loosened a reed from (the brass frame) of each instrument, brought them over and asked them to (non-destuctively!) test them for hardness.

 

The test was performed by pressing a very small, four-sided diamond pyramid into the side of the test object with a very well-known pressure. Then the area of the resulting depression is measured, and from that the hardness can be calculated.

 

Result: the two reeds had the same hardness, within the accuracy of the measuring instruments.

 

It shows, I think, that so many factors apart from the material affect the acoustical outcome, mainly the overall stiffness of whatever kind of construction the reed is placed in - and getting more critical with decreasing frequency. The acoustic coupling to the surroundings, and all that. There are people here on c.net, I am sure, that can put this into numbers and formulas.

 

End of two cents' worth.

 

/Henrik

[Theo]

Does anyone know of any other materials that are used for reeds or why these materials work? Is there something in the properties of the material that affects tone?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I an give you a few snippets of information.

 

Nickel silver was quite a common reed material in the very early days of concertina making, but was quickly superseded by brass.

 

There are many different alloys of copper and zinc with other metals that are all known as brass. Bronze which is an alloy of copper and tin with other elements is another whole family of materials many of which which resemble brass in appearance. Phosphor bronze in particular is often used for making springs which have to resist corrosion and might be good reed material.

 

Steel is not a single material either. There are 100s of different steels, with a range of properties. Many of these steels can have their properties further modified by heat treatment.

 

There is a tantalising mention of hardening and tempering of steel reeds in a this current topic

[harpomatic]

Free reeds can be, and are, sometimes, made out of plastic. Also, bamboo(like in chinese Sheng). Many flexible materials can be used.

[Paul Read]

So that explains the Chinese concertinas!