What determines responsiveness of reeds?

[TimPiazza]

I'm messing around with an '80's Hohner Anglo to see if I can make improvements. The bellows are great, really hold air and are flexible, but it takes a good deal of work to push air through the reeds.

 

Does reed thickness cause them to be harder to vibrate? Or is it the amount of air that moves through the action plate to the reed, or something I am not considering. 
 

this could be a decent starter concertina if it didn't take biceps like Hulk Hogan's to work the bellows and get some volume. The reeds are screwed down, so they could be changed, but this is a 40 button Anglo so I cannot imagine it would be worth buying that many reed blocks.

 

 

[Matt Heumann]

Causes aside, the main reason beginners give up on these inexpensive types of concertinas is that in very short order, your playing skills and finger agility are too fast for the concertina to respond. I certainly experienced that in the 70s-80s on Hohners and Bastaris (which we collectively referred to as "Homely Bastards").

[TimPiazza]

24 minutes ago, Matt Heumann said:

Causes aside, the main reason beginners give up on these inexpensive types of concertinas is that in very short order, your playing skills and finger agility are too fast for the concertina to respond. I certainly experienced that in the 70s-80s on Hohners and Bastaris (which we collectively referred to as "Homely Bastards").

This is something I well understand, Matt. I'm playing a Morse Ceilí, but I took on this fairly rare Hohner to learn more about it and see if there were easy improvements before passing it along. If it weren't for the need to work the bellows harder, this would be a reasonably desirable 40 button Anglo.

[Frank Edgley]

It's probably the setting of the reed tongues or the quality of the reeds.

[TimPiazza]

I don't imagine the quality of the reeds is very high, most likely cheaper Italian reeds.

 

How does one measure the reed tongue setting or check/correct the setting?

[David Lay]

There is also the fit of the reed within its frame.  Voci Armoniche shows that the higher quality reed you buy, the tighter the fit.  This limits the air leak around the reed at startup.  Better reeds will also be profiled along their length to suit their pitch.  The set, mentioned by Frank, you can adjust.  This is from D. Elliot's book, which you should buy if you have not.  Then, there is the quality of the materials that the reed is made of, of course.  (I have a Scholer concertina that is most likely worse than your Hohner.)

[Tiposx]

A possible answer to the original poster's question:

"The cost"

😁

[TimPiazza]

Having pondered my own question and upon doing some research, here is what i think the likely causes are:

 

A narrow windway creates the most back-pressure. 

 

Too little clearance between the reed and reed block causes more pressure needed to start vibration.

 

Stiff or heavy reeds require more pressure to sustain vibration.

In any case, improving the playsbility of a lower end concertina would require significant disassembly and modifications.

 

i am tempted to buy one very high quality reed and swap it into a low grade concertina to isolate whether or not improvements in the windway path would make any difference. 

1.  

[4to5to6]

The window in accordion reed slots have vertical sides, concertina reed windows are beveled (wider at the bottom). Beveled slots allow the reed to begin it's cycle at lower amplitudes than would be possible with straight sides, resulting in much increased dynamic range and feel.  Concertinas work at much higher pressure than accordions with greater sensitivity.  Accordions have much more air flow and therefore play louder.  Interesting enough, the higher the reed pitch, the greater the beveling  to maintain similar playing characteristics and volume level at a given pressure so that the instrument is balanced in volume and feel over its range.  It's a challenge to have the lower pitch reeds not overpower the higher reeds.

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Edited April 4 by 4to5to6

[fred v]

Your greatest pressure and volume of air is when the bellows are in a more closed position. When stretched way out you loose pressure and volume for the same amount of bellows movement. So reversing the bellows frequently is the way to go and you get great accents along with it.