New Rochelle, No A

[ragtimer]

I think accordion reeds were mounted with wax, because of poor craftsmanship of the reedbanks.Anything else would have left large gaps for the air to escape.

It's long obsolete now, but accordions are still made with this ridiculous technique.

I'm very surprized that Rochelle's/Jack's reedplates are mounted with wax. Even more surprized that Morse is using wax. Perhaps to avoid air leaks, if reed pans will warp slighlty. But softer wood or suade will accomodate as nicely, I think. But what do I know?

It's still a great technology for storing honey

But messy for us humans to work with, and on old instruments the reeds do have a tendency to fall out as the wax dries and cracks.

 

I have a very cheap junk Anglo where the reed plates are gasketted with pieces of yarn, and "screwed" down with twist-to-release bent nails. This is superior in my mind to wax. But ...

 

If you mount the reed plates on softer wood, or suede leather, or yarn -- the tone may not be as bright.

Having the reeds in solid contact with hard wood probably gives a more concertina-like tone as opposed to an accordion sound.

 

Maybe the best compromise would be to screw each reed to a deck of hard material that won't warp, like high-grade plywood, metal, or (gasp?) acryllic plastic. MDF probably wouldn't sound very good.

 

I suspect that some makers, like Morse, have experimented plenty and already rejected some of these ideas for good reason.

--Mike K.

[m3838]

If you mount the reed plates on softer wood, or suede leather, or yarn -- the tone may not be as bright.

Having the reeds in solid contact with hard wood probably gives a more concertina-like tone as opposed to an accordion sound.

 

Not bad.

BTW, you meant not "bright", because bright would be a description of an accordion sound, but "whistle like", without much character. Hard to say. Is a pinewood soft? What that plywood is made of? What is the material of reedpan in Morses? How hard is it? Is it hard compared to metal reedplates?

A wax is a quick fix. Edgley doesn't wax reedplates, does he? The price seems to be close to Morses.

The sound of my tiny Schweizerorgele is very bright and the reeds are mounted on the wood with screws. No wax. Not only that, they touch each other.

[Woody]

I assume that the makers of the cheap Chinese Concertinas - and hence the Rochelle - use it because they've copied the technology from somewhere else & it works quite well at that price band.

 

With the right tools, which I have watched in action at The Button Box's shop, one can remove a waxed-in reed plate and replace it pretty quickly. But the special tools are a bit much for most of us owner-players.

 

Not had to try it on the Rochelle but I've removed the reed unit from the wax several times on my cheap Chinese 30b to access the back reed, using a scalpel to carefully cut through the wax. Once I've finished working on the reed I put it back and spread the wax to hold the plate using a round ended tool - in my case a child's knitting needle. This has so far not caused me any problems and I wouldn't worry about using the same approach with the Rochelle.

 

In case people missed it - I posted some pictures of the guts of the Rochelle on this thread.

 

 

Regarding the bellows speed, I play between 30 minutes to about 1.5 hours a day and recently I've been noticing the bellows getting a lot quicker (or maybe my arms are getting stronger? ).

 

 

- W

[tony]

 

 

Maybe the best compromise would be to screw each reed to a deck of hard material that won't warp, like high-grade plywood, metal, or (gasp?) acryllic plastic. MDF probably wouldn't sound very good.

 

I suspect that some makers, like Morse, have experimented plenty and already rejected some of these ideas for good reason.

--Mike K.

 

Andrew Norman mounts the reeplates on MDF.

[ragtimer]

I assume that the makers of the cheap Chinese Concertinas - and hence the Rochelle - use it because they've copied the technology from somewhere else & it works quite well at that price band.

Given that accordions have been built with wax for over a century, and the Italian concertinas for half that time, there is probably a good reason why wax continues to be used. Cheap, compact, not hard to work with (given skills and tools), and as mentioned, airtight. Still, I agree that there should be something better by now.

Not had to try it on the Rochelle but I've removed the reed unit from the wax several times on my cheap Chinese 30b to access the back reed, using a scalpel to carefully cut through the wax. Once I've finished working on the reed I put it back and spread the wax to hold the plate using a round ended tool - in my case a child's knitting needle. This has so far not caused me any problems and I wouldn't worry about using the same approach with the Rochelle.

Ideally you should melt the wax back into place. Try heating that knitting needle by dipping its tip into boiling water, and run the tip along the seams. This should give extra protection against a reed falling out. A loose reed banging around inside an instrument will quickly be damaged and do more of same.

In case people missed it - I posted some pictures of the guts of the Rochelle on this thread.

Yes, thanks. Notice the *radial* action! Wim could almost have spaced the reeds far enough apart to lie flat on the board, but I guess that would have increased the diameter of the ends.

Regarding the bellows speed, I play between 30 minutes to about 1.5 hours a day and recently I've been noticing the bellows getting a lot quicker (or maybe my arms are getting stronger? ).

- W

Good one Probably both. I've noticed the golf balls sold at the local course in the Fall are of much higher quality (go farther and straighter) than what they sell in the spring. --Mike K.