Reed Sounding Flat

[lildogturpy]

Just a note here in fixing a problem that seemed to defy my best efforts for a long time.

 

My high e on EC sounded flat on the push but the pull was fine. Cleaned the reeds - no difference, still flat. Swapped the push and pull reeds over - no difference, push was still flat but the pull was fine Therefore the reed was fine. Looked over Wim Wakker's excellent web article on how concertinas produce their sound and came across a reference saying the valve maybe too stiff and if it doesn't open far enough the note might be slow to start and when it does may be flat. Aha I thought. Looked at the valves and they all look new and all the same so why would just one note be doing this?

 

Then I saw the metal pins that project just above the valve. For this one note, one of the pins was loose and had turned in place so now it was almost touching the valve. Put it back in position and pressed it into place firmly so it's not moving. Problem solved!! The push and pull now both sound perfect.

[d.elliott]

Well done Robin, nice bit of constructive deduction and observation.

 

regards

 

Dave