Steel Or Brass Reeds

[RiverHamble]

Hi

 

What is the difference between these two reeds?

 

Any ideas?

 

Oooops Wrong forum. Can it be moved please?

Edited December 19, 2007 by RiverHamble

[asdormire]

Hi

 

What is the difference between these two reeds?

 

Any ideas?

 

Oooops Wrong forum. Can it be moved please?

 

Why, it is an opportunity for us all to learn something.

 

Alan

[JimLucas]

What is the difference between these two reeds?

 

Oooops Wrong forum. Can it be moved please?

Maybe the right subForum, if you take its name loosely, and allow it to mean "Teaching and Learning" about the Forum's search facility.

1. Click on "Search", up near the top right of this page. (You may need to scroll up to see it.)
   
2. In the little box that appears, click on "More Search Options."
   
3. When the next page appears, click on "More Options", near the bottom. (You may need to scroll down to see it.)
   
4. When the next page appears, enter (without the quotes) "+steel +brass +reeds" in the "Search by Keywords" input field. (The "+" signs insure that only threads with posts containing all three keywords will be included.)
   
5. In the "Search Where" selection menu on the left-hand side, click on "Discussion Forums" to highlight it.
   
6. Then click on "Perform the Search", near the bottom. (You may need to scroll down to see it.)
   

The result of this search gave me 7 pages of threads to peruse. I think that you might find the following ones useful, but I'm sure there are gems of information hidden in several others, too.

• Grades Of Lachenal Reeds?
  
• Steel V Brass Reeds
  
• Dream Reeds
  
• Brass Reeds Vs Steel
  
• Reed Materials
  
• Why(how) Do Reeds Go Out Of Tune?
  
• Nickel Silver And Brass Reeds
  
• Reed Metals
  
• Lachenal Reeds
  
• Reed "feet"... I Mean "tongues"
  
• Brass Reed Material
  
• Combination Of Steel/brass Reeds
  

[RiverHamble]

Cheers Lads.

 

For putting this in the wrong forum I can only apologise for not paying more attention.

 

For reasons beyond my control, namely limited internet acess via a satalite phone link I have neither the time nor the bandwidth for extensive use of the search engine, hence the quick question.

 

While I thank you, Jim, for your extensive tutorial on the the subject of utilising the search engine to it's fullest potential, I can't help but wonder if you had put as much time and effort in answering the question as you did you did your tutorial, I would know much more about reeds than I do now.

[m3838]

That bad bad Jim!

The common perception:

Brass reeds are cheap, soft, slower, warm sounding with characteristic "hiss" to the sound, going flat sooner, quiet. Generally supplied to cheaper, entry level instruments.

Steel reeds are expensive, hard, fast, more stringent, bright sounding with cleaner tone, holding in-tune longer, louder. Generally supplied to more expencive, up-scale instruments.

I heard there are very expencive instruments with super-duper brass reeds. Never heard them, never played.

Chris Algar once suggested 8 sided Aeola with brass reeds for $2500. Couldn't afford at the time. Got George Case with brass reeds for $1000. What a mistake!

[Daniel Hersh]

I'd add that brass reeds usually mean an older instrument. So far as I know no (or very few) brass-reeded concertinas have been made in at least the last 50 years or so.

 

That bad bad Jim!

The common perception:

Brass reeds are cheap, soft, slower, warm sounding with characteristic "hiss" to the sound, going flat sooner, quiet. Generally supplied to cheaper, entry level instruments.

Steel reeds are expensive, hard, fast, more stringent, bright sounding with cleaner tone, holding in-tune longer, louder. Generally supplied to more expencive, up-scale instruments.

I heard there are very expencive instruments with super-duper brass reeds. Never heard them, never played.

Chris Algar once suggested 8 sided Aeola with brass reeds for $2500. Couldn't afford at the time. Got George Case with brass reeds for $1000. What a mistake!

[Dirge]

There are those that like the aforementioned 'warm tone'; and they are said to be good for accompanying singers, because of this some quality ones were made, so not all brass reeders are to be disdained; if the price is right give it a hearing seems to be the way.

 

If a reed breaks, which brass ones seem to every now and then, they usually replace it with a steel one as the right brass is hard to find; this seems wrong to me but no one ever bats an eye....

[tony]

That bad bad Jim!

The common perception:

Brass reeds are cheap, soft, slower, warm sounding with characteristic "hiss" to the sound, going flat sooner, quiet. Generally supplied to cheaper, entry level instruments.

Steel reeds are expensive, hard, fast, more stringent, bright sounding with cleaner tone, holding in-tune longer, louder. Generally supplied to more expencive, up-scale instruments.

I heard there are very expencive instruments with super-duper brass reeds. Never heard them, never played.

Chris Algar once suggested 8 sided Aeola with brass reeds for $2500. Couldn't afford at the time. Got George Case with brass reeds for $1000. What a mistake!

 

I don’t believe this to be a common perception; I think this is probably your choice of words based on a bad experience of just one George Case. I have a George Case with brass reeds, had it about four years now and it has been played almost every day since I bought it. Never had a problem with it. A wonderful instrument. And the reeds don’t go rusty.

[Larry Stout]

I have three Wheatstone EC's: a baritone with nickel silver reeds (circa 1849), a treble with brass reeds (circa 1851), and a treble with steel reeds and metal ends (circa 1913). The nickel silver reeded instrument is mellow, the brass reeded instrument is sweet, and the steel reeded instrument is a bit brash. There are links to the same tune played on the brass reeded and the steel reeded trebles on http://www.anglo-concertina.net/links.htm . I like all of them, but for different purposes. When playing in noisy sessions or for dances I use the steel reeded treble. When I'm playing along with a group of people singing I tend to use a brass reeded instrument. The brass and nickel siver reeds are much quieter (though that may be because the instruments were designed for parlor use) and less disruptive to the household.

 

Since two of these instruments are quite old I think they provide some evidence of longevity of brass and nickel silver reeds. I suspect that it would be very hard to replace the nickel silver reeds if they were to break-- indeed that instrument has a couple of brass replacements.

 

Wim Wakker does offer brass reeds as an option on one of his models of English concertina, the one aimed at people who want to play the "classical" repetoir and Victorian parlor music.

[Larry Stout]

Deleted duplication.

Edited December 20, 2007 by Larry Stout

[JimLucas]

I have three Wheatstone EC's: a baritone with nickel silver reeds (circa 1849), a treble with brass reeds (circa 1851), and a treble with steel reeds and metal ends (circa 1913). The nickel silver reeded instrument is mellow, the brass reeded instrument is sweet, and the steel reeded instrument is a bit brash.

Can you tell us what materials the ends are made of, and maybe also the relative depths of the chambers?

[Larry Stout]

The ends on the baritone and the early Wheatstone treble are Rosewood. The Baritone has a taper to the reed pans making the chambers for some of the lower reeds rather deep. The treble from 1851 and the treble from 1913 obviously have some differences,, but the depth of the chambers isn't much different.