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Author Topic: Remedial reeds question  (Read 980 times)

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Billy Cutlip

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Remedial reeds question
« on: October 18, 2013, 04:57:17 PM »

Hello, I'm new to melodeons and accordions in general. I understand that reeds must periodically be tuned, I have read that this has something to do with valve fatigue, but I don't understand why. Why not just change valves when reeds go out of tune? Do sagging valves change the length or mass of reeds, somehow? I have a twenty-year-old Hohner Golden Melody harmonica (D) that I have played fairly hard over the years, although I don't bend a lot of notes. It's still in tune, if I can trust my ears and my tuner. What exactly happens here?
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Anahata

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Re: Remedial reeds question
« Reply #1 on: October 18, 2013, 05:24:26 PM »

What happens is valves (especially leather valves) curl up so they don't shut properly.
Also Mylar valves come unglued or break and fall off.

Mechanism: the reed's pitch is determined primarily by the mass and stiffness of the reed, but the size of any air-filled chamber near the reed has a second order effect on the reed's pitch, as the air itself has some mass and also some springiness because of its compressibility. The difference between an open and closed valve is thus enough to make a few cents difference to the reed's pitch.

That's why valves are the first thing to fix if the instrument is out of tune.

But then,  the reeds themselves do go out of tune, possibly by accumulation of tarnish or rust, or maybe mechanical effects of being played hard. So when the valves have been fixed, the reeds may need tuning too, by scraping minute amounts of material from the base or tip of the reed, which is a skilled job.
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Theo

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Re: Remedial reeds question
« Reply #2 on: October 18, 2013, 05:43:52 PM »

And reeds can go slightly out if tune even when valves are still operating correctly.  With leather valves can open further after frequent use and this can change the pitch slightly.  Before I tune a set of reeds I replace any valves that are visibly damaged, or are noisy in play. Changing valves in itself will not bring reeds back into tune.
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Billy Cutlip

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Re: Remedial reeds question
« Reply #3 on: October 18, 2013, 08:20:00 PM »

Danke sehr!
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Rog

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Re: Remedial reeds question
« Reply #4 on: October 19, 2013, 08:19:36 AM »

Thanks Anahata... I love this forum. Fascinating!!
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