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Author Topic: loose reed tongues?  (Read 743 times)

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mselic

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loose reed tongues?
« on: December 03, 2018, 07:43:42 PM »

I'm working on an older, inexpensive PA which needed a tuning and several 'buzzing' notes remedied.  From what I can tell, after a thorough examination of all other possible causes, it appears to be a case of a few loose reed tongues/rivets which was causing the buzzing.  To test this, I took the reedplate out, gently tightened up the rivet with a pair of pliers squeezing them back together, and then re-installed.  The problem was gone, although in one case it returned again.  However, what I'm noticing is that some reed tongues are developing this problem as soon as I begin any tuning work on them.  Is it possible that these reed tongues are already on the verge of being loose, and the process of tuning them disturbs them enough for some of them to begin to rattle?  The tuning process is certainly not vigorous one - in this case it is just a few scratches towards the base of the reed to flatten pitch, but I've noticed in a few of them that they began to buzz immediately after I did this.  Has anyone encountered this before?
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C#/D Serenellini 233, Manfrini, Saltarelle Irish Bouebe, and a few HA114s

Rog

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Re: loose reed tongues?
« Reply #1 on: December 03, 2018, 08:05:54 PM »

Several things might be happening during tuning. The tongue can be pushed slightly off alignment...use a bright light to check this. Use feeler gauge to get it back in line. If the rivet is loose, use a block of steel as an anvil and a punch, or small spindle hammer, to tighten the rivet by tapping firmly. Pliers aren’t good enough. Occasionally when a tongue behaves strangley, tightening the rivet fixes the problem. Or...you may have created tiny burr of steel on the edge of the tongue...use a file to resolve this. Or a burr on the edge of the plate slot, ditto with a file. Tuning bellows are useful to test the reed, without having to put it on and off a reed block, and make resolving this kind of issue much easier.
« Last Edit: December 03, 2018, 08:08:33 PM by RogerT »
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mselic

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Re: loose reed tongues?
« Reply #2 on: December 03, 2018, 08:14:20 PM »

Or...you may have created tiny burr of steel on the edge of the tongue...use a file to resolve this. Or a burr on the edge of the plate slot, ditto with a file. Tuning bellows are useful to test the reed, without having to put it on and off a reed block, and make resolving this kind of issue much easier.

I’m *very* careful when tuning to avoid any unwanted burrs on the tongue or plate. When scratching, I stay within the width of the reed tongue, and filing I make sure to avoid catching the plate or anything else I don’t intend on making contact with. Could it be the slight downward force of the scratcher that is loosening an already compromised rivet/tongue?

I agree on the pliers not being strong enough; that just happened to be what I had on hand and what has worked in the past. A vice-grip may work better, along with your own suggestions as well.
« Last Edit: December 03, 2018, 08:15:57 PM by mselic »
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C#/D Serenellini 233, Manfrini, Saltarelle Irish Bouebe, and a few HA114s

gettabettabox

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Re: loose reed tongues?
« Reply #3 on: December 03, 2018, 09:41:33 PM »

I’m guessing that you’ve eliminated wax issues?
Often a culprit with such despite looking ok.
Excuse the mention of this, but if several reeds are starting to misbehave..?
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mselic

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Re: loose reed tongues?
« Reply #4 on: December 03, 2018, 09:56:32 PM »

The issue does appear to be loose reed tongues, as a little hammering on the rivet head has fixed things right up in each case. I’m not sure why there were several reeds in the same box with this same issue, but i suspect that I was correct in thinking that tuning the reed exacerbated an existing issue.
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C#/D Serenellini 233, Manfrini, Saltarelle Irish Bouebe, and a few HA114s
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