It occured to me that when I first started tuning reeds, it took a lot of trial and error. However, I quickly learned how to properly do it, I still had shaved some of them a few times in the beginning.

How can you tell a reed is on it's last leg, so to speak

Did you ever think to ask it?

Jim... did you "shave" some or "save" some? Or did you shave and save? I defer this question to Mr. Roger or Rusty...

R!CK

The more you file on reeds at the bottom to lower the pitch the weaker they get, filing at the top to raise pitch is not as bad but when they start breaking often under normal playing you have filed too much. So, I hope that you did not learn to tune on your best accordion.

I didn't grind 'em as that much towards the middle-bottom, as I recall, many of them needed to be sharpened.

Anyway, I was more concerned about the basson, bigger, lower reeds, because they seem to be harder to tune (in this particular accordion). There is a very specific volume these all seem to be tuned to.

If your low reeds change pitch with volume (pressure) you may need to adjust the air gap at the end of the reed. This is the hight at which the end of the reed sticks up from the reed plate.

Too far out, and the reed will be slow to sound, too far in and the pitch will change as the reed gets "sucked in" with pressure.

A basic general rule is the the gap should be equal to the thickness of the reed.

This becomes more dificult to figure out with the low reeds that have weighted ends. These reeds are really theoretically too short to play properly, but the weight is a compromise to fit the reed in a smaller space.

It's kind of like playing a short scale bass. The strings are too short to resonate properly and hence have to be tuned with less tension. But if the string has less tension, it's pitch is more likely to change when being plucked vigorously.

DP

That is excactly what I was thinking too.

I noticed the largest bassoon reed E/G bottoms out (at least the G note on the draw), as well. That's what originally made me think the gap was a bit small.

Problem is, if I carve the slots more, it will use more air. I finally got those lower reeds to tune to the maximum volume of the instrument. If I play quietly they're out of tune a bit, but I usually play loud anyway.

Thanks for the info Dana, I'm glad someone confirmed my suspicions finally!

The one thing I didn't know was the rule of thumb of keeping them slot the width of the reed plate. And you're apsolutely right, I can imagine the lowest reeds would be trickier to fit.

If you still have a problem with the low reeds bottoming out after making air space adjustments then you need to carve out the chamber a little but only in the area where the reed vibrates. This is pretty much standard for all low reeds. Especially if the reed block chambers are at a minimum size.

Hey, what would you say the best tool to carve out the chamber? When I was saying slots, I meant chamber.

I've been meaning to do that to the first button, but I find I only use it in about three songs (once or twice in each song), so I've been a little lazy about it.

The others do bend out of tune when played too loudly, but I think the accordion is made to have a specific volume and that's why the chambers are smaller.

Plus these two accordions seem to consume less air than any of the other brands I've played on.

It's just that first valve (button, reed) on the bassoon that buzzes like a bee when played even slightly loud.

I just could use advice on a good tool to carve the chamber.

You can do it with a small chisel. One about 1/4" wide. Since I am a woodcarver I have gouges but you don't need that. Use a utility cutter to make a cut on each side of where you want the grove. Just where the reed vibrates. Then hollow it out with the chisel. What you should end up with is a grove approx. 1/4" wide and 1/2" long. It should be approx 1/8" deep at the top and get shallower at the bottom. So in the lenth of 1/2" you should go from 1/8" deep to nothing. If it needs to be a little wider. Widen it by 1/32" at a time. The increased air use will be unnoticable. If it needs to be a little deeper, carve it out a little at a time.

By the way, I forgot to mention that the slot needs to be on the side of the pull reed.

Good luck
John

Hey thanks for the info, that is good exact explanation.

When I get around to it I will do exactly this.

Yeah, I figured it was the pull side, cause it only does that on the G note. Almost sounds like a bagpipe when it gets to buzzing!

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