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Re: makin reeds looks easy as makin coffee

Yeah, great.
But those guys are doing this for ages and ages.
It an art to make them the right way, but it looks like knocking on heavens door.
If you look until the end there are a lot more movies about accordion repair/tuning ...... on youtube.

Re: makin reeds looks easy as makin coffee

If is that easy to make you make some and if they are better than Benci and cost less I will buy from you for my accordions

Re: makin reeds looks easy as makin coffee

Great. Make your own and get back to us...

Re: makin reeds looks easy as makin coffee

well I ain't an accordion builder so I have no need to make reeds. I threw a few hundred away recently in order to keep the place uncluttered.

ebay is full of them going cheap.

The reed looks so simple to make, apart from the fine tuning & all.

Re: makin reeds looks easy as makin coffee

I'm the consummate do it yourselfer, and will take a stab at making bellows soon, but I can say with complete confidence that I'll never try to make reeds. The video shows assembly, not the whole process. It doesn't show the state of the art (read expensive) piece of machinery that cuts out the plates and reed slots. A craftsman can make his craft look easy because he's good, doesn't mean it is. I watched a drywall crew work once, looked easy, so I tried it...once.

Re: makin reeds looks easy as makin coffee

When I was young(>12) I learned for fitter and did that work(>15) for about 11 years in all kind of factories. At my first and latest job I made malls for machines wich were also suitable for making reedplates and slots and I'm with Doug that is would be possible to make them. But you really have to invest in expensive machines and all kind of other tools before you can do it.
And the biggest problem is to get the craftmanship to make reeds of superb quality.
The only thing I can do now is CHAPEAU for all those gentlemen/woman who build things that are not made like mass-products.
At link#2 the website from a czech reed manufactory.
@Bryan : succes with bellow making, because that's also a complicated job.

Re: makin reeds looks easy as makin coffee

http://rec.music.makers.squeezebox.narkive.com/aG3higDW/about-accordion-reeds-related

The url above is for a page of reed making info I just found that seems to have more to it than the other pages i've found so far.

Re: makin reeds looks easy as makin coffee

If Bergflodt and Melodie ( Vezina's wife )can make bellows, so can any one else who has the resources for the materials, the time and the patience.

I have made bellows. I think they are archaic and clumsy, new technology is due.

I do appreciate the look and the tradition... which may take precedence over "better".

Re: makin reeds looks easy as makin coffee

Reeds are an art not a craft.

I would think the usual 10,000 hours would be in order.

Re: makin reeds looks easy as makin coffee

the sound I hear in european accordion music is not going to cut through the sounds of the other instruments in a band unless it is amped up. It has a soft silky sound more or less. The cajun accordions from Louisiana & nearby places seem to have a much more raw & coarse sound which cuts through the sounds of the other instruments & makes itself standout a lot clearer. So I figure the reeds would not require as many hours of work in their production as the reeds of the other accordions that have a far more silky soft sound.

I figure there ought to be a factory in Louisiana that makes reeds & another that makes bellows. It sure would speed up production of cajun accordions in that area because people would not have to wait weeks or months for reeds or bellows to be delivered from overseas.



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