A question about reeds
- Thread starter Mackan76
- Start date
kimric
Well-known member
- Joined
- Jan 1, 2014
- Messages
- 397
- Reaction score
- 230
They should not change at all over time since they are steel. Unlike things like cast engine blocks that go through thermal cycling there is not really anything that should change. Some bi-metal reaction may occur over a long time between the tongue and the aluminum plate that can change the relationship of the reed to the plate and this can cause a change on a reed that has not been played for decades. Plucking the reed usually fixes this. A bigger effect is caused by the valves getting stiffer or softer with age.
Dingo40
Been here for ages!
One might think so, but it is quite surprising how much a sounding reed flexes and at the rate of hundreds of cycles per second!
So, one would have to wonder about the likelihood of metal fatigue?
I have heard reeds do "flatten" (in pitch) over time, cracks develop and the reed tongue eventually falls off.
Rusting would be a compounding factor.
Indeed, over decades, I have experienced this several times myself. In my own case it's always been the F sharp and B flat reeds for some reason!
Perhaps some of our engineer members could comment?
There's this post by JimD:
" Jan 31, 2014
A quality hand made reed will tend to stay in tune for 10 to 20 years without need for tuning even with hard usage - the hard use of the bellows will actually keep them clean and keep the valves flexible. The lower quality machine made reeds found on lower priced accordion models can be rendered out of tune with hard usage in as short as 6 months because of their soft composition. JIM D."
Last edited:
Speaking as someone who have tuned many accordions over a period of more than 10 years (which is a short period, I know) I can safely say that reeds do go up or down pretty randomly over time. I have no metallurgic scientific knowledge to state whether reeds should stay stable, should go down or should go up but the reality is that not only life but also the behavior of reeds is unpredictable. High reeds (piccolo) tend to go up more than down, but in the middle range both up and down occur pretty evenly spread.
I had a laugh at Kimric's statement "They should not change at all over time since they are steel." Steel can flex quite a bit without changing its properties, but flexing a gazillion times does affect it. And there is also metal fatigue that may cause reeds to break after a lot of flexing.
The force applied to reeds is also slightly asymmetric: there is overall more force pulling the reeds inwards than outwards, and when a note starts playing the airflow causes the reed to always go inwards first. As a result the voicing can change over time and a reed may start choking after many years when it never choked in the early years.
I had a laugh at Kimric's statement "They should not change at all over time since they are steel." Steel can flex quite a bit without changing its properties, but flexing a gazillion times does affect it. And there is also metal fatigue that may cause reeds to break after a lot of flexing.
The force applied to reeds is also slightly asymmetric: there is overall more force pulling the reeds inwards than outwards, and when a note starts playing the airflow causes the reed to always go inwards first. As a result the voicing can change over time and a reed may start choking after many years when it never choked in the early years.
When you rewax (and then change the leathers) you should wait for at least two weeks (preferably three or more) before you do tuning. The wax needs to "settle" so the way they grip the reed plates is stable.
kimric
Well-known member
- Joined
- Jan 1, 2014
- Messages
- 397
- Reaction score
- 230
I responded to the question regarding steel changing due to age since that was what was asked.
load cycling can and will change the steel over time but this is pretty minimal unless you play loudly. I have a lot of Tex-Mex customers and they tend to play really loud and as a result they actually break reeds. This makes the reed go flat and is typically caused by one large crack developing and progressing across the reed. These are typically the high reeds since these cycle at a much higher rate than lower octaves.
Brass/bronz reeds have a more predictable detuning with playing where the low reeds go sharp and the high reeds tend to go flat after a lot of playing.
load cycling can and will change the steel over time but this is pretty minimal unless you play loudly. I have a lot of Tex-Mex customers and they tend to play really loud and as a result they actually break reeds. This makes the reed go flat and is typically caused by one large crack developing and progressing across the reed. These are typically the high reeds since these cycle at a much higher rate than lower octaves.
Brass/bronz reeds have a more predictable detuning with playing where the low reeds go sharp and the high reeds tend to go flat after a lot of playing.
Maybe a stupid question but, I changed the leather before I rewax?! otherwise its a bit tight to replace them inside
I always put the inside leather on, then wax in the reed plate, and after that put the outside leather on.
