Slow reed - tip clearance issue?

[antonov21]

Hello all,

I have an Accordiana 508 to look at. It's a great compact machine with 41/120 LMM config. The RH reeds have been amazing, but some low and middle reeds of the LH seem quite slow to sound (over 1s). I've opened it up to check the reeds and valves, and I've found several of the leather valves have curled away from their reed block. Some of the reeds have a big gap (tip clearance?), and I wonder whether that's the reason they are slow to sound. Is it necessary to voice my reeds in this case? I'm gonna reattach the leather valve for sure.

Thanks

Photos attached. Look! Bugari

 

[oldbayan]

Bad valves will indeed make less air available to the reeds that need it. As for the tip clearance, there might be some minimum space required to cause the reed to vibrate, I suppose that too much might be a problem, but how much is too much?

 

[debra]

The curled up valbes will cause the push reeds to have trouble starting (because air is wasted through the opening for the pull reed). The curled up valves are caused by the valves opening wide (because they are lacking booster springs) and getting caught in the bellows folds. For the larger reeds the red paper strips prevent the valves from getting caught in the bellows folds. For the smaller reeds the booster springs alone should suffice, but they are missing. (That's a bad cost-saving measure by the manufacturer.)
Apart from the valves I also see some inconsistencies in the voicing: some reeds have a larger gap than the neighboring reeds. That should be corrected.
(Note: Bugari was a reed maker, with rees used by Excelsior (in Hohner Morino N serie accordions for instance) and Crucianelli and probably others. There is no relationship between the Bugari reed maker and the Armando Bugari accordion maker.)

 

[JerryPH]

(Note: Bugari was a reed maker, with rees used by Excelsior (in Hohner Morino N serie accordions for instance) and Crucianelli and probably others. There is no relationship between the Bugari reed maker and the Armando Bugari accordion maker.)

... and for a period of time, the Gola too after they stopped using the secret(?) reeds and before they went to the Voci Armoniche reeds.

 

[debra]

... and for a period of time, the Gola too after they stopped using the secret(?) reeds and before they went to the Voci Armoniche reeds.

There was also a period where the Gola was made with Salpa reeds (in the period before Salpa and Antonelli merged to become Voci Armoniche.