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Accordion Reed Production
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The purpose
and aim of this initiative is to contribute in the spread of
knowledge to accordion lovers and people interested in this
wonderful instrument. Behind this intention is the belief, that
the more profound the knowledge of the product, the more this
helps clients to choose with care the instrument best suited to
their needs, increasing satisfaction to the purchaser and
performer.
The basic materials of the reed are a plate, two tongues, two
rivets, and into these materials must be added a lot of work and
a wealth of skilled experience. This kind of work is not easy.
There are reeds which sound beautiful and improve, the longer
they are played. Other reeds sound only satisfactory, and there
are also reeds which produce an unsatisfactory sound.
This visit using photographic images from an Italian factory,
which has produced reeds since 1935, is intended to show the
production steps in the manufacture of this most important
component of the accordion. |
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The Profile of the Reed Tongue:
The Harmonic steel precision strip (which must have special
features referring to hardness and ductility) is the raw
material for the reed tongues.
To have a steel tongue produce a note, it is necessary to shape
the profile of the tongue by removing material.
To carry out this operation, a carefully designed profile must
be set up on a metal shape. This shape will direct the
grindstone, so it will remove the steel from the tongue to
achieve the required tongue shape. This photo shows the metal
shape on which the tongue profile is ground.
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The
Research for a Better Profile:
Each note has its own profile; there are over 400 different
notes as they have many scales, types and sizes of reeds in
production.
To each single reed belongs its best profile in terms of
hardness and shape, to guarantee the best quality sound
output.
The photo shows the filing by hand of the shape, working on
a tolerance of hundredth millimetre. To be considerated as
WELL DONE, on bending the tongue, it has to show a round
homogeneous and slim curve.
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The Grinder:
This is a most important production phase. Adequate grindstones
together with a special technique are necessary to avoid steel
overheating and to retain the sound quality of the metal.
The steel is ground in plates (approx. 16 tongues) or in small
strips / band (two tongues each for A MANO - hand made |
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Cutting of Reed Plates:
With special moulds, the reed plates are cut from an
aluminium sheet (which can be a hard or soft aluminium type)
complete with holes for the tongues and rivets.
While reeds plates in soft aluminium are ready to be
assembled, reeds plates in Duraluminium for TIPO A MANO
(hand type) or A MANO (hand made) reeds must also be filed
inside the holes to guarantee maximum precision.
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Cutting of
Reeds Tongues:
The ground reed plates and the ground small strips/bands are cut
with special moulds made of extremely hard steel.
These moulds need constant upkeep and control to assure high
quality cutting of the reeds tongues, with very exact tolerances
(hundred mm) being constantly checked. |
Warehouse of Reed Tongues:
The photo shows the wooden drawers
where the reed tongues, after they
have been cut, are kept to avoid any
oxidation / rust.
Each drawer corresponds to a note
and reed type.
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Warehouse of
Reeds Plates:
This photo shows drawers with reeds plates that have been cut
and are ready for assembling. |
Assembling
Reeds in Sets:
The assemblers follow the schedules that have been filled
in as per the customer's requests, and reed sets are selected
according to the different accordion models requested.
The individual reeds are next selected to be assembled into
sets. This selection must pick the correct reed design and
quality so as to produce a consistent set.
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Paper
Bags/Envelopes:
Following the notes schedules, is the identification of the
envelopes, which will include the partly finished materials:
reed plates, reeds tongues and rivets.
Normally, each envelope contains different quantities referring
to one type of reed.
A group of envelopes corresponds to an accordion set. |
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Set Up of the
Partly Finished Materials for Assembling:
The partly finished materials are prepared in envelopes. |
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The Rivet:
With hammer and anvil, the reed tongue is fixed to the reed
plate with a rivet.
The reed tongue must be exactly in the middle of the reed
plate hole to achieve the best response and sound.
This high precision work is still done by hand.
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Il Provino
/Tuning Table:
On this table there is a specially designed support for
the reed. Underneath there is a bellow which is operated by a
foot pedal, and the bellow supplies the air to the reed.
The provino (tuning table) is used to check the tuning of the
reeds. |
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The Tone Control:
Sounding the reed to be tuned on the tuning table together
with the reference reed (which produces the note of
reference) the worker hears "by ear" the tone differences.
The worker puts a thin tool, called "sdtizzicatora", under
the tongue , which helps to keep the reed tongue flat on the
plate as it is shaped to produce a sound the same as the
note of reference.
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First Tuning:
To raise the tone, it is necessary to remove material from the
tip of the reed tongue. To lower the tone, it is necessary to
remove material from the body of the reed tongue.
This is done by hand with a special tool called "stecca" as
shown in this photo; or with an electric grinder tool, taking
care to not overheat the reed tongue as that would compromise
the sound output.
It is also important to tune without damaging the reed tongue
profile, to avoid any reduction of sound output, or weakening or
breaking of the reed tongue.
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note that this is not the final tuning. Final tuning is done
when the reed is placed in the reed block and fitted in the
accordion as these factors have an effect on the tuning. |
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Setting/Placing of the Tongue:
It's necessary to place the reed tongue
accurately/correctly in the plate.
The positioning of the reed tongue, greatly effects the
prompt response of the reed and how the reed responds to
different bellows pressure.
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Warehouse of Finished Reeds:
This photo shows a shelf with reeds packets. Each packet
contains reeds of same note
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Reeds Finished:
This finishes the assembling of the reed. Each reed is
packed separately, the paper wrapping helping to protect the
reed from air, humidity and dust.
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Care must be taken to have
the same
consistent reed quality across the
different reed sets of the accordion.
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Final Set Up / Delivery to the
Customer:
The reeds are carefully selected and packed in sets
according to the progressive notes of the accordion.
Great care is taken to have a consistent reed type/quality
for each row (reed set).
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Second Tuning:
On customer's request, a second tuning
can be done on ordered reed sets. This means to put the
rows/range of reeds and their correspondent notes, which are
part of the reed sets, to the requested frequency (LA/A =
440 hz) creating the different typical sound effects in the
accordion: tremolo, musette etc.
This second tuning is important to give uniqueness/character
to the reed set and is done strictly on ordered sets. Like
the first tuning, it is necessary to remove material from
the reed tongue to raise or to lower the tone, this time
using an electronic tuner to achieve maximum precision.
PLEASE NOTE
THAT THIS IS NOT THE FINAL TUNING, which is done after
sticking leather or plastic valves on the reeds and when the
reeds are placed in the reed block and fitted into the
accordion. All these factors have an effect on the tuning.
This careful operation, necessary to guarantee quality sound
output, cannot be done by the reeds manufacturer. Thus it is
done by skilled professional people working for the
accordions factories.
Attaching the Valves to the Reed:
After the second tuning, a leather or plastic valve is glued
on the reed plate covering the hole alongside the sounding
reed tongue. This is to avoid air passage through the hole
of the reed tongue
that is not working.
Plastic valves, called "VENTILLI", are mostly used, as they
have improved in recent years to often compare positively to
leather valves.
Conclusion:
In this summary, while
we have left out a few secondary working phases of reed
production, we have tried to show you the most important
processes.
We hope you have enjoyed reading this and that it has been
helpful.
Voci Armoniche
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