[Harp-L] steel and accordions

[Jonathan Ross <jross38@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Smo Joe writes:

> You're right Jonathan. I should have explained that further. Most  
> of the cheaper diatonic accordions (like my Cajun model) use brass.  
> The slightly better ones use blued steel. The large expensive  
> accordions use blued steel.


And Dave Payne writes:

"If I remember correctly, the accordions I've seen have used steel  
for the low reeds and brass for the highest octave(s). "


Perhaps in older models.  I am nearly certain that all reeds (with  
the caveat perhaps of toy models, though not the smaller folk models)  
throughout the range of the accordion have been made of steel for at  
least sixty years, probably much more than that.  I have one pre-WWII  
accordion, and several post-war ones, from the 60's or 70's.  All the  
reeds are steel.  These are Hohners, and while not the lowest end,  
they are not the very expensive Italian-made piano accordions or the  
big Russian Bayans, which also use steel (though the type of steel  
and processes of manufacture create a strict series of levels  
regarding reed quality in accordions).  Similarly, the various  
Concertinae have used steel reeds for at least that period (probably  
earlier).

There are many reasons why harmonica reeds have traditionally been  
made of brass, including ones purely of manufacturing.  Steel is a  
lot more expensive to work with than brass.  It is significantly  
rougher on machines, for one.  That increases the price of the  
instrument.  Harmonica players are ridiculously cheap.  Thus for the  
most part manufacturers have little incentive to introduce expensive  
changes to their line-up, when the overwhelming majority of their  
money comes from the least expensive parts of that line-up--or at  
least the mid-level expenses.  Moreover, harmonicas are mass-produced  
instruments, and the market for higher-quality, higher-end  
instruments is only a few decades old at most, and still quite small-- 
add to that the point that less than any change in design, the main  
thing that improves performance of the harmonica is very fine quality  
control or individual set-up and the market for a high-price  
instrument which plays about the same as most other harps is  
obviously limited.





 ()()    JR "Bulldogge" Ross
()  ()
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