Brendan Power & Alternative Harmonicas Forum

Hello there,

This is my first post to the forum and I want to present my best. My name is Umut from Istanbul and I love tango music and bandoneon mostly.

An bandoneon costs 4000 dollars and its impossible dream.

I want to own a DIY assembled harmonica with accordeon and plus bandoneon reeds.

I found Brendan made two harmonicas with accordeon reeds and his reeds are comes from cargo within paper wrapping. I want to buy accordeon ad bandoneon reeds - not a complete set but 5-6 or so sample reeds. Can Brendan or you, tell me where can I buy them from ?

I asked an complete bandoneon set 10 years ago and it was 700 euros , phww.

Thank you very much for your time,

Mustafa Umut Sarac
Istanbul

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1EDUkLR ... sp=sharing

Google drive link , 17 pages of bandoneon reed tecnical drawings and tuning , pdf file , less than 1 mb.

Hi Mustafa, Thanks for your interesting post and request.

The cheapest source of accordion reeds is to buy old accordions from junk shops and remove the reeds. If you want to buy new reeds, including bandoneon reeds and reedplates, you can go here:

https://www.harmonikas.cz/en

Thank you Brendan,

I have just visited Harmonikas site and there is a wide range of accordeon and bandoneon reeds spare parts.

Its just listed as assortment and I requested spare parts price list.

Harmonikas reeds comes as steel and duraluminum. I dont know which is cheaper.

There is whole family of reed specifications listed in pdfs and lots of photographs.

Reed sizes varies 95 mm to 12 mm approx.

Wonderful site.

Let me get the list and than write here.

Umut

Glad you like the Harmonikas site Umut, it's pretty cool alright!

BTW you can find lots of old accordions for sale on eBay:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/i.html?_nkw= ... rdion.TRS0

Or just reed sets:
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/New-Set-of-R ... SwEphcEDwk

So you want to make a harmonica with accordion or bandoneon reeds. In some European countries, a 'harmonica' is bellows operated with keys or buttons, but I assume yours will be a mouth-blown harmonica, otherwise you wouldn't be on this forum

I guess that is for loud volume, but it's a lot of work: could you not just amplify a conventional harmonica? But perhaps you prefer to make something new, which I can understand

What kind of format and tuning are you thinking will suit tango music? I'd assume a chromatic instrument would be required, which could be a challenge to make using large accordion reeds. You'd need to make a new mouthpiece and slider to accommodate the bigger size.

Good morning Brendan from cold foggy bosphorus side of Istanbul , its 840 AM here.

First , before tuning and selection of accordeon reeds - I guess bandoneon reeds dont come as single units - We have to know that does every accordeon reed playable with lung air . They vary between 12mm to 95 mm approximatelly. Learning this , is the first step to think about other things

Let me clarify , maximum lenght of bandoneon reeds is 50mm or so. Can I play by mouth 30 to 50 mm range reeds.

Second question , I dont know the width of a single - double reed - unit ?

Third question , should I use aluminum or steel reeds, I want closest to bandoneon sound.

Fourth , does accordeon reeds have octave apart double reeds or is it different ?

Yes , I want to have this kind of new instrument for a long time , about 6 years. And harmonica means harb here , we say armonika or MIZIKA

Thank you very much indeed and est wishes,

Umut
Istanbul

Umut: You can use steel reeds as long as the instrument is allowed to dry out after playing.

As for reed block widths etc, they are specified in the Harmonikas site tech details:
https://www.harmonikas.cz/admin/files/M ... -sizes.pdf

Another place to buy accordion reeds is via the Hohner C-Shop:
http://www.hohner-cshop.de/en/Accordion ... eed-Plates

Reed block widths, reed pitches, lengths etc are all specified here, so you can buy exactly what you need.

Good luck with your project, let us know when you have a working bandoneon/harmonica

Dear Brendan,

Thank you very much , these two links were wonderful. Thank you very much indeed.

I never imagined that these kind of online reed source , it is wonderful.

I saw at Hohner site , there are pictures of reeds on combs. Thats wonderful. I never seen a comb picture like that.

By the way , do you plan to sell accordion reeded harp ? When ?

I am still not sure , can I buy single bandoneon reed from Harmonikas srl ?

And what do you advise for comb design , do you have 3d pictures you can add here ?

Someone from concertina forum said to me it was impossible to use zinc at harp because of corrosion . I thinked to coat with something but he said it changes the sound.

Do you think steel reeds can produce bandoneon sound. I saw at hohner , reeds are sold under different dimension classes , which one I should use ?

Best wishes to all,

Umut

Hi Umut, I'm not ready to offer my accordion reed harps for sale yet - still experimenting with various aspects to make them work better. No time scale to offer them, except sometime in 2020.

But you don't need to wait for me: I suggest you get hold of some reeds and start experimenting

Hi Brendan,

I cant wait to buy your harp.

And I saw today tunable magnetic mechanism minor harmonic seydel 1857. Its excellent.

Take care,

By the way where can I find technical drawing of accordion comb ? What should be the accordion harp comb thickness ?

Best Wishes,

Umut