Brendan Power Accordeon Reed Harmonica - DIY - Advise needed

[Mustafa Umut Sarac]

Hi Brendan,

Czech company Harmonikas is the best source to buy reeds. These reeds have lenghts between 95mm to 12mm. Can we use any lenght short or long reeds or what do you advise ?

Do we need to use aluminum reed or steel reed for bandoneon tone ? Or may be we cant never get the bandoneon tone without zinc ?

I think with these reeds we dont need a comb ?

How to design the cover and holes ?

Thank you all and Happy 2020.

Umut
Istanbul

[Brendan]

That's a series of very fundamental questions Umut! It makes me wonder if you have thought this thing through, because it's a lot of thought and work to make a harmonica using accordion reeds.

Yes, you need a comb for sure! You could use the wooden ones that come in accordions directly, but they would need a mouthpiece at least to make them comfortable to play.

Do you have a size, format, tuning in mind?

[Mustafa Umut Sarac]

Hi Brendan,

This is my second post to you today. I asked few questions to reed sourcing thread.

I think I would 3d print the comb and mouthpiece. What was your accordion harp , reed lenghts ?

Before going to details , I would like to read your comments to my questions.

I will share every 3d file and reed details here when gone advanced stages.

Thank you and I am having great time.

Umut

[Brendan]

I haven't settled on a final comb design yet, still improving it. As for reed lengths, they vary a lot depending on the key and range, there is no set rule.

Good luck with your experiments

[Mustafa Umut Sarac]

Brendan,

Final question , what should be the thickness of accordion reeds comb ?

This is very important .

thank you and best wishes,

umut

[Brendan]

That's not something I can answer with sure knowledge - comb chamber size is one of the parameters I'm still experimenting with. However you could use a standard accordion wooden comb as a guide, because you know that it will definitely work well.

Buy yourself an old junked accordion and you'll have the two main things you need: reeds and comb.