[Binyomin]

Martin hasn’t given me the specs for the reed material. If I knew that, I would explore the possibility of sourcing the material and having reeds crafters here in NY as I need them.

He quoted me 460 euro for a complete set of 34 + 12 reeds as well as 4 additional replacement reeds (the ones that are broken now). 360 euro if we omit the +12 highest reeds on the high bank, which rarely break.

Incidentally, Victoria had quoted me 300 euro for a set,IIRC, before they stopped responding to email…

It’d would be great if we could find a way to bring the cost down.

I really do appreciate Martin’s efforts. He’s been the only person willing/able to source the reeds for me, outside of Victoria. I spoke with a lot of accordion, concertina, and harmonium techs before posting here, and none of them were able to help.

[Daren]

I’ve emailed a few people (including Victoria!) to see if they can help. We really need to find out the spec, so that’s my aim now.

Do you speak/write Italian? I think this may be the key in ordering from these Italian companies…

[Daren]

It seems that Italy closes in August, including all the reed making factories, so I’ll continue in September

[Binyomin]

I do not speak Italian. I do think that an Italian speaker would get better response from them. There seems to be a language gap.

[Quetscher]

Hi Binyomin, hi Troy,

yesterday I spoke to Martin Maurer who definitely told me that he is in contact with Binci and he could get reeds; he would even sell them separately for around 15-20€ per reed. I asked him about the material and he said most reeds are made of stainless steel, there has only been a small series made of brass, but they should be recognizable by their color. I personally wouldn’t try to build my own reeds because the manufacturers have so much more experience with this (I just read a highly scientific article in german about free reed construction that left me thunderstruck about the complexity of that topic).

[Daren]

Thanks Quetscher. Good to know that we can definitely get them from Martin. I’ll make more enquiries as well in September, when the Binci factory reopens, to see what the best price is we can get these reeds for…!

[Binyomin]

Hi Troy,

Have you had a chance to reach out to the factory yet? Thanks!

[Daren]

Hi Binyomin. I sent an email last month, but no reply. Yesterday, a friend emailed, in Italian. If there’s no response to that in the next couple of days, he’s going to phone and speak (in Italian) to see what he can find out.

[Binyomin]

Thanks for the update, Troy.

It’s funny. I played the instrument for close to five years without breaking any reeds, and then started breaking ’em relatively frequently.

[Daren]

Just answer phone at the office for the last week or so. Messages have been left in Italian, but no response so far…

[Binyomin]

I received my replacement reeds from Martin! I was able to order the individual ones I needed Looking forward to being able to play the vibrandoneon again. It’s taken me almost a year to source these, from when I first contacted Victoria until now.

[Binyomin]

Hey Troy, did you ever get a response from Italy about those reeds?

[Daren]

No, there was no response whatsoever

[Binyomin]

I kind of figured. Such a shame that they won’t support the artists playing these instruments. Oh well.

[Author]

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