Hand Made Bass Reeds

[96Bass]

When an accordion is advertised with hand-made reeds, does this also apply to the bass reeds or is there some other standard for reeds in the bass?

 

[saundersbp]

When an accordion is advertised with hand-made reeds, does also apply to the bass reeds or this there some other standard for reeds in the bass?

What a good question!
My guess would be the right hand only judging by what my ears tell me, except on mega mega expensive.

 

[debra]

When an accordion is advertised with hand-made reeds, does also apply to the bass reeds or this there some other standard for reeds in the bass?

It should, but not all accordions have come with the same "grade" of reeds on both sides. The best known case were early Morino accordions that came with better reeds on the treble side than on the bass side. Considering that the price of a mano reeds is about twice that of machine reeds it is no surprise that accordion manufacturers try to "cut corners" somewhere...
They also do not necessarily come from the same manufacturer. I have seen an accordion with no less than THREE different brand names of reeds on the bass side (one brand for the lowest octave, another for the next octave and yet another for the higher notes... but in that case they were all of the same grade.

 

[dak]

It should, but not all accordions have come with the same "grade" of reeds on both sides. The best known case were early Morino accordions that came with better reeds on the treble side than on the bass side. Considering that the price of a mano reeds is about twice that of machine reeds it is no surprise that accordion manufacturers try to "cut corners" somewhere...

It's not necessarily about cutting corners (though of course cheaper production costs will never be unwelcome). A reduced dynamic range on the bass side can make musical sense. In particular five-reed basses have a tendency to overpower the treble.

 

[Alan Polivka]

It should, but not all accordions have come with the same "grade" of reeds on both sides. The best known case were early Morino accordions that came with better reeds on the treble side than on the bass side. Considering that the price of a mano reeds is about twice that of machine reeds it is no surprise that accordion manufacturers try to "cut corners" somewhere...
They also do not necessarily come from the same manufacturer. I have seen an accordion with no less than THREE different brand names of reeds on the bass side (one brand for the lowest octave, another for the next octave and yet another for the higher notes... but in that case they were all of the same grade.

Indeed. Even some of the famous Scandalli Super VI accordions had a mix, e.g., Farfisa reeds on the RH and Taborro reeds on the LH.