Reed Makers

[FingersPhil]

Nice, thanks for all the info. I will ask Victoria...

 

[Gonk]

I rank Voci armoniche above Cagnoni, but I some of my bias might come from the instruments I hear them in.

 

[Alan Sharkis]

Most modern reeds are all of very reasonable quality. But sometimes you find problematic quality. I have worked on a Hohner Morino IV N that has unmarked reeds (most of the N series has Bugari reeds and they have a Bugari stamp in at least one of them) and on a Fisart (professional convertor) also with unmarked reeds and both were problematic in the sense that a number of reeds would start playing a few cents too high, and settle down a few cents lower after a few seconds of playing and they would then stay stable (without playing for about one song). No amount of hammering on the nails would fix this. (Sometimes the nail/rivet can be a bit loose causing the same effect, and hammering the nail then solves it but not in this case.) I have worked on many accordions by now (some random repairs but mostly tuning) and these two are the only ones so far. Alas, as the reeds are unmarked and accordion manufacturers often do not state which reeds they use I have no idea which reed maker was used. That Hohner had tipo-a-mano (hand finished) reeds and the Fisart had a mano (hand made) reeds.
The best reeds are all from reed makers that no longer exist (Catraro, Taborro to name just two that I know). But generally Voci Armoniche (the merger of Salpa and Antonelli) and Artigiani Voci are very good and used a lot in high end instruments. Binci are also very good, but different. I think they are either softer or thinner, and are sometime (perhaps wrongly) called ladies reeds. Fine sound, but more delicate regarding voicing. Just my opinion here based on too small samples to be meaningful, so caveat emptor! I'm not a big fan of Cagnoni. My Hohner Artiste XS has Cagnoni tipo a mano reeds, like all other Morino S series accordions I know.
I have no idea where Pigini would be using "their own" reeds (inherited from Excelsior or not). The Pigini bass accordion I have has Artigiani Voci (a mano) reeds and they are very good. (Too bad Pigini then put crappy faux-leather valves with plastic boosters in that instrument.)
Don't rule out the Chech "Harmonikas" reeds. The factory is state of the art and produces excellent reeds with very low tolerances. They also make bayan reed plates used by Russian bayan makers nowadays.
One of the first things I do when getting an accordion in for tuning is check out who made the reeds, as that tells me how much filing or scratching will have how much effect. Voci armoniche (and the Salpa predecessor) and Artigiani Voci are tougher than Binci and Cagnoni in my experience. The old Taborro reeds I worked on were by far the toughest of all. (I just wish they were in one of my own accordions...)

A teacher once told me that if an ad or a salesman says “a mano” about a particular accordion it doesn’t necessarily mean that all the reeds in that accordion are a mano, and even if they are, they’re not necessarily “matched.” Was he correct, or correct for the era in which he was shopping, or mistaken?

 

[Scuromondo]

A teacher once told me that if an ad or a salesman says “a mano” about a particular accordion it doesn’t necessarily mean that all the reeds in that accordion are a mano, and even if they are, they’re not necessarily “matched.” Was he correct, or correct for the era in which he was shopping, or mistaken?

It seems to me that some general music stores (who know nothing about accordions) do not always appreciate the difference between “a mano” and “tipo a mano.” I do not know if it is intentional or thorough ignorance but I have seen at least one dealer who advertised new accordions from one manufacturer as having “handmade” reeds when they in fact were TAM reeds. (I contacted the manufacturer to verify this.) Handmade reeds were available on request (at additional cost) but they were not included in the base price of the accordion as advertised

 

[Ffingers]

A teacher once told me that if an ad or a salesman says “a mano” about a particular accordion it doesn’t necessarily mean that all the reeds in that accordion are a mano, and even if they are, they’re not necessarily “matched.” Was he correct, or correct for the era in which he was shopping, or mistaken?

"...if an ad or a salesman says..." then you should reach for the nearest container of sodium chloride and take a large 'pinch' of it