Musisians reed but to what ?

DirtyMike · Sep 3, 2009

I have found these at old home sites and at cw camp sites. I have been told they were a musical instrument reed but what instrument? I always find one and its broken until today and in one hole i pulled out 93 and there were more but I had to leave. I will go back and get the rest to see how many total there are. And that's another question. How many should there be? The ones that were dug today are all sizes from about an inch up to a few inches. Most have the note stamped on them.

RPG · Sep 3, 2009

Accordian. You will find many more. They're every where. I think they're the pull tabs of the 19th century.

DirtyMike · Sep 3, 2009

RPG said:
Accordian. You will find many more. They're every where. I think they're the pull tabs of the 19th century.

I have but this particular spot I found 93 so far in one hole 2 ft x 2 ft. How many would there be per accordion?

RPG · Sep 3, 2009

DirtyMike said:
RPG said:

Accordian. You will find many more. They're every where. I think they're the pull tabs of the 19th century.

Click to expand...

I have but this particular spot I found 93 so far in one hole 2 ft x 2 ft. How many would there be per accordion?

Not that many.

Maybe you found an accordian dump? :dontknow:

Buckle Boy will know how many there were in each one. I'm sure he will chime in soon. :help:

DirtyMike · Sep 3, 2009

There are definitely more. I got what I could but was running way late for an appointment I couldn't miss. The machine was beeping like mad even when I left. I just pushed the leaves back over the spot until I can get back.

Bigcypresshunter · Sep 3, 2009

Sounds like you found a Reed Organ. http://images.google.com/imgres?img...t:en-us:IE-SearchBox&rlz=1I7GGLR_en&sa=N&um=1

http://peterhadams.com/organ_reeds.htm

BuckleBoy · Sep 4, 2009

RPG said:
DirtyMike said:

RPG said:

Accordian. You will find many more. They're every where. I think they're the pull tabs of the 19th century.

Click to expand...

I have but this particular spot I found 93 so far in one hole 2 ft x 2 ft. How many would there be per accordion?

Click to expand...

Not that many.

Maybe you found an accordian dump?

Buckle Boy will know how many there were in each one. I'm sure he will chime in soon.

I have always thought that these were from bellows-driven "pump organs." I too have found many at a site before. Most of them appear to be marked with pitch names on the square end, right above where the reed itself was attached. (F#, E, D, etc...) In your photo at the top, the reed would be marked on the underside, near the squared off end.

Edit: I just saw that BigCy had posted the ID too. Good work.

Yes, the reeds were interchangeable when they wore out or broke. Just pop out the old C# and pop in the new one.

(Or in the case of this topic, throw the whole organ out when the leather bellows failed.)

Regards,

Buckles

Woodland Detectors · Sep 4, 2009

Nice buttons by the way...Mike

jeff of pa · Sep 4, 2009

bigcypresshunter said:
Sounds like you found a Reed Organ. http://images.google.com/imgres?img...t:en-us:IE-SearchBox&rlz=1I7GGLR_en&sa=N&um=1

http://peterhadams.com/organ_reeds.htm

correct organ reed

RPG · Sep 4, 2009

BuckleBoy said:
RPG said:

DirtyMike said:

RPG said:

Accordian. You will find many more. They're every where. I think they're the pull tabs of the 19th century.

Click to expand...

I have but this particular spot I found 93 so far in one hole 2 ft x 2 ft. How many would there be per accordion?

Click to expand...

Not that many.

Maybe you found an accordian dump?

Buckle Boy will know how many there were in each one. I'm sure he will chime in soon.

Click to expand...

I have always thought that these were from bellows-driven "pump organs." I too have found many at a site before. Most of them appear to be marked with pitch names on the square end, right above where the reed itself was attached. (F#, E, D, etc...) In your photo at the top, the reed would be marked on the underside, near the squared off end.

Edit: I just saw that BigCy had posted the ID too. Good work. Yes, the reeds were interchangeable when they wore out or broke. Just pop out the old C# and pop in the new one.

(Or in the case of this topic, throw the whole organ out when the leather bellows failed.)

Regards,

Buckles

How many reeds per organ? DirtyMike says he has found 93 in one spot and didn't dig them all. :dontknow:

Bigcypresshunter · Sep 4, 2009

I have a WWI folding Reed Organ. The bellows is bad.

I think some organs have over 93 keys.

DirtyMike · Sep 4, 2009

Thanks for all your help. :icon_thumright:

baspinall · Sep 4, 2009

Cool! I have found so many of these things and never knew what they where. Thanks.

Brian

BuckleBoy · Sep 4, 2009

RPG said:
How many reeds per organ? DirtyMike says he has found 93 in one spot and didn't dig them all.

88 keys = 88 notes, maximum.

:icon_scratch:

RPG · Sep 4, 2009

BuckleBoy said:
RPG said:

How many reeds per organ? DirtyMike says he has found 93 in one spot and didn't dig them all.

Click to expand...

88 keys = 88 notes, maximum.

Kinda what I was thinking. :dontknow:

Bigcypresshunter · Sep 4, 2009

BuckleBoy said:
RPG said:

How many reeds per organ? DirtyMike says he has found 93 in one spot and didn't dig them all.

Click to expand...

88 keys = 88 notes, maximum.

I actually googled it and found reed organs with more reeds but I didnt save the link. Maybe I misunderstood it.

Cant you lay all the notes out and the different sizes and see how many different organs it came from?

Bigcypresshunter · Sep 4, 2009

I dont play the piano so I googled the question "How many keys does a piano have?" and Amanda asked the same question. http://en.allexperts.com/q/Piano-Organ-Keyboard-650/piano-keys.htm

Answer
Hello Amanda! I suppose your professor's question needs to be qualified to be answered properly. "How many keys does a piano have?" could be expanded to "How many keys does a standard piano have?" or, "How many keys do most pianos have?" or, "How many keys can a piano have?", or, "What is the least number of keys a piano can have?" Since you are involved in a school assignment I will provide you with two suggestions which should be helpful enough to get you started in your research:

http://www.bluebookofpianos.com/agesc.htm#CABLE

http://www.bluebookofpianos.com/agesb.htm#BOSENDORFER

I wish you success!

Kind regards,

Thomas Britanyak

johnnyi · Sep 4, 2009

I 100% disagree that the majority of these were from organs. I too have found many of these single reeds or doublke reeds at civil war period campsites, farms, and other locations where organ reeds would never have been lost. These are from small concertinas or similar small hand held "squeeze boxes which were easily carried by soldiers, sailors, etc..

Bigcypresshunter · Sep 4, 2009

johnnyi said:
I 100% disagree that the majority of these were from organs. I too have found many of these single reeds or doublke reeds at civil war period campsites, farms, and other locations where organ reeds would never have been lost. These are from small concertinas or similar small hand held "squeeze boxes which were easily carried by soldiers, sailors, etc..

Yes, this is the general agreement that the majority of reeds found are from squeeze boxes... but he found 93 in one hole. How many reeds are in each box?