Cleaning brass reeds in a Reed (Pump) organ

[@musicalinstruments638]

Very useful information thank you very much.

[@dabbylynn]

I have a reed suitcase organ that was my grandmothers. My grandfather gave it to me when she passed many many years ago. How do I clean the keyboard, the metal trim and the outside of the suitcase? Thx

[@mortier9]

Could you also use clock cleaning solution? Also, how does the ultrasonic cleaning process compare with just brushing off the reeds to remove dust and debris?

[@llwdtp]

mortier9 clock cleaner would probably work very well to make the reeds nice and shiny. The ultrasound is a convenient way to carefully clean what can be very delicate parts. However, the goal is to remove dirt that changes the tuning. Bright and shiny may not be so important for tuning. They will probably get a bit tarnished later as a result of aging.

[@yaman3427]

Hi Mark, First thank you for this tutorial. Do you know what is the brand or origin of these reeds ? German? American ? Thank you.

[@llwdtp]

The reeds I had were American origin I believe. They are brass reeds in a brass holder. I don't know a lot about other Reed organs.

[@yaman3427]

@@llwdtp thank you !

[@philpogson9883]

Vinegar is acid and detergent is alkaline so how does the science of that work?

[@llwdtp]

You may have a point. The idea was that I wanted to remove the dirt and crud from 100+ years of operation - before I tuned it. That was the idea of the detergent. Then I also wanted to remove corrosion of the brass reeds. The vinegar seemed to do that well without being too strong. Then I wanted to save time so I mixed them together. Maybe it is better to do it in two steps.

[@75hilmar]

Why do you put laundry detergent into the mix actually?

[@llwdtp]

The laundry detergent is to cut the dirt, oil, grease that may be on the reeds. You could use other soaps or detergents of your choosing.

[@amiriashor5951]

hi do you have any set of reeds

[@llwdtp]

Amiri Ashor I don't have any extras, but I may know someone who has extras. what notes are you missing? what is the name and pitch of the stop? what are the dimensions of the reeds? not all reeds are the same size.

[@chandrasekhar4634]

i am having reeds

[@nevalsingh2397]

Hello sir, how are you? Please assist me, I took out an octave of reeds placed them in vinegar for a 24 hours, then brushed them then washed them clean. BUT when I put them back, the notes have changed and have a ringing sound. PLEASE PLEASE ADVISE ME HOW TO FIX THIS I have tried cleaning it again with detergent but all it does is give me a super shiny reed with the wrong sound

[@llwdtp]

Can you describe the ringing sound in more detail. What common object does it sound like. This is for a Reed organ?

[@nevalsingh2397]

@@llwdtp thank you for quick response. When I play the key its 2 tones coming out, 1 sounds like the correct sound and the other is a lower note, so it 'rings' between those 2 notes. It's a harmonium

[@llwdtp]

@@nevalsingh2397 I suspect the problem is not the cleaning. I think you have a leak between the note and the note next too it. You can pull out the Reed next to the one you are playing and see if the sound changes.

[@asadabdul4486]

@@nevalsingh2397 have you resolved the problem yet?

[@nevalsingh2397]

@@asadabdul4486 hey mate, no luck, I even scraped ends of the reeds as suggested by other videos but no luck. Could it be that I used normal vinegar instead of Apple cider vinegar?