A friend in town asked me if I could do anything with a very old, 
small pinned cylinder-operated reed organ owned by the town historical 
society. I've rebuilt a number of reed organs and assumed (incorrectly) 
that this instrument would be similar. 

Re-leathering the bellows and replacing the flap valves for the wind 
supply was no problem, but about half of the notes are not playing and 
several of the reeds have become brittle with age and are cracked or 
broken. I fear all of them are in similar condition.

The reeds appear to be of 0.025-inch brass, thinned down as required 
for tuning -- some thinned down to 0.012" to 0.018" over their length 
but thicker where they are attached. The rivet that holds the brass 
reed in place is relatively soft, seems to be softer than the brass. 

The material of the reed bases is a mystery to me. It is non-magnetic 
and from the appearance I might have thought lead, but they are much 
harder than lead and much lighter. There is light corrosion on the 
surface but none of the corrosion or distortion I might have expected 
from a typical pot metal part of that age. 

The base material could be zinc. The density is about 5 or 6 g/cm^3 to 
my (poor) ability to measure the part's volume, so it is a relatively 
light metal, probably not inconsistent with pot metal or zinc. 

I have found a similar organ by the same maker and the owner was able 
to provide me with the scale for his, so assuming they are the same 
(not a given, unfortunately) I know what the scale should be.

I haven't had success in getting any help with these from my reed organ 
friends, but it occurred to me that they looked very much like accordion 
reeds so I thought I should broaden my inquiry in an attempt to find 
someone who might be able to make (and tune) replacement brass reeds 
for this instrument. Wholesale replacement with more typical reed organ 
reeds is not an option, the owners want to maintain originality.

Failing that, if you can point me towards resources that would teach me 
how to cut the brass without distorting it I suppose I could have a go 
at doing it myself. I'm a pretty proficient woodworker, but I know next 
to nothing about working with metal so I'd really like to find someone 
who already knows how to do this.

Thanks very much for whatever help you might be able to offer.

Roger Wiegand 
Wayland, Massachusetts

 [   bottom of broken reed
 [ https://www.mmdigest.com/Attachments/21/09/11/210911_095410_IMG_3552.jpeg 
 [   top of broken reed
 [ https://www.mmdigest.com/Attachments/21/09/11/210911_095410_IMG_3553.jpeg 
 [   view of entire bank of reeds
 [ https://www.mmdigest.com/Attachments/21/09/11/210911_095410_IMG_3554.jpeg