1
general::
Phrase(s): a broken reed
an unreliable or undependable person. (On the image of a useless, broken reed in a reed instrument.) • You can’t rely on Jim’s support. He’s a broken reed. • Mr. Smith is a broken reed. His deputy has to make all the decisions.
McGrawhill's American Idioms And Phrasal Verbs
2
general::
A weak or unreliable support, as in I'd counted on her to help, but she turned out to be a broken reed. The idea behind this idiom, first recorded about 1593, was already present in a mid-15th-century translation of a Latin tract, "Trust not nor lean not upon a windy reed."
American Heritage Idioms