d.elliott

Are the ends engraved or etched. I suspect the latter. Engraving shows tooling marks.

Yes I use the same tell-tale of the birds head, beak and eye, although I don't know when they first started using it, or even why.

good luck filing off soft solder with a diamond file, the solder is too soft and will quickly glaze and choke the file. use a cut file that has been chalked and be prepared to clean the file as needed, I use copper for this.

good news

Dana, I like talking Shop, a bit, The original poster talked about applying something along the spine, that would be root, belly and tip (you see I am picking up your terminology). Hence so much concern about destroying the temper around the working part of the reed. When soldering at the tip I always use a clip on heat sink to protect the elasticity of the reed tongue. For a 18 months I worked as Manager of a mechanical & metallurgical test house proving the properties of aerospace & down hole materials, I want to relapse into tech speak, but I guess most of the readers just need to know that soldering, other than at the tip can be harmful to your reed's heath, and then even at the reed tip to use heat sink protection and low temperature solders where ever possible.

I have always wondered if my assumption about this is correct, Looking from the pivot post he LH spring has the pig-tail wound the the LH side of the anchor spike, and has the hook bending the the left of of the pigtail, The RH spring has it's pigtail wound on the other side of the anchor spike with its hook bent to the right of the pigtail. I am probably wrong

Thanks Dana, I had to read this several times to take it all in. I need to be more explicit and refer to the root rather than the belly of the read when talking about pitch reduction, I had not realised that this could be misleading. Whilst I have known for some time that there is neutral zone where attempted adjustments in pitch yield little or no result, I have never thought of this being an area to reduce reed stiffness. Information for which I thank you. Obviously one of the factors in reed stiffness is the grade of steel used for the tongue, it's composition and and it's metallographic condition. I am not a manufacturer so I deal with old reeds made out of high(ish) carbon clock spring steel. My own Aeola has reeds tempered to straw, many, if not most instruments have reeds temped to blue. This range of tempers is achieved between 220 deg C and say 300 deg C. I mention this to caution those who feel that they can add solder near the working part of the reed tongue's length. solders come in various alloys with melting points between 90 and 400 deg C plus. the majority of general solders are around 300 deg C. the reed steel must be at least the melting point of the solder for 'sticktion' to take place. It is easy to affect the temper of the working area of the reed, softening it, increasing it's ductility and reducing the stiffness or springiness to the reed. This will adversely affect the reed performance.

Wunks, you are going to need some very fine U bolts I cannot wait to see the idea on a the high notes vibrating at over 1000 Hz 😨

Its about the ratio of the tip section and the strength of the belly of the reed, if you file the belly of the reed leaving the tip un touched the the belly is weaker and the pitch drops, The term is flexural rigidity. I guess you are talking about reinforcing the reed belly, it's working area some how. what ever you use would have to be in its self springy, at the same level as the reed steel and work homogeneously with the reed.

nice job David

A good purchase at any price 🤐

Use a spike to form the pilot for a new hole adjacent to the old spring anchorage point no harm will be done and you will be up and running again. That is what a professional would do. Short of digging out the old spring end, drilling or chiselling a cavity in the action plate, gluing in a bit of new wood, then dressing it flat before fitting your new spring, it is all that can be done. You often come across evidence of spring replacement with old spring holes and stubs left in them. It is no detriment, just a small footprint in the history of the concertina. A 'get you away' remedy whilst waiting to replace a spring is a small piece of kitchen sponge pushed between the pivot post and the key, cut thick enough to hold the lever arm up and thus the pad in place.

Absolutely good to get it back, its all about the playing and playability not the repair process as long as no harm is done.

I did not read it like that, never the less I shudder at the thought of soldering tips of reeds to reduce the pitch by half a semi-tone. Button Box have a good reputation, I don't know Mr. Snope, but in 30 + years I have only seen this technique applied in the manner suggested, once. When the reeds were nickel silver and too delicate to risk thinning the read tongue bodies to flatten them.

I have to say Everett, that your experience of this instrument is unfortunate in some ways, but pretty typical in others. taking your points: 1. this cracking occurs (in my experience on less than 5% instruments, then only say 4 pad holes on an instrument). the big cracks along the grain usually need opening out and a filler of veneer applying. Often just running glue into small cracks will be enough to stabilize them and seal any air paths 1.1 pads usually need changing because they are knackered, and you change the full set together, make sure you have a supply of grommets 1.2 springs as needed? 1.4 repair shrinkage and glue failure around the pad board/ casing rebate (say 40% of instruments) I would check this before padding. 2. agreed replace all valves 3. agreed, thumb straps are a conditionally based task 4. leakage here is quite rare, usually a roughening up of the chamois leather knap is usually all it needs 4.1 more often, ensure all reed-pan support blocks are present and fully secure, shim the top surface of the support blocks to ensure that the chamber wall gaskets are in contact with the underside of the pad board when the instrument is closed up 5. Agreed, reed assemblies have to be secure but don't over-do it, you don't want to cause reed tongue/ frame pinching 6. You shocked me with this one????? The least risk to the reed is to drop the pitch by filing with a 400grit diamond file , usually you are only looking at half a semitone, worst case just over a semitone (the case here). If you are using solder, apply a heat sink and use a very low melting point solder, soldering reed tips is usually an act of desperation. also check the underside of the reed tongues for corrosion and any accumulation of dirt, scrape off. Check also the reed frame vent's inner flanks for any accumulation of Verdigris that may foul the reed tongue. You should also expect to have some cross bushings to replace, maybe some dampers, and then action box endplate bushes (all at once) if necessary. This may require the removal of the bushing boards. Critically any structural long woodscrews through the thumb strap and finger slides must be present and secure. Ensure the structural pillar-spacers that the long screws pass through are in place and if needs be replace the card packers on top of the pillars. I hope that this helps.