Kid Electric

Thanks... without even reading your post, that's exactly what I ended up doing! Seemed to be right... the C row definitely seemed to have the right scale, but some things sounded off in the G row. Maybe I did something wrong, but perhaps the reeds were actually the wrong tune to begin with (cheap Chinese concertina...) and I hadn't noticed since I play the C notes far more frequently... again, thank you for the very thorough advice!

Something like this would be PERFECT, but it's a 48-key English wheatstone; not a 20-button diatonic C/G

I am not the greatest at recognizing pitch by ear, so I need a little help with replacing my reeds (which fell off when the wax melted) I removed the melted wax that was causing the reeds to get stuck and make no sound (using Goo Gone); and I have in front of me some pre-mixed accordion wax (beeswax and pine resin) which I ordered off of eBay from Scotland as recommended by someone on this forum. I also have a variable-temp soldering iron I will use to melt the wax as needed. Now... I just need to figure out where the reedplates originally went in order to get them back on in the right order! I could try to play the scales on my keyboard and match the tones of the reeds (by blowing through them) to figure it out, but since the timbre is different it would be easier for me if there were recorded sounds of each note being played on an accordion/concertina. Does anybody know of any site that has sound bites of the recorded notes or scales for C/G diatonic reeds? Thanks!

Thanks for these further suggestions on where to find pre-made wax. I was really not looking forward to trying to make my own (cleaning and reattaching the reeds is going to be enough of a pain in the butt as it is) I found I could make about 1.5 lbs of accordion wax for about $20 (1 lb beeswax for $9 and 1/2 lb of lump pine rosin for $10), so I figured I would do that if I have to and then sell the excess to anyone who needed it. But now I'm thinking it would be better to just get the pre-made stuff if it's not hard or expensive to obtain.

Thanks for the thorough response! The wax didn't actually drip too far -- just enough to mess with the reeds, I think the valves are ok (though they may be worth replacing anyway); I will try cleaning and re-installing. Beeswax is fairly easy to find; I can get a pound of it for $4 (plus about $4 shipping) on eBay, or there are also beeswax wholesalers online which sell by the ounce, pound, ton, etc

So, I ended up buying a cheap, "Italian-designed" (ie. made in China) concertina from eBay; I had owned a Bastari which, despite being 30-40 years old, played relatively well... but the buttons were kind of loose and wobbly and the thumb valve too far for my hands. So, I replaced with a new "Morelli" concertina and it did actually play and sound nice. However, when I moved across the country and brought it in my car, it appears not to have enjoyed the 109 degree Nevada weather. I hadn't played it in a while, and when I pulled it out of the case to give it a go, no sounds coming out of the right-side (higher pitch) C/G reeds/valves. I unscrewed the end and uncapped it and... sure enough, the reeds weren't even there. Most of them had completely fallen off and I could see melted wax segments here and there. What's worse is that some of the wax melted ONTO the reeds, meaning they now won't work even if I reaffixed them. However, I think if I clean off the wax and then rewax them, it'll be good as new. (I know I could take it to a repair shop, but why would I do that on something that cost less than $100 to begin with?) So, my two questions are this: 1) What is a good way to clean/remove accordion wax? I've done the best I can by scraping with a knife, but in particular I need a way to remove the wax from the actual reed parts of a couple of the reed plates, or they get stuck and do not have that thin airway to vibrate. It seems like some sort of solvent might work best, but what? Goo Gone? 2) Anybody know where I can find and buy some accordion wax? I can't believe I can't find anybody who sells it. The best I've seen is a recipe for making your own out of 90% beeswax and 10% resin -- but even then, where do I get the pine resin (and in what form?) I'm sure actual accordion wax would work best but, if I can't find that, do you think it would work if I used plain beeswax? (not hard to obtain)