[Rusty reed tongue]

After a quick look through the sight I didn't see anything about my problem- forgive me if it is redundent. I'm saving an old squeezebox from the junk man and some of the reed tongues are rusty- does anyone have a solution other than trying to sand that tiny piece of metal with steel wool? Thanks, Steve

[Accordion Wax - Need Help]

Reed wax can be bought at FRM Enterprises in Canada or Castiglione Accordions in Detroit. Ernest Deffner in NY may also sell it. Thanks for the kerosene tip- the wax is a real pain to clean up. I do my waxing with a flat spoon like contraption. I takes awhile to get it down, but it is a quite effective way to wax in reeds. Steve

[Accordion Wax - Need Help]

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)