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The 'inboard' mounted reeds on the Jeffries 38 system (and presumably the larger Anglos and duets too) have a slightly different tone to those mounted at the side of the reed pan. This problem is most acute on the left side thumb button reeds, where the tone is distinctly nasal in comparison to their 'outboard'cousins. Because of the position of this button's reed chamber, the air hole is drilled through both the pad board and the action plate and is thus twice the depth of all the other holes. In a sudden fit of activity last week, I thought I'd check what a reduction of the reed chamber size might do to the tone, since I'd seen a kind of 'double wall' on the respective chamber of another instrument, and also noticed that the air hole appears to be drilled more towards a position above the middle of the reed than on other notes. Anyway, I made some experiments with modeling clay and found enough of an improvement to be worth mentioning here. The best position seemed to fill the chamber up to, and over the clamping bar of the reed as shown in this picture. I have now replaced my son's modeling clay with a piece of blu-tac which I feel will less likely to stain or damage anything. It should also harden in time and be easier to remove. I've made a couple of very unscientific recordings both with and without the modification, which nevertheless seem to bear out my audible impressions. In both recordings, the thumb button is the middle note of each descending run of three notes and I've recorded both push and pull. Anybody else tried this, or found a different solution for this problem? Adrian.