2 reeds suddenly went flat on push/pull

[Paul’s Place]

I have an older Ranco Guglielmo CBA and it seems to be having an issue I absolutely cannot for the life of me diagnose. On the medium set of reeds (unison with low), there are two tones, C# and B, that have gone out of tune (flat) and muffled. This is both on push and pull. It started just on pull of C#, would come and go, but now it is both on push/pull and B has now also gone flat/muffled all of a sudden.
The wax, leathers, and reeds themselves look perfect. They sound good outside of the accordion. The reed block that these two tones are located (right next to each other) looks planed nice and flat. The felt it clamps onto also looks perfect. The register switches and slides work well. I do not see a way that air flow would be obstructed.
I feel like I have ruled out basically everything I can think of with no luck and it’s driving me crazy. This is a sudden problem that this instrument has never had before. I’ve gone nothing except gig with it. Anyone have any ideas? I have a feeling that because it’s two adjacent reeds it may have something to do with that.

 

[debra]

Check whether the wax is still holding well. On the last picture I seem to notice some cracking of the wax.
What you could do is remelt the wax (while pushing the reed plates flat against the reed block) using a soldering iron (not on full heat but about 2/3). Such problems with the wax are often hard or even impossible to see.

 

[Paul’s Place]

Check whether the wax is still holding well. On the last picture I seem to notice some cracking of the wax.
What you could do is remelt the wax (while pushing the reed plates flat against the reed block) using a soldering iron (not on full heat but about 2/3). Such problems with the wax are often hard or even impossible to see.

I will check this, thank you!

 

[Paul’s Place]

Check whether the wax is still holding well. On the last picture I seem to notice some cracking of the wax.
What you could do is remelt the wax (while pushing the reed plates flat against the reed block) using a soldering iron (not on full heat but about 2/3). Such problems with the wax are often hard or even impossible to see.

Hey Paul! This worked! Many thanks!! I did also run a hair dryer on low to give some additional heat and push the reeds down.

 

[debra]

Hey Paul! This worked! Many thanks!! I did also run a hair dryer on low to give some additional heat and push the reeds down.

Note that remelting the wax is just a stopgap measure. Your problem is an indication that the wax is losing its adhesive strength. The remelting may give you a few more years of pleasure but eventually all the reeds will need to be rewaxed.

 

[Paul’s Place]

Note that remelting the wax is just a stopgap measure. Your problem is an indication that the wax is losing its adhesive strength. The remelting may give you a few more years of pleasure but eventually all the reeds will need to be rewaxed.

The weird thing is it just was rewaxed last winter. I’ll keep an eye on it for sure. Thank you again!

 

[Ventura]

then we probably do NOT want you to ever recommend
your repair person to us

 

[debra]

The weird thing is it just was rewaxed last winter. I’ll keep an eye on it for sure. Thank you again!

If new wax isn't holding then the rewaxing job was likely done at too low a (wax) temperature.