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.

 

[John Doe]

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

Which actually might be good news in a sort of backhanded way.

This means that there's a decent chance that the wax is still fresh enough that the soldering iron stopgap is actually liable to last for about as long as a normal rewax would.

Of course, you have to hope that the "wax not hot enough or plate too cold" issue won't manifest itself on other plates as time goes by.

Here's hoping!

 

[kimric]

Looking at your pictures it looks like the wax has all sorts of cracks. Making a guess here , but I would say that pure bees wax was used and not a actual reed wax mixture.

 

[John Doe]

This means that there's a decent chance that the wax is still fresh enough that the soldering iron stopgap is actually liable to last for about as long as a normal rewax would.

I would say that pure bees wax was used and not a actual reed wax mixture.

If this were to be the case, you'll probably be doing either a full rewax or chasing individual wax failures ad nauseum. Pure bees' wax is relatively frail; seals fine, but has limited adhesion and is subject to breaking free.

Still we can hope that it's just the pictures and a proper wax was used and all might be well...

 

[Ventura]

well as a teenager, i confess my first wax/reed repair was
because i literally blew a libe of reeds up off the heat softened wax
from strolling with a red accordion in the hot sunlight on a Summers
Day at a festival.. i pooshed them back down and made it
through the gig, then next day i "fixed" it better with a red
candle carefully dripping hot wax along the seams

live and learn, ya know.. it held up for years too !