Adjusting Reeds on Converter CBA

[ganelon]

I recently acquired a large converter c system accordion and have been testing out all of the notes. For the most part it seems to sound good, but there are a couple of issues I noticed. First is that there are a few notes which aren't sounding on the treble side. Also on the bass side, the really low notes seem to be not very responsive and require a good deal of force to get the notes to sound.

I have some ideas regarding what to do but I don't have any experience with reed instruments and was wondering if anyone would be able to offer advice. I took a couple of the reed blocks out, and It looks like especially on the low bass notes the reed looks to be sticking out a bit upward rather than lying flat. I read that that can cause the reeds to be unresponsive to I was thinking if I gently bend them down that should make them more responsive.

I also read that a problem could be with the leather reed valves not lying flat. It does seem that some of them are not quite flat. Is there a way to try to flatten them? I could also order some new ones if that would be easier. I wanted to check the reeds inside the block as well but it is really difficult to see inside, so if I wanted to bend a reed I don't know if I would be able to see what I am doing.

Also, I am not sure what the name of the silver strip with the red circle is on top of the leather. I assume that If I need to replace some of the leather valves I would need to buy more of those as well but I don't know what they are called.

 

[debra]

The gaps we are seeing in these pictures look mostly normal to me. They should not be smaller because then the reeds would choke on high pressure. Note that the reeds we see are the "push reeds". The "pull reeds" are inside the reed block.
Reeds that are not playing are typically blocked by dust or debris. If you "ping" the reeds (using a feeler or small kitchen knife) that will free them up.
The metal strips you are seeing are called "booster springs" in English and "contrapelli" in Italian. From these pictures the leathers (and contrapelli) all look fine.
This accordion has reed plates pinned down on a gasket of questionable material (should be leather or cork but I cannot make out what it is). This is seldom found on large convertor instruments. Most of them have reed plates held in place using (special accordion) wax.

 

[ganelon]

Thank you for the advice. I'm glad I didn't try to bend any of the reeds then. I will try pinging the reeds then and see if that frees up the reeds that weren't sounding. I don't know a whole lot about the instrument other than that it was made in Italy around the '80s.