Pre-war Settimio Soprani restoration project

[boxplayer4000]

None of the smaller reeds have leather valves, I'm assuming this was as designed:

From about C6 (which is the C two octaves above 'middle' C) there are normally no valves.
Picture 2-6 (of the treble sounding board leather surface): The dark patches probably indicate that there is some air leakage between the reed blocks and the sounding board. It's likely that the reed blocks have taken on a slight distortion (no shame to it at that age). Careful rubbing of the reedblock on sandpaper, placed on a (flat) sheet of glass will help.
The reed valves on picture 2-4 do not look like genuine accordion quality valves. ALL valves and wax are expendable and only complete renewal is recommended.

 

[Rosie C]

@boxplayer4000 & @Ventura thanks for the very helpful replies!

 

[Tom]

Great project! I would suggest you go for “playable” as that will give you time for more projects. Existing reed leathers look pretty good. You can buy an assortment which will let you replace the worst offenders. I left restoration behind before I got into tuning, so can’t help with suggestions on the internal reeds, but I am sure Paul will chime in with good advice for you. Good luck, you’re doing so well!