Folks -
I am in the process of renovating a 1930's Club III which had its reeds held down by small brass screws with washers, with the reed bedded onto leather. In brief, I am wondering whether to refit with wax, as current practice in melodeon construction. Will this affect the tone, for example.
My natural inclination is to simply refit the reeds onto the leather; it is somewhat compressed but not much affected by having removed the reed plates. ... and to tolerate a little leakiness.
One issue is that it appears that the small brass screws have all been hammered into the block! Most are slightly bent and quite a few of the holes must have been damaged, for there is barely any bite from the screw thread. Sometimes the block has split, and on one place there are two sheared off screw shanks. It all feels a bit insecure, and the washers don't allow for a good overlap of the valves around the slot.
I don't really want to faff about and end up with something that is just unsatisfactory. Equally, it seems a bit gratuitous to remove original material and replace with wax just because thats how we do things now...
What are your experiences, opinions, ...?
Cheers, and TIA,
Adam
