Was trying to find that Milton stuff to see how it smells, but I know already that tea tree oil smells fantastic so it's tempting to give that a go.
Had some big bits of ice fall from the sky last night.
They were slightly bigger but it took a while to get a photo, and I didn't particularly want to step out into the garden to look for a good sized one while they were still flying down.
Did some more tidying of the accordion.
Took the white keys off and swept all the dust out. Smells alot better with that gone. The keys removed by pulling a long brass rod out that acted as the pivot for all of them. There's another rod for the black keys that's still visible. Made sure to number the keys so I could get them back in with less hassle.
Main reason I took the keys out though was to try fix the highest key, which was sticking open. Because of the method for holding the keys in, it meant removing them all anyways.
Anyways, being an idiot I assumed the key springs worked in this sort of orientation. I spent a good while trying to increase the spring tension, even replacing the entire spring with one made from much stiffer wire. Eventually I gave up and figured the key was bust and decided to stick a block underneath it to render the key immobile (but closed).
When putting the next key in I had the same problem, and quickly realised I was putting the spring in wrong.
While I was at it I replaced this felt buffer that was partly worn away, and the keys hitting against the wood was making the metal arm bit 'twang'.
Wasn't too bad getting it all back together.
So next i'm probably going to redo all the reeds. I'm gonna need to remake the reed wax, which is supposedly a 50-50 mix of beeswax and rosin, then a small amount of linseed oil. They're all things I can get ahold of so that shouldn't be a problem, but I also need some leather for the reed valves. I had a half-used leather jacket (the one I used for the helmet) that I had sitting around for a while, but i've been looking for it and can't find it, so it must've been thrown out. So maybe tomorrow I might take a trip around the city center, visit the music shop for rosin and the charity shops for some leather jackets.
Alternately the music shop might be able to order in some plastic reed valves. I'd read that floppy disk plastic works quite well, but i've also read that you want to get the plastic 'balanced' so that all the notes have the same attack. The reed valves you can buy seem to be made of several layers of plastic, like a leaf spring.
