Cleaning reeds

[knobby]

What's the best way to clean corrosion from reeds? The outside of the reeds are mainly ok; the corrosion is on the underside of the reed which you see once the valve is removed. It appears to just be some surface corrosion rather than deeply pitted, but because it's on the underside it's difficult to get at.

 

[Glug]

I had the same problem six months back:

Cleaning reeds

Hiya folks, I'm about to try some tuning for the first time on an old Orfeo LMM. It looks like it has the original 1950s wax, and there's slight rust on a few reeds. The wax goes white and powdery when scraped so I'm fairly certain it needs replacing. So step one is to clean and rewax one side...

www.accordionists.info

WD40 and a 4mm fibreglass pencil works well on the surface that's easy to reach.

 

[knobby]

I had the same problem six months back:

Thanks for the link (I should've done a search before posting )

How did you clean off the WD40, or is that what the meths was for?

 

[Glug]

Yep meths got the WD40 off.
I think I did a final rinse with IPA too: I don't trust the purple muck in meths.

 

[knobby]

IPA???

 

[Glug]

if only

IsoPropyl Alcohol aka Propan-1-ol

£10 a litre or twice that at a chemist.