Extra reed speaking on Bass button in one direction

[artidots]

A friend of ours has borrowed our Welty 60 bass Rubin while she tries to solve a problem on her identical Rubin.

On the G bass button (not chord) it plays ok on the push but on the pull an extra reed plays as well. She has not said what the pitch of the extra note might be.

I thought it must be a valve problem but she says she has twice looked at the chord blocks in the appropriate spot and can see nothing amiss.

Any suggestions please ?

Thanks and Regards

Rob

 

[JIM D.]

Your bass machine needs a look.
Your reed block might be loose and leaking or the button you press might lift another pallet.

 

[debra]

Your bass machine needs a look.
Your reed block might be loose and leaking or the button you press might lift another pallet.

The button lifting another pallet is unlikely as the extra note only plays on push, not on pull.
A pallet not closing properly is also unlikely as the extra note would play together with other notes, not just G.
Looking at the chord blocks (which the OP did) is unlikely to help as the chord is not used at all when just pressing a base note.
Air leaking between notes (reed block not tight against the base) is a possibility but any such air leak would likely show more on pull than push as on pull air is sucked in so the air flow tries to push the reed block off its base.
It would help to know what other note is heard. If is is simply an out of tune G it may be a valve problem or loose reed plate. The base G is not just a single reed but a combination of Gs with an octave difference and one of them can be out of tune. A loose reed plate would be sucked tight on push and leaking on pull so that is again unlikely. This leaves a valve not closing as a possible cause.
But if it is not an out of tune but another note it helps to know whether it is a note adjacent to G on the reed block or not.
All in all we dont have all that much to go on here... A picture of the base bass block (both sides) would help, even if just to see whether the valves on the outside are closed properly. (When a note is out of tune when pushing it can be caused by the valve that is on the outside of the block not closing properly.)

 

[artidots]

Very many thanks guys, I have passed on the suggestions and will report back. (for the possible benefit of others another day).

Rob

 

[artidots]

This problem was eventually solved by Martyn White, a well respected Restorer/Repairer of mainly Melodeons in Chelmsford, Essex, UK.

He found a cracked reed and successfully replaced it, problem solved. He also dealt with a couple more reeds showing signs of rust.

To me this was a somewhat surprising answer but I have no more information as yet. At least our well-liked little Rubin is on it's way back to us from it's loan duty.

Rob