Reed placement on the blocks

[Waldo]

Howdy fellow squeezers,
I scored a vintage accordion that some fool attempted to re-wax. They used the wrong "wax" (one block is "waxed" with hot glue) and many reed plates have fallen off. I am looking for some advise as to how to determine which plate goes where? It is a Serenelli Ruatta, Chicago Illinois, from mid 1920's. It is a "Combo" (Piano & 5 row CBA) that has 4 treble blocks (24 reeds per) and 5 bass (12 per). I collected the still attached plates from each block (each side separately) in zip-locs, but still have 30 or so loose, unidentified plates. Due to the hack job on the re-wax, I don't have a lot of confidence that the still attached plates were, in fact, in the correct locations. To that end, I'd like to know how to determine placement as if all the plates were loose and mixed up. Is there a "standard" for placement of the plates on the blocks? This will be a major project and I'd like to get 'em right the first time.
Any help greatly appreciated!

 

[TomBR]

I may be misunderstanding your question but as a minimum you'll need some sort of "tuning table" so you can sound the reeds and sort them according to pitch. It's then fairly straightforward to work out from key to pallet to reed block what goes where. Unless the reeds are all accurately in a very dry tuning you'll need to sort them according to whether they are tuned sharp flat or middle to get them onto the correct reed block.

If you're planning to do any tuning (which would be very worthwhile) you'll need a tuning table anyway.
Cheers
Tom

 

[oldbayan]

I may be misunderstanding your question but as a minimum you'll need some sort of "tuning table" so you can sound the reeds and sort them according to pitch.

Or just use your lips You also need to take note of which pallet opens which reed block hole and put some marks with a pencil on the blocks with the note names.

 

[TomBR]

I'm not saying it's impossible but I'm not keen on sounding reeds by breath, especially if valved. I guess old reeds should be fairly harmless but I wouldn't want to suck, and there's the condensation issue if you blow - make sure they're dried thoroughly. It's also not easy to get a true steady pitch, the bigger the reed the harder it gets!

Are you re-valving as well WaldoW?

 

[debra]

You can determine the note of a reed by just "pinging" it and you can see which key or button opens which pallet and then you know which note should go where. So it's not a difficult puzzle unless you cannot identify notes by just hearing them...

 

[Waldo]

Thanks All, I'm looking forward to the challenge.