[OneHarp]

Hiya! Sorry I’m a little late to this thread, but I come from the wide world of Harmonicas, where we blow out reeds all the time! 🙂 Yes, reed go flat when they start to develop “stress fractures” usually near the base of the reed (close to the rivet pad). Typically, one can retune a flat reed once or twice to get some more playing time out of it, but it is indeed the sign of death for that reed, and it will need to be replaced. While that might sound daunting, it’s actually rather easy. Both Hohner and Suzuki make reed replacement tool kits (as well as the Harmonica companies Seydel and Herring), and but you can also send in your busted reed plates for repair by the manufacturer (I know that at least Hohner and Suzuki do this, and have great repair techs). I’m not sure if Hohner/suzuki et al sell individual reeds for Melodicas, but they do so for Harmonicas. I have a “bone yard” of old harmonica reedplates from which I salvage my donor reeds, though. I made my own set of reed replacement tools, using an “eylet” tool from Harbor freight, which I filed down to the same diameter as the reed rivets. Basically, I jsut line it up, squeeze, and the rivet pops out. I then put new reed on re-using the old rivet, and setting it with a hammer, nailset, and small anvil. Takes me about 5 minutes to replace a reed, but I don’t blow them out so much any more now that I’ve learned to better control my breath pressure. Hope that helps!