[Pam A]

Wanted to report that I replaced all my washers, a few felt pads and the gasket with MelodicaMe’s great materials. What a lovely difference it makes! Now all keys are functioning well (I did have to blow hard on one and unstick the reed). Another question for the group. I know the older instruments take more air than the newer instruments and in fact the Claviettas are quite “breathy”. I can sustain a note for around 15 to 20 seconds now that mine is sealed better with the new gasket but wondering if that’s about normal for an instrument with so many individual reeds and old wax sealing the reed plates. I did see where someone had posted that they had used this rope caulk beading to seal as a gasket material and then gotten a sustained note for 35 sec. I am just wondering if that’s the difference between an experienced player with better lung capacity than I have versus my instrument still being a bit on the leaky side. I can hear an air leak when blowing into the instrument unlike the newer instruments when no keys are depressed but can’t really locate where the air leaks from exactly so figure it is either still some gasket leak, leak around the reed plates themselves or just an old instrument that naturally takes a lot of air even when tight due to the configuration of individual reed plates sealed with wax (which of course has now deteriorated over time). Thanks for any words of advice you guys might have. I am continuing to slowly tighten the screws on the air gasket metal to create a tight seal but would think it would not take a lot of pressure since the lacing I got from MelodicaMe appears quite sturdy and level. Has anyone used the caulking rope or silicon caulking as a primary gasket material?