[Alan Brinton]

Look at my profile and you’ll find my email address, David. Whether I’ll be able to tell, I don’t know, but if not I can post the picture. Your photo has to be up somewhere on a Web site in order to link it here.

Replacing the single reed can be done, but it would be cost prohibitive to have it done professionally. It’s not something I have tried to do. The best option is probably to order a replacement reed plate from Yamaha. There is information about that somewhere in the “Melodica construction, repair and maintenance” forum here. Delivery to Brazil might be a problem.

Here’s something else to try first, though: When we tune our melodicas, we ping each reed, which can be done with a pin or a toothpick. Do this with the reed in the open position, swiping the pin upward at the open end of the reed. Do this first on another reed, and you’ll hear the intonation of that reed. If you don’t get the same kind of result with the G reed, if you instead get a muffled off-sound, the reed has gone bad. If you do get the true ping, then your problem can be addressed by lightly filing the side of the reed that’s catching. This is tricky to do. You don’t want to twist the reed, but some filing or scraping is possible, and it can be pushed a tiny bit toward the other side. If all else fails, you can buy me a plane ticket to Rio de Janeiro.