[Alan Brinton]

I’d probably be okay without the G#, but I’d be lost without my Ab.

Ants are often in search of water, so they were probably in your melodica for the moisture, which would explain why they were around the reeds. For future reference, the best solution might be to just take it apart and leave it out in the sun or a warm dry room to dry out, which would hasten their departure and not kill them. You don’t want dead ants in there. I doubt that they could be lured out, but a piece of raw meat or something sweet might do it, depending on which type of ants they are or what phase they’re in. The longer the melodica sits out there exposed to them, the more ants will be invited in by their friends. So you want to get it away from their trade route.