I've tuned these old reeds before, with a 1920's Hohner three stop, but I was not using the reed puller (hook) as much back then, as I am now, with comparitively super strong Italian reeds. As you probably already know the reed puller is specifically for using to sharpen the 'pull' reeds, whilst they are installed and waxed into the accordion. It's only meant for sharpening the pitch, by getting access, to scratch the tip of the reed.
My question is.... should I chance using the reed puller to tune these old reeds, or should I remove them to tune them? Even scratching the backs to lower the pitch seems a little scary to me. Either way I'll be gentle as if they were brittle cracker. Not that they are, I'm just sayin'
I know what you mean. If we're talkin' Binci, I can manage all bassoon pull reeds, in any key. With the mids, I can manage about 5 down in most keys. The highs only the first three or four.
Ditto what Bryan said. I doubt most of those reeds are really that far off as I'm sure Doucet tuned it at some point.
I know Randy Falcon tunes his accordions on the push so that the reed being tuned is on the top and then once he finishes tuning all of the reeds flips them all over to tune the pull, which is now on the push. Some people seem to say that's a waste of time on his part instead of catching the underside of the reeds but from my experience his accordions seem to be the most "in tune" when they leave the shop.
I also tune the pull reeds in the push position when they're off by more than fine tuning. Saves a lot of lifting. Then I fine tune in the correct position.