The other day I was taking a reed out to replace leathers for the g/f reed.

When I took it out a small fragment of wood from the top of the reed block hole broke off.

When I replaced the leathers and put it back in the reed block it was 5 cents sharp on the pull. I made sure that there was no gap by covering the missing fragment with wax.

My question is, could that small fragment of wood missing be the cause of it being out of tune.

I'm guessing it's either that, or a little contact glue got in the reed.

Any ideas?

I seem to remember reading that removing and replacing a reed can sometimes throw it off a little.

Hi John,
A slight air leak will cause a reed to soound sharp, but,if you covered the hole with wax, then you have cured that problem. I would question on thing, is this reed plate one of the ones laying flat, or is it on the "solder block" standing up? The reason I ask is, if it one laying flat, make sure that you resealed the wax all the way aroounf it. Sometimes, when removing one of the reeds laying flat, the wax on the back end of the plate will come off with the reed plate, or be displaced enough to cause a slight air leak. This leak will cause the reed to sound slightly sharp. Hope this helps.
Jude