Shortening a reed slot

In order to fill a reed slot after shortening its reed, I use a plug of solder, cold worked into the reed slot with a hammer and small anvil.  I use 3mm diameter, solid core solder that I hammer into a rectangular shape, shown below, which is slightly narrower than the reed slot and thicker than the reed plate.  I then cut off a piece of desired length using a sharp blade.

This first photo shows a reed plate after the reeds have been trimmed to the desired length using fine surgical scissors.  Only a small amount of a reed’s end is trimmed off at a time, plucking the reed each time so that too much is not taken off and the reed left too sharp in pitch.  The reeds are then rough tuned and, if necessary, profiled for flexibility and response.

The next step is to mill small, conical grooves into the corners of the reed slot, on both sides of the reed plate, using the motorised milling tool shown in the above photo.  These grooves act as dovetails to help lock the solder plug in place:

I then score a line on the reed plate, marking the position of the shortened reed, and rotate the reed out of the way using a reed wrench on the rivet pad.  I then hammer the piece of solder into the end of the reed slot, making sure that the solder spreads into the conical grooves.  Any gaps that might remain between the solder and the reed slot can be filled using thin super glue.  I then plane the solder flush with the reed plate and trim it back to the position marks I scored onto the reed plate using an X-Acto knife.  Next, I rotate the reed back into position and make any final adjustments to the solder plug to give the reed sufficient clearance.  Here’s the finished product: