Bruce Newman has problems with his pipes tuning properly.  I have one
of these free reed clarinets on my Aeolian "Marie Antoinette" Model
Duo-Art residence pipe organ.  None of the reeds show any brownish
substance at all like you have seen.  I am not sure about your statement
about the brownish substance on the side of the tongue but if it is not
on the vibrating reed, I wonder if someone changed the reeds and used
shellac to seal and hold them in place.

To tune these pipes you rotate the top of the pipe which shortens or
lengths the pipe by a bevel rubbing on this solder glob that you talk
about.  This tuning is changed by the distance between the reed and the
top of the pipe.  What may have happened is that the position of the
reed was changed.  The reed is attached to a sleeve that is inserted
into the base of the pipe which can move up and down inside the lower
toe section of the pipe.

The problem is probably the position of the reed, not the tuning bell.
Someone didn't realize this and had to break off the solder glob to get
the pipe to tune.  Little did they know it would split the tuning bell.
Pull the reed up out of the pipe and see if the tuning gets closer to
where the original solder globs were.

Pete Knobloch
Tempe, Arizona