Renovation Work Undertaken

 

The first job was to remove the organ from it's trailer

This lead to me discovering that not only did the front of the trailer open up, but the lid lifted up and the sides opened out as well. This means I am now having to re-think my plans as to how best to display the organ once it is re-fitted.
The back also comes out so you can turn the handle to operate it.

Having cleaned the dust off the inside of the organ I was now able to see how things worked.

             

As there were a number of notes that weren't playing correctly I removed the front baffle box to gain access

This shows the bellows that open the baffles, the lever system & closing pad.

This gave me access to the keys, at which point I discovered the reason some weren't playing properly.


The fine leather tape holding the pads to the keys had perished on a number of them. I am now in the process of taking out all the keys and renewing this. Also a number of springs were loose and needed adjusting.

First of all the old tape & spacer was removed & the key cleaned

A new leather spacer was glued onto the key - Thanks to Principle Pipe Organs of York for the leather.

Finally a small piece of canvas was glued over the key & key arm to hold the key in place. The canvas allows the end of the key to move and form a good seal on the reed chest. The felt pads were also checked and re-glued where required.
   

Meanwhile the baffle assembly was given a good clean to remove years of dust.
   
Whilst the organ is out of the trailer I am busy making the decorative panels that will brighten up the side & front panels The first of the side panels is cut out and the light holes drilled ready for painting. Each panel will get five coats of primer, undercoat and gloss before the carvings and frame are attached. The colour scheme I am using will be red & leaf gold for the panels with antique gold and silver for the carvings and sign-writing
   
The panels have now had their gold frames painted and added and the name panel has now gone off to be sign-written. The decorative carvings have gone to Canal Craft (York) to be painted.

Meanwhile, the keys have been lubricated and re-fitted to the organ. They now seem to be seating better. The next job is to check all the pipe work & valves.
   
Just got the sign panel back from the sign-writers. This just needs a couple of carvings fitting to the top corners to finish it off then it can be screwed to the drop down panel at the front of the organ.
   
The trailer has had all it's wall panels and roof removed and is currently in the garage being painted. 
The roof has already been painted a copper colour, which will hopefully go well with the Excavator Crimson I am repainting the trailer.  The trailer is now glossed and needs the inside varnishing. That just leaves the wall panels to gloss and re-fit and the wheels and tow bar to paint. I am also fitting two new light units as one was broken.

After the paintwork is finished, I need to start work on the electrics for the organ motor and lighting.
Having got the decorative carvings painted by Canal Craft (York) they are now fitted onto the decorative panels ready to be fixed inside the trailer in a couple of weeks time. The trailer has now been fully painted and just needs the lights to be re-fitted and the tow bar & wheels to be painted. Another job for June.
 
This weekend saw the decorative panels being fitted into the trailer for the first time. 
Although the wiring for the lights has still to be connected up and the top panel has to be fixed in place
 it now gives you an idea of how the finished organ will look
 when it goes to Widnes in September. This will be it's first public appearance.
The organ has now been sent to Nick Williams who is going to check the instrument throughout and fix the few keys that aren't playing properly. 
The organ has had it's action adjusted and Nick has had to work hard to get the balance between the spring tension and bleed screw adjustments right to achieve the optimum note repetition. This was achieved by resetting all the bleed screws so nothing played then adjusting each one in turn in combination with the spring tension to get it right. He has also got the percussion and swell shutters working, with the snare drum producing a nice 'roll' and fixed a couple of wind duct joints. One of the pallet springs was weak and a replacement had to be made and fitted. The keyframe also needed adjusting to stop ciphering and to get the music to go through straight without wandering off. 

As can be seen from the picture above, new wooden brackets have replaced the metal angle brackets that held the keyframe. This has raised the keyframe slightly and tightened the tension on the belt. A mahogany fronted pine shelf has been fitted below the keyframe to stand the books on whilst playing and to store additional books as required. The only problem now is finding a suitable 70 rpm electric motor to replace the one that came with it as it isn't strong enough now to turn the organ. So it will remain hand-turned for now with the electrics being put in place to add a motor when a suitable one can be sourced. 
As can be seen, the organ is now back in full playing order and was collected from Nick on 13th August. It has now had all three curtain panels fitted. A small light has been fitted above the back of the organ so you can see what's happening whilst it's playing. The decorative lights have now been connected up to the lighting controller and transformer as these are all 24v. These are mounted on a board together with the RCB fuse box, 13a socket (for the tea) and fused switches for the lighting & motor, when and if I get one fitted. I have also made a storage area which boxes in the keyframe, and a set of shelves for the books to play from and to give room to store books whilst the organ is playing. An additional storage cupboard to one side of the organ has also been added. 

Willing volunteers will be most welcome to come & turn it for a while if they see me at an event !
 



 
Electric panel has been fitted at side of bellows to operate lighting, motor (when I get one) and socket. Finally fitted shelving to rear of organ and boxed in the underneath of the keyframe to hide the pipes.
 

This organ has not been out during 2007 due to problems with the keyframe rollers being perished.
However, these were removed in November and sent off to Andrew Pilmer to get them re-rubbered. 
The rollers have now been finished and the keyframe has been re-assembled and fitted back onto the organ.
The result means the organ is no longer ciphering and the music is no longer slipping in the keyframe.
The organ has been taken off the market and will be out and about again in 2008. 
 
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