Restoration
& Written by:
Kent
Arnold
Long
Beach CA
562-425-4740
Aeolian Organ
& Music Co.
Style 1500 Serial #
10547
46 note
Player Reed Organ
Built: 1889
________________________________________
The Restoration
This how the organ console looked when it was picked
up
for restoration on 10/09/2003.
The instrument was returned 11/28/2003 looking much
different.
The finish of the console is still the original
The only change has been the replacement of the grill
cloth with regard
to what was left of the original fabric.
Unfortunately this is all that most folks see.
The genius of our craftsmen from the late 1800’s is
found within…..
The first task is to gather information about the
instrument.
Below is a label found inside of the case
giving the style
and serial number
The date of manufacturer was found inside of the
player action.
The style and date matches the known history of
Aeolian Organs that came in to being in 1883.
The style 1500 was their second generation of
player
being replaced by their 58 note player in the late
1890’s
Keep in mind that these are of the first paper roll
players.
The 46 note rolls are very rare and should stay with
the organ as the organ increases value with the number of rolls in the
collection.
The Lompoc Valley Historical Society may now own
the largest single collection of original rolls.
Reviewing the data base of the Reed Organ Society,
and information from other collectors, no other organ is listed with the
“Dulcet Tremolo” unique to this style. Although I have been able to locate two
other Aeolian 46 note players,
to this date I have not been to locate another
Aeolian Style 1500.
Above is how the organs pumps & reservoir were
found.
Items such as the rats nest, car seatbelts,
all old rubberized canvas, and valves were removed.
Separated wood joints were glued, cloth hinges
replaced.
The right & left feeder pump had been
switched at some time
resulting in past organist damaging valves. New
rubberized cloth was cut.
Inside if the feeder pump covering are stiffeners to
keep the cloth from
‘flapping’ when pumping. This item was found missing.
Reservoir and feeder pumps rebuilt, valves replaced.
Replacement belts being installed, rollers having
been repaired.
Repairs to
the case were also made at this time.
Leather gaskets replaced. Lower action installed into
case.
Pieces of canvass and masking tape were used at one
time
to repair leaks in the old leather gaskets. This was
all removed and
new leather gaskets made. Striped screw holes also
had to be pegged.
Underside of the manual organ showing key pallets.
The Key pallets and stop
mutes of the manual organ are
original and still in good
working order. However the swell shades
had been badly patched.
This was removed and new hinges made.
Manual organ reed pan with replacement gasket.
Key board repair and regulation.
The Manual organ was then installed back into the
case
Keyes leveled
The manual organ has not been touched that much over
the years.
As a result little repair had to be done to restore
it to good working order.
The manual organ is not linked with the player organ
with the exception
of the pumps & reservoir.
With most reed organs this is it to a rebuild
with the exception of tuning an voicing.
Now we get to what makes this organ special,
The Player Organ
The player organ can only be played by the 46 note
paper rolls created for it.
Without the rolls this unit would be unplayable and
worthless. Unfortunately over the years this unit had been badly tampered with.
That said, what was found had to be removed and discarded. This as in most
cases takes more time
than the actual rebuild.
Electrical tape and Popsicle sticks were not commonly
used in the 1890’s
Cleanup and re leathering of mutes, swells, and
tremolo.
Installation of restored mutes.
View of restored dulcet tremolo and it’s air lock
swell shade.
Dulcet tremolo internal valve system.
This system took some time to figure out as the stops
had been
hooked up incorrectly. Parts of this system had been installed backwards,
valves screwed open so that they did not move,
and some parts just not there at all.
This system creates a tremolo effect to the Dulcet by
forcing the intake air
for the reeds through a “beater” valve, by means of a
“air lock” swell shade.
The beater valve movement is started by an air pulse
created by two valves when the stop is turned on.
The pallet valves for the reeds.
These are original and did not need to be replaced.
View of how the player internal system was found
Removal of
primary pneumatics, not original
Repair of case after removal.
New primary pneumatics being built.
The covering on these is animal intestinal membrane.
View of primary bleed holes and internal secondary
valve facing.
Replacing leather of internal secondary valve.
Installation and adjustment of internal secondary valve.
Replacement of external secondary valve facing.
Re-leathering
and installation of external secondary valve.
This leather had been removed at sometime but never
replaced.
The leather disk acts like a universal joint so that
these valves
are able to seal at an angle.
View of the brass pins that the working pneumatic
pushes
to open the pallet valves.
Re-leathering and sizing of the working pneumatic.
These pneumatics are not original and had been made
too wide only allowing
for .001 of an inch clearance between them, (without
the leather).
The leather covering on the units is no more than .01
inch thick,
much thinner
than the rubberized cloth found on them.
The disk inside of the pneumatic is there to keep the
system from “clicking”
as it hits the brass pins.
Installation and replacement of pin guides that were
missing
Transmission for spool box set screws had been
striped,
pulleys had to be rethreaded for replacement set
screws.
.
View of player action front.
In the foreground is the tracker bar, leather gaskets
replaced.
Glue from prior work had to be removed from the air
passages
to enable notes to play.
Restoration of spool box
The shoe strings found being used for drive belts
have been replaced
Views of the motor speed control.
Foam rubber window seals replaced with leather
gaskets
Restoration of motor
One of the valve facings had been replaced. The
replacement
had to be removed and a new replacement made .
Bad valves causes jerking of the motor.
In the picture below is
the result of not using the original hide glue.
Instead of the pneumatics separating at the glue
joint, the wood is split apart.
Back view of organ showing installation of motor,
speed control,
Upper and lower manifolds with gaskets replaced.
Front view of organ showing corrected hook up of stop
controls.
Several of these systems had to be repaired
due to being hooked up
incorrectly in the past.
.
The Stops
The
manual organ:
Engraved
in red
Starting
from the left, the bass:
Diapason 8ft.
Viola
4ft.
On
the right, treble:
Melodia 8ft. (continuation of the Diapason)
Clarabella
8ft. (tuned sharp for celeste)
The
player organ:
Engraved
in black
From
the left, the bass:
Violone 4ft.
Dulcet
Bass 8ft. (muted Corno Inglese),(swell
box sealed)
Corno Inglese (swell box not sealed)
Sub
Bass 16ft.
Dulcet
Tremolo: enables beater tremolo to
the Dulcet rank only
(will disable
if Corno Inglese or Clarion stops are
used or swell box is opened)
Vox
Celeste:
Turns
on the Hautboy with the Dulcet Treble muted to the point that the reeds play flat, causing a celeste effect.
Hautboy
8ft.
Clarion
8ft. (swell box not sealed)
(continuation of the Corno Inglese)
Dulcet
Treble 8ft. (muted Clarion), (swell
box sealed)
Flautino 4ft. (continuation of the Violone)
The above stops should be pushed in when organ is not
in use.
Motor: adjusts the
speed of the motor to control tempo and rewind speed.
This should be pushed in when organ
is played manually.
Reroll: changes the transmission for play/rewind of the
rolls. Also cuts out the air supply to the player organ when roll is rewinding.
Stop
should be pushed in to play the roll. Pulled to rewind, changing the roll, and
when playing manually.
The original
tuning of this instrument has been preserved at A-452
The
Clarabella had been tuned flat at sometime with that evidence it seemed that
the factory intended to be a celeste.
The Rolls
The 46 note Aeolian rolls are made only to work on
Aeolian 46 note players
and will not work on other players. The scale is not
chromatic.
The rolls should be kept in dry storage next to the organ.
The rolls cannot be replaced and only found in
collections today.
When the rolls are
played you are not hearing a reproduction or recording, but the actual sound
and arrangements that was heard in the 1890’s
Keep in mind that these are of the
first paper roll players.
The 46
note rolls are very rare and should stay with the organ as
the organ
increases value with the number of rolls in the collection. The Lompoc Valley
Historical Society may now own the largest
single
collection of these original rolls.
Playing
the Organ
This is
the good news.
The rolls
should be played so that over time the paper
does not
stick together on the spool.
The more
that the organ is used the better it actually gets.
This is due to the fact that most all of the leather
in this organ has been replaced
If the system is not used regularly the leather will
tend to get stiff causing the action to get sluggish and unresponsive.
The fine dust particles in the air actually fill and
seal the suede of the leather valves making the action more efficient the more
it is played.
High grade pipe organ leather was used for this
restoration and should not need to be replaced for the next 30 to 50 years.
Although an annual cleaning and minor adjustments should be done.
This organ took over 150 hours to restore