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From out of the dust ...

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NutmegCT

NutmegCT

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What do you do when it's too darn hot outside for yard work and MG driving?

You restore an 1874 reed organ, of course!

G Woods Organ1.jpg

Because I'm interested in "old tech", I was given this 1874 George Woods cabinet organ. Been in one family since new - and never repaired or "maintained". With all the stops drawn, and full pumping - instead of a big loud chord, it sounded more like choking a squirrel.

A work in progress:

https://photos.app.goo.gl/cHvp4tHM5QtPufQ99

I've spent the last week literally pulling it apart (the organ, not the squirrel), cleaning, and removing corrosion from the few steel parts. The wood and steel are in remarkably good condition. Next up: replace the cracked rubber cloth around the bellows, the leather valves, and the fabric tape hinges on the mutes and swells, and clean the 100+ brass reeds

Yesterday I even found the workman's signature on the back of the keyboard.

T. Campbell July 27 1874.jpg

"T. Campbell July 27 1874"

Sure hope I can get it all back together eventually.
 
JPSmit

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definitely a noteworthy project.

Related: This is my cousin (we've not actually met) he used to be flown all over the world to voice and tune pianos - now he lives in China where he runs a piano tuner school.

https://www.thevoiceofthepiano.com/
 
DrEntropy

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Wow. Good for you, Tom.

Got a grin out of the carpeted treadles. Hope you can bring it back to full voice. :thumbsup:
 
Popeye

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That is neat!! Keep us posted!

(And how, precisely, do you know what a choked squirrel sounds like?? We might have to call PETA!! :wink-new:smile:
 
Popeye

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You cruel people! First the squirrels can't breathe, then the mice get squashed. Next you will be stepping on cockroaches!!!

(All in good fun, of course - great video, thanks for the laugh!!)
 
drooartz

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Excellent project! I'll be curious to hear how your restoration goes.

I've got a similar project to tackle some day. We have in our family a Melodian (small "portable" reed organ) that my grandfather bought from the salvation army sometime in the 1930s or so. He paid $25 for it (a lot of money for him at the time) and apparently went back a number of times before he purchased it. It's still at my parent's house in RI, but I'm working on a plan to get it out here. There are a few restorers in New England that we're looking at, but if those don't work out it'll be on me to figure it out. Needs new bellows for sure, not sure what else. Our best estimate is that it's from the mid 1800's.
 
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NutmegCT

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Drew - the real "melodeons" were the small reed organs that were popular before the Civil War. After then the bigger "parlor organs" gained the advantage.

Three forms of melodeon.

Early 1800s:

ros-0213.jpg


"Piano style", closer to 1860:

ros-1159.jpg
"Traveling" melodeon, often used by itinerant teachers and preachers:

ros-0090.jpg
Those are much simpler to restore than the larger parlor organs like mine.
 
PAUL161

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This is not ours as ours is presently in storage, but identical to it. It's an Estay of the late 1800s. All I had to do was restore the bellows valves, it plays very well, the wife used to play it around Christmas time, when we lived in our big old Victorian house. Kinda miss that. PJ

View attachment 55223
 
AngliaGT

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We have a 100+ year old box piano,that the Wife just HAD
to move cross country.Needs tuning,etc.
I was hoping that someone would steal it!
 
PAUL161

PAUL161

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There is a slight difference between ours and the one I pictured, ours is solid cherry with a more reddish color. I couldn't play it if the keys were numbered! :highly_amused:
 
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NutmegCT

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You can almost follow the progress of the American middle class, by listing the keyboard instrument in the "parlor".

First, the small melodeon. 1800-1830
Then, the piano-style melodeon. 1830-1860
Then the parlor organ. 1860-1900
Then the "vertical grand" piano. 1900-1940
Then the spinet piano and electronic organs. 1940-2000.

The horizontal grand piano never quite caught on for homes, other than for mansions. Seems to have stayed in the concert hall.

liberacepiano.jpg

It was our growing prosperity that allowed the upward mobility - and caused all those old melodeons and parlor organs to end up in the basement.
 
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pdplot

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I have a grand piano that I bought back in the 1970's - a Steinert. Knockoff of a Steinway, so good that Steinway sued them and won back in the 1930s I believe. Mine is a 1929 by the serial number. The pin block is cracked but somehow it (almost) stays in tune except for an occasional pin slipping, but I have a wrench that I bought many years ago from the American Piano Supply Co. - in fact I used to tune pianos as a hobby. A wrench and a hammer puts that pin back in the block to stay for a while. You can't buy from APSCO now unless you're a certified technician. I tried to buy a couple of new mutes - no dice. I have never learned how to read music and play at the same time. Only problem - you can't even give away a piano today unless its a Steinway - nobody wants them. it's a shame.
 
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DavidApp

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Tell me about it. We have an old player piano in the basement. The player part is missing. Our Daughter started to play on it before she took lessons and we bought a real piano that all the keys worked on.

On the Organ thread I acquired a Hammond electric organ. The church my wife went to had this organ and they had spent a lot trying to keep it in operation. They finally gave up on it and asked me to take it to the dump. Stopped at home and out of curiosity plugged it in. Almost nothing worked but looking inside it seemed simple enough. Just big circuit boards and not much else. So I pulled a couple out and cleaned up the contact strips. When I plugged those back in a few things worked. Carried on like that till almost everything works.
It now lives in the basement with the player piano.

This came to mind as I was plugging stuff back in.

David

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ARJ8cAGm6JE
 
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