My latest project
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My piano tuner was here a few weeks ago, yay! He was telling me about an Aeolian player pump organ that he had in his warehouse and was thinking of unloading it. I jumped on the opportunity and went to look at it last week. Irresistible, and he gave me a good price.
The bellows are shot so I'll need to rebuild them, but I've had some practice now and don't feel daunted by the task. We opened it up and it looks pretty good inside, probably just needs loosening up of parts that haven't moved in a long while. It's from the late 1800s.
As the world goes high tech, I seem to be going deeper into low tech. Fine with me.
He delivered it a few hours ago. Can't wait to get it in working order. I spent an hour cleaning the fall board area--it's very dirty.
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Congratulations, Bernard, itโs a beauty! I never saw a pump organ (or most any organ) with a full 6 octaves!
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A player pump organ!
Hope youโll post pictures of how it looks inside.
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A player pump organ!
Hope youโll post pictures of how it looks inside.
@Steve-Miller Some inside pictures.
I found a tag inside that says it's a Style 1500 (meaning Aeolian Grand), Lot 202, Serial No 14000 (which dates it's manufacture to 1892-1894).
View inside from the back, bellows on the bottom, partially visible action on top. Apart from cleaning (inside & out), the bellows will be the first component to tackle:
View from front. The shutters of the swell box are clearly visible. There is a Vox Humana mechanism (analog vibrato device) inside the box. Several arms from the various stops are visible, as is the player.
Another view from the back looking at part of the action. This box contains the pneumatic motor that drives the roller mechanism. It's so ingenious--taking the force of air suction and turning it into rotary motion. It's achieved with a crank shaft (visible on top of the box) to which 3 pistons are attached in a precise arrangement, which are connected to valves that open and close the suction airway for each piston at exactly the right time to keep the crank shaft rotating.
A view from the back looking at the action for the player. I have removed the cover so we can see the pallets that cover each air hole corresponding to a note. This player organ is basically two instruments in one. The player has it's own set of reeds: four banks of them, and the manual organ has it's own set of two reed banks.
Another back view showing under the player reed chest. The back ends of several stops are visible, the chamber on the bottom contains the reed banks for the manual.
For a closer look at the pneumatic motor, there's this quick video I found on Youtube:
Link to video
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Congratulations, Bernard, itโs a beauty! I never saw a pump organ (or most any organ) with a full 6 octaves!
@RealPlayer Thanks!
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@bernard how cool! And the case is really beautiful isnโt it! Will you make a video so we can hear it?
@ShiroKuro I will. It will be some time before it's ready. I'm almost done (I hope) working on my regular reed organ (I bought it right out of high school over 50 years ago) and can record that too, much sooner.
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@ShiroKuro I will. It will be some time before it's ready. I'm almost done (I hope) working on my regular reed organ (I bought it right out of high school over 50 years ago) and can record that too, much sooner.
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The difference between cleaned veneer and uncleaned. I'm about half way down the bentwood panel. This is nothing more than cleaning--no polishing, etc. I'm not sure if I will replace the entire end panel--on the left--or simply patch it. Same with the other end of the organ. I'm afraid new veneer might not match the old.
The industrial revolution cheapened everything.
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The difference between cleaned veneer and uncleaned. I'm about half way down the bentwood panel. This is nothing more than cleaning--no polishing, etc. I'm not sure if I will replace the entire end panel--on the left--or simply patch it. Same with the other end of the organ. I'm afraid new veneer might not match the old.
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Thatโs really pretty veneer!
Is it the same on the top? If it is you may be able to use a piece from the top to patch the sides. If not, and you elect to replace a panel, you might be able to use a piece from one side to patch the other.
Have you ever messed with grain matching using special paintbrushes and markers and such? That grain pattern will be tough to blend but itโs kind of fun to do and veneer is pretty cheap.
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With your input, this post could be even better ๐
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