Rebuilding an Aeolian Organ Duplex chest

[Offshoreorganbuilder]

Having restored an almost identical action to this one (though not as large) I can vouch for the mountain of work which this represents. My assistant and I spent *weeks* sitting in the workshop (by the stove, as it was winter) gluing on the purses. In our case, we attached the pallet arms before gluing the wood and then positioned the purses by eye for lateral adjustment and movement. That way, there was no question of strain on the leather, when the glue set. Thanks for this posting.

[lipsbach]

Great fun! But is it worth it? I have restored Moller duplex chests, and have asked myself if it was worth it...have to say the result is very satisfying, when everything works.

[Offshoreorganbuilder]

@lipsbach If you want the organ to play, of course it's worth it, or would you ditch the pneumatics and fit pallet magnets? (I prefer the better quality, original job.)

[buzzbaybear]

wow Langshaw to America, his organ back to England. I googled and found the site and left a few messages. I have a bit of it's history in documents I collected. I wonder if the roll library went with it. I sure would love to hear some of those again!

[buzzbaybear]

Excellent video. I never rebuilt one but I made many an exasperating slit-pouch repair patch to one as a young organ wonk- the ca1920Langshaw DuoArt Aeolian which was then in a New Bedford church. got it and the player action going. It was enthralling (and not bad for 15 years old) I think the organ still exists. It was moved to somewhere in Vermont.

[ampicoab]

Thanks for the comment. Small world. I looked up the Opus number of the Langshaw organ and found it to be 1458. That organ now belongs to my friend Paul Morris in Exeter England. I went to his inaugural concert last February and enjoyed it very much.

[Hobbs360]

sounds great

[veggiepab]

Great work!

What's the material you used for the valves? Is it felt?

[ampicoab]

The valve facings are leather with felt backing.

[ccoraxfan]

Wow, look at all those pouches! This must have take forever to releather them all.

[ampicoab]

The organ has 1,939 pipes. Except for the mixture, there is one pouch per pipe plus more pouches for the valve and stop actions. The harp has five pouches per note and two of the pouches are huge.

[clydesight]

really enjoyed this video. I used to rebuild tracker organs, so this video was fascinating to me. Thanks!

[ludwig123456789]

Thanks for sending me this. This looks like very pleasant work but perhaps a headache over all. I have not see in any books how to do this.