At last, some good news in my ongoing saga with the Deleika 20-note grind
organ.  After rebuilding the valves and shellacking the bellows boards,
the organ now has enough wind to play at a reasonable tempo, and there
are no weak or "strangled" solo notes.

My diagnosis was that a lot of wind was being wasted through the mis-
seating valves, even when the pipes were sounding properly.

Deleika and Raffin organs both use double-acting valves, similar to
player piano stack valves but inverted, with a second valve disk that
closes off the atmosphere when the note is sounded, but which open to
spill the leftover air when the note ceases.  If this valve disc fails to
seat well while the note plays, it wastes a lot of air.

In the Deleika valve chest, the valve-stem wires simply dangle below the
chest bottom, with the second valve discs hanging on the stems.  These
are pulled up against the chest bottom when the note plays.  Each valve
disc is supported by a leather nut, rounded side upwards, and in theory
should be able to tilt freely so as to seal against the chest bottom
board.

But through some error on Deleika's part, the center holes of the valve
discs were too small, so each disc was screwed tightly onto its threaded
valve stem, making it unable to tilt and self-adjust to the valve stem's
orientation.

I simply removed all the discs and drilled out their holes, large enough
to let them tilt freely on their leather nuts.  Result: all notes sound
loud and clear, and much less wasted wind!  If I worried about air
leakage through the larger holes, I could always seal it with a drop of
rubber cement.

I hope Herr Deleika inspects his valve action more carefully in the
future...it makes a BIG difference.

I've not yet sealed the bellows leather, having so far not found the
"111" silicone grease recommended.  But I shellacked the top and bottom
bellows boards (the top was highly porous "Luan" wood), put Neatsfoot oil
on the relief spill valve, and moved the stop block upwards one cm, thus
giving the bellows more expansion room and slightly lower wind pressure.

Now the Deleika plays like a new organ!  Almost as well as the 20-note
Raffin "prototype" that I tried out over the weekend, which I could crank
at truly "leisurely" tempos.

In fact the Deleika's only problem is that it no longer sounds as good to
me -- but that's only because it now shares my living room with my "new"
Raffin 31/84, acquired last Saturday!  But the Deleika's tone is bright
and cheerful, and it's a lot easier to crank than its new "big brother."

(You pedal piano pumpers who consider your piano a StairMaster fitness
machine: don't neglect your upper body -- get an organ!  :-)

Mike Knudsen