A few of you are aware that I purchased an Aeolian Grand Player Organ
from Don Teach at Shreveport Music Co.  Well, the organ arrived
yesterday and I have started tearing into the machine.  This will be
the first player organ (aside from some roller organs) that I rebuild.

The mechanism seems straight-forward, and the organ itself has many
neat features including a beautifully made swell shutter.  The upper
ranks of reeds are actually pneumatically operated, not mechanically
connected to the keys as in a standard reed organ.  Leave it to Aeolian
to design a system like that!

The organ is very complete and very restorable.  The case is a bit
tired with sizable hunks of veneer missing (anyone know a good source
for quarter-sawn white oak?) and the upper frieze panel is smashed on
one end, but still quite rebuildable.

The tracker bar appears to have had leather glued over it at one point.
Were the tracker bars actually made this way, or was the leather
possibly added later in an attempt to seal up an old leaky organ?

 [ I believe the tracker must be sealed in order to play the organ
 [ from the keyboard.  -- Robbie

I have included two "before" pictures of the organ for Jody and Robbie
to post on the MMD web site if they are so inclined.  I'll provide
"after" pictures in a few months ;-)

 [ Jody will place the "before" photos in the MMD /Pictures section.
 [ Then the whole world will be sending encouragement!  -- Robbie

I have another restoration in progress, but not musical.  I will be
featuring the restoration of an original C&I clipper print from 1864 on
the Currier & Ives web site.  The print is badly damaged, and should be
educational to watch the steps involved in the restoration.  The
project will start in mid February, and I have the restoration page up
and ready with a picture of the print in it's current condition.  If
interested (I'm always interested in any historic restoration) it can be
found at http://www.currierandives.com.  If you have been to my site in
the past, I just recently redesigned the pages. I'd appreciate any
feedback on the look and navigability.

With regards to the organ project, I want to thank and recommend
Don Teach.  He was very helpful during the purchase process and in
arranging transportation of the organ.  His description of the
instrument was right on the money!

Thanks,

Scott Currier
http://www.currierandives.com


 [ Editor's note:
 [
 [ Articles are frequently submitted to MMD with the spelling 'AMPICO'
 [ 'AEolian' and 'WurliTzer' and the like.  These are _logos_ of the
 [ respective companies, which adorned the instrument and sometimes
 [ the letterhead of company correspondence.  I change the spelling
 [ during editing to a capitalized proper name, like 'Aeolian' or
 [ 'Wurlitzer', unless the context is specific to the appearance of
 [ the logo; this is consistent with accepted American editing style
 [ for journals and newspapers.  I hope our authors aren't offended.
 [
 [ -- Robbie