This one's become quite a hot potato -- one old fellow says he hates
the stuff, others agree with him for whatever reason, and out of the
woodwork pops the "Hysterical Society".  Yes, the hot stuff may have
only been the real alternative of the day, but times change.

Twenty years ago I was restoring a Compton Cinema Organ and, quite by
chance, I was introduced to one of the surviving bench hands who worked
for Compton's in its hey-day.  He was about 85 years old, and he
remembered his time at Compton's well.

The John Compton Organ Co. were a well-established church organ building
company, very progressive, very go-ahead.  They moved into cinema organ
building in the late 1920's just after the first Wurlitzer's were
imported; in fact, their cinema organ designs were very much an
improvement on Wurlitzer's, with all-electric consoles, all-electric
relays, non-complicated electro-pneumatic actions.  They even devised
an electro-static tone generator called a Melotone.

This old fellow spent many hours reminiscing about the old days and,
in the course of our conversation, he asked what I was using for
gaskets.  I showed him 3 mm closed-cell neoprene sponge; Compton's
originally used cork and paper felteine for gaskets.  He was amazed at
the material: "If this had been available in Compton's day they would
most certainly have used it."

The point I'm making is quite simple: builders used the glues of the
day -- there was not a lot of choice.  Whether some of us today like
hot glue or not is immaterial; it's the technique and quality of our
restorations that count.  Players that I've restored 30 years ago are
still performing perfectly, and if the rubberised material quality is
as good as the manufacturers claim then re-restoration is not expected
in my lifetime.

If other restorers out there re-restore every 5 years or so then their
technique must be suspect, or their materials are.  White PVA is fine
for gluing motors onto pneumatic stacks as long as you use a paper
gasket.  Then, if you need to remove it 70 years later, the split is
going to be a lot less hazardous than wood-to-wood hot glue.  Just
clean away the old glue edge, a new piece of paper and away you go
again.  It's that simple.  Why make a mountain out of a mole hill?!

Best wishes

Paul Camps