Dear MMDers,  Max Huff has written several times asking about the
facade of Swoboda's 33er Ruth Concert Organ :

> How and from what material is it constructed and finished? ... What
> would be the underlying material of all the relief ornaments, curves,
> teardrops, etc?  Are they attached wood carvings, plaster of Paris,
> or something entirely different?

Perhaps a few comments will help him understand how these are made.
Virtually all organ facades are constructed entirely of wood except for
the hardware for assembling and attaching them.  From the smallest to
the largest they are formed from flat wood panels.  On some of the
larger dance organs there were sections that were "boxed", making them
three dimensional, but the basic pieces were flat.

To these flat panels were attached wood carvings.  The carvings
representing moldings, curlicues, flowers, vines, etc., were all
carved separately, usually by hand.  A few companies, such as Wurlitzer
in the USA, had carving machines which would rough out copies of the
same piece but then they were finished and sanded by hand.  These
carvings were then attached with glue and screws to the base material
of the facade.

While a rare few facades were stained and varnished, the vast majority
were then painted, first with primer and a base color.  Then the
decorative coloring was added along with oil paintings, striping and
lettering.  Often times the decoration was accented with gold and silver.
This was applied as a leaf.  In the case of gold, 23 karat gold was
used (24 k is pure gold) as it was much more resistant to tarnishing.

Real silver was never used as it would tarnish as soon as it hit the
air.  Instead, another material would be used, today this being
aluminum.  I'm not certain what they used at the turn of the 20th
century but possibly zinc or a similar soft white metal.

The facade was then finished with several coats of varnish or sometimes
a shellac-based clear coat.  The result was very glossy and with good
lighting -- such as in the referenced picture of Swoboda's Ruth Organ
-- it could look "porcelainized", but I assure you it was all done with
paint.  Finally, carved figures, made the same way of wood, were
applied to the front.  These could be either static or articulated such
as the bandleader and bell ringers.

These facades were generally produced by what today we would call
a "vendor" who supplied them to the organ manufacturers.  In the case
of the Swoboda Ruth, which was built in Waldkirch, Germany, Joseph
Dopp was a major supplier and probably carved the facade shown in the
picture.  Dopp supplied facades to Wilhelm Bruder Söhne, Gebruder
Bruder, Ruth and others in the Waldkirch region.  As a result, there
is some resemblance between these manufacturers even though the organs
were produced in separate factories.

Facades were done in many styles and the one on the Swoboda Ruth
is usually referred to as baroque or sometimes Louis XV.  It is
characterized by many curls and floral elements and some had a very
"organic" appearance to them.  The figures were carved to represent
cherubs and Greek and Roman gods and goddesses.

This general method of producing organ fronts was used both in Europe
and the USA although in the US there were a few more mass production
techniques applied.  Dance organs, street organs, fair organs, and
band organs all were essentially alike although differing in the final
appearance by using different decorating styles.

I hope this has been a bit enlightening.  I know many others of you
could have probably explained it better but I decided to give it a shot.

Regards,
Bob Conant
Bradenton, Florida