Mechanical Music Digest  Archives
You Are Not Logged In Login/Get New Account
Please Log In. Accounts are free!
Logged In users are granted additional features including a more current version of the Archives and a simplified process for submitting articles.
Home Archives Calendar Gallery Store Links Info

End-of-Year Fundraising Drive In Progress. Please visit our home page to see this and other announcements: https://www.mmdigest.com     Thank you. --Jody

MMD > Archives > September 2008 > 2008.09.23 > 02Prev  Next


Rebuilding Aeolian Orchestrelle Style D
By Tom DeLay

I recently acquired a style D Aeolian Orchestrelle player organ.
The instrument plays fairly well though it will need some restoration.
The tubing from the "manual" up to the channeling leading to the
tracker bar and then to the keyer pneumatics was redone in surgical
tubing and is about as would be expected: sticky and rotten.

The main keyer pneumatics are roughly 3/4" wide and 4" to 5" long.
These are presently recovered in thin tan pneumatic leather.  Is
this the normal covering method for these Orchestrelle pneumatics?
Were they originally covered in pneumatic cloth or leather?

I want to do the job correctly and, when I see surgical tubing in use,
I wonder what else might be wrong.  The small pneumatics inside the
chest are magnificently done and work fine.

The thin tan pneumatic leather is about at the end of its life with
two failures, the lowest and highest notes of the manual.

Tom DeLay
Salinas, California


(Message sent Tue 23 Sep 2008, 06:36:20 GMT, from time zone GMT-0700.)

Key Words in Subject:  Aeolian, D, Orchestrelle, Rebuilding, Style

Home    Archives    Calendar    Gallery    Store    Links    Info   


Enter text below to search the MMD Website with Google



CONTACT FORM: Click HERE to write to the editor, or to post a message about Mechanical Musical Instruments to the MMD

Unless otherwise noted, all opinions are those of the individual authors and may not represent those of the editors. Compilation copyright 1995-2024 by Jody Kravitz.

Please read our Republication Policy before copying information from or creating links to this web site.

Click HERE to contact the webmaster regarding problems with the website.

Please support publication of the MMD by donating online

Please Support Publication of the MMD with your Generous Donation

Pay via PayPal

No PayPal account required

                                     
Translate This Page