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MMD > Archives > October 2015 > 2015.10.04 > 05Prev  Next


Celestina Organette Rebuilding
By Craig Smith

Lyle,  The most likely problems would be holes in the bellows cloth
and/or defective valves.  Try this: put a piece of tape over all the
holes in the tracker bar.  Tip it on the left side so you can see the
bellows working.  Now, crank it about once per second and watch the
bellows.  A few turns and the bellows should blow up the reservoir.

When you stop cranking, the reservoir should slowly deflate over
several seconds.  If it does not inflate, or if it deflates quickly,
you probably have a hole or some bad valves, or a massive leak in
some joint.

If the bellows stays inflated, uncover a tracker bar hole and see if
you get any sound when you crank it.  Move the tape around and try
different holes.  This will give you an idea of whether the pallet
valves are okay.  If you get a few notes to play when all the holes are
covered, it could be stuck valves or (worse yet) leaks in the tracker
bar or air passages, which is bad news.

Good luck!

Craig Smith


(Message sent Sun 4 Oct 2015, 16:08:22 GMT, from time zone GMT-0700.)

Key Words in Subject:  Celestina, Organette, Rebuilding

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