Hello Friends,  I have been helping a family who bought this instrument
at auction, not knowing what they were in for and having never heard
it play.  It appears to be an old DeKleist band organ that was modified
to try to play Wurlitzer 150 rolls.

Both the vacuum pump and pressure pumps were full of holes from mice
before they got it; both pumps are newly re-leathered and working very
well now.

Two notes from the bass were stolen to play two extra piccolos on
the front.  Two trombones were stolen to play the top two trumpets.
Needless to say I have no idea why two-thirds of all the bass notes
were disabled.

The top two notes of the glockenspiel do not play -- I'm guessing
it's to try to transpose it down to play what the test roll says and
not what the organ was originally.  The glock did not need rebuilding,
so I'm not sure if there are two unused at the top of the range.  So,
the pipes and glock all play just a few cents below what is printed
on the roll scale, not the whole step low that they should.

The other issue is the trumpets.  They are fairly well made, but
they're plastic.  The reeds do not hold very well in the plastic and
rubber blocks, and at some point several tuning wires must have been
pushed down then pulled back up, since several of the reeds are kinked
or bent.  The family wonders about getting replacement brass trumpets
for the organ.

Then comes the next issue.  Behind the trumpets there is a 4' flute
playing with them.  This flute is in diatonic order, so the trumpets in
front of them play the wrong notes, unless they can be tuned regardless
of the resonator length.  I am also not sure that, after re-arranging,
these flutes will fit on the chest.

I am including a picture of the organ with the trumpet pipes labeled
as to the actual note they need to play to match the rest of the organ.
Re-tuning is not an option as most of the pipes have either had tuning
slots greatly exaggerated, or the pipes cut down to the new pitch.
I don't have a clue who did this or why, but it is what we are stuck
with.

So the question is, does anyone make new trumpets, and can they be made
to tune as shown in the picture?

Andy Struble

 [ http://www.mmdigest.com/Attachments/16/08/21/160821_162444_struble.jpg