This reed organ is an Estey Model N parlor organ. It was intended of domestic use in, as the name suggests, the parlor. It dates from approximately 1899. This date is determined using the serial number on the sound board. The condition was such that the case needed to be stripped completely and refinished in French polish. The bellows and foundation board were badly infested with woodworm to the extent that they needed to be completely replaced. The upper action needed the usual treatment. This treatment comprised of cleaning everything, refinishing the sound board and replacing felt and leathers where necessary. To the left are some pictures of what the organ looked like before restoration.

Finials from the oil stands missing

The reed pan was very dirty. Looks like it had something spilled on it

The bushings in the coupler are in good condition so a cleaning will do

The bellows and bellows platform were extensively worm eaten. They both needed to be replaced

Extensive remains of the beetles who ate the organ bellows

Here we see the extra set of pallet valves for the Jenkinson’s Coupler reeds in the upper octave

Dirty pallet valves

Case repairs begin. Gluing it all back together

This is how I store the screws which come out of the organ. Draw a diagram on a card board box and punch the screws into it.

The bellows platform, being made from 18mm plywood, needed modification to serve its purpose. The original material was approximately 15mm. To use unmodified 18mm ply would leave the whole upper action raised in the case by 3mm. That’s a no go. So I routered out a chanel 3mm deep for the upper action to sit in. This is a solution I have used before when replacing a bellows platform and I find it works well.

What did the upper action need? Here’s a list:

Sound board cleaned, sanded and shellacked

Reed bed felt cleaned

Pallet valve guide pins polished

Pallet valves leather replacement

Mute leather replaced

Reeds ultrasonically cleaned

Swell shades sanded and shellacked and felt replaced

Coupler mechanisms cleaned and linkages re-bushed and graphited

Keyboard frame cleaned and guide pins polished

Keys re-bushed and felt replaced

All keys polished and levelled

Stop board rebuilt, including name board refinished

Finally the organ was tuned to A455(original tuning)

The case was diamantled, loose parts glued back in place and then prepared for refinishing. I used this organ to make videos on how to refinish a reed organ case. These can be viewed through the restoration videos tab under videos.

The upper case dismantled for refinishing

The panel over the pedals came apart completely. An easy fix

Cleaned coupler

New blocks and re-bushed linkages in the stop assembly. Note brass screws replacing original nails for ease of future repair

The bellows was replicated using 18mm birch plywood. This is much heavier than the original material but is much stronger. Given that it is so much heavier that the original material I modified the reconstruction slightly to include the use of hinges to help attach the middle board to the top part of the bellows since it also carries the full weight of the exhauster panels. This works well even though not true to the original construction. I used bellows cloth I obtained from Johnson Music Center in Mount Airy North Carolina. I have had it for a few years and was glad to get to use it. I like working with this material.