Have I bitten off more that I can chew this time?
Is it possible to bite off more than you can chew where a restoration is concerned? The answer has to be yes. There is no way I could have done my last two restorations as my first restorations ten years ago. They would have confounded me and been beyond my ability to restore. Of course experience teaches much and I have had some of that over the years. It is not just experience which teaches however, I have had the benefit of the advice of other enthusiasts on the Yahoo! Restoration group. Many times I would have had languish in frustration unable to complete a restoration with out them.
The most instructive teachers are of course the organs themselves. They give up their secrets very easily and only ask to be dismantled and thoroughly understood in return. They demand that each movement of every linkage is followed to the end so that it can be clearly seen what was intended by the builder.
Have I taken on too much this time? I have just bought a Doherty Cathedral model organ which is quite the basket case. It will be a marathon restoration which will happen years into the future.
Here is a link to some pictures. (Click on Doherty Cathedral below.) You can judge for yourself if I have taken on too much this time!