Two nice new legs
I recently took delivery of two nice legs and two case caps for the Model O. The reed organ community is a very friendly and helpful community. A reed organ friend in Ohio put me in touch with a man who had an Estey Model O which was ready to give up its parts. He was happy to harvest the parts and ship them to me. I won’t be doing anything with them any time soon because it is a full core press on the upper action and the case is on hold at the moment but here are some pictures of the new parts.
The reed pan is now clean and a few loose joints are now sound. It has been sanded and now sports a fresh coat of French polish. This organ clearly spent time in a room with a coal fire and a chimney with a poor draw consequently a lot of greasy soot got sucked into every part of organ. Every cell had to be cleaned out with a small brush. This is normal in the restoration of one of these instruments.
I have a couple of sets of reeds cleaned with clock cleaning fluid already and reinstated over a nice bed of fresh red felt. I have also cleaned the pallet valves of their coat of soot and removed the old leather. The felt on the pallet valves is in good condition for ninety years old and will live to serve another many years.
Reed cleaning stuff
Filthy Pallet Valve