Estey Junior Organ

Estey Organ Co.

Junior Organ, manufactured ca. 1939

Serial Number 450909 (in the range of 1937-41)
ROS # in Reed Organ Society Database
Matches Pedal Operated Junior Organ in 1939 catalog

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In addition to bringing this Estey Junior Organ back into playable shape, I added removable pneumatic tires and a handle for easier transportation around a college campus, as well as an electronic pickup setup for easier recording and possibly playing the instrument in a band with other musicians. The modification of adding the axle for the wheels may be difficult to reverse and is not consistent with the original design, but it will make the instrument more useful to me and help it reach broader audiences.

Initial Condition

The organ was in fairly good shape to begin with. The bellows cloth had become very brittle and full of cracks, and the straps connecting the treadles to the bellows were broken, as is common. Otherwise, it was mostly just dirty.

Initial Disassembly

Back cover removed, revealing the bellows

Top cover removed, revealing upper action

Removing keys after numbering them. A bobby pin (center) was, at some point, dropped into this instrument!

The bench, with the organ's innards sprawled about — The bench, with the organ’s innards sprawled about

Removing pallet valves for safe-keeping.

Removing reeds so they don't get damaged. — Removing reeds so they don’t get damaged.

Bellows

The bellows were re-done with a vinyl waterproof upholstery material that was on-hand. This material was affixed to the wood using Flex Paste and acrylic caulk.

Using water to make the hide glue release

Cleaning mildew and removing any remaining hide glue

New cardboard stabilizers for the exhausters

New vinyl exhauster cloths with stabilizers glued with contact cement

Encouraging the new exhauster cloths to fold as they should

Replacing the reservoir hinge with twill tape and hide glue

Preparing to glue the other side of the reservoir hinge (one board is suspended at a 90-degree angle to ease this process)

Inner exhauster valves (leather replaced by neoprene, with a piece of felt glued on to reduce oscillations)

Installing the reservoir cloth with Flex Paste and acrylic caulk, and many staples

Bellows all glued up, waiting for it to cure

Installing the torsion springs for the exhausters

Case

I modified the case to have a pair of removable pneumatic tires and a handle for easy transportation, as I intend to bring this organ to college with me. As I will need to be able to move it up and down stairs by myself, this modification will make the instrument far more useful to me and perhaps expose it to new audiences.

Otherwise, the case was knocked apart, cleaned with Murphy’s Oil Soap, and reassembled.

Building and installing clamp blocks to hold the axle for the wheels

Finished scraped away for gluing the clamp blocks (sacrilegious, I know!)

Case assembled with tires and added skid plates on the bottom edges

Upper Action

Filling cracks in the soundboard/reedpan

Cleaning each reed with a soft toothbrush and acid brush and reinstalling them

Pallet valves and new felt gasket installed

Assembly / More Upper Action

Installing the pitmans (they're very short on this organ, since the keyboard is built into the top of the reedpan) — Installing the pitmans (they’re very short on this organ, since the keyboard is built into the top of the reedpan)

Slots added so that the keyslip doesn't interfere with the keys (slight difference in bellows construction has moved the action by ~1/16 inch) — Slots added so that the keyslip doesn’t interfere with the keys (slight difference in bellows construction has moved the action by ~1/16 inch)

Case partially apart... The keyslip was too high, had to knock it apart and re-glue at a lower height. — Case partially apart… The keyslip was too high, had to knock it apart and re-glue at a lower height.

Case being glued back together (with hide glue)

Installing keys, checking their range of motion, turning railpins to reduce play (using original key bushings)

Keys installed, leaving leveling to another time (If I ever decide to get around to it)

Electronics

I build a phantom-powered differential piezo pickup preamp, largely based around the design by Alex Rice. This will give me more flexibility in recording the instrument and perhaps playing it in a band with other musicians.