New England Parlor Organ

Initial Condition

This organ was initially unplayable, but not in terrible shape. There was significant evidence of mice, and many felts and leather pieces were nibbled away.

Note that most of the images below are after the first round of fixes to the organ which made it playable, but not to the extent desired. As this was the first reed organ I worked on, much was learned in that first pass. For better detail on the restoration process, see one of the other organ pages.

Bellows

The bellows were redone using waterproof Vinyl upholstery material, as it was on-hand and seemed to work well. It is not authentic bellows cloth (for which they used a rubber-coated canvas material), but it did the trick.

Action

Each piece was taken apart and cleaned meticulously with felts replaced.

Reeds

The reeds were cleaned with warm water with dish soap and a fine/soft watercolor paint brush. This slightly improved their tone. More significantly, corrosion on the base of the reed was carefully scraped away (minding the tongue!) to resolve any buzzing noises.