This month, work started on rebuilding the two tremulants that are in bad shape. All of the remaining pieces that needed to be sprayed in the temporary spray booth were completed, including the decking. As soon as the finish dried, all of the puzzle pieces that make up the platform were assembled in place. Aside from two pieces that are screwed down, all other panels are removable for servicing the reservoirs underneath. It is really nice to be able to walk around on top now! Taking advantage of that decking, the 8’ Tibia offset was wired. Moving to the back of the chamber, the Ophicleide chests, racking and pipes were installed.
Temporary winding was removed from the glockenspiel (used for the Christmas program). With some newly located fishplates, the glockenspiel was moved forward and secured. Rubber cloth was purchased and with that, the back trap trunk was completed! While it was out, the front trunk also received new rubber cloth as the old material was wearing out and had several leaks. With the back trap trunk secured, a few holes were drilled for wind lines. This trunk is now getting wind fed from the front trunk and feeds the glockenspiel, base/kettle and snare drums. Towards the end of a very productive day, the diapason offset was put in place along with the associated racking and pipes. Finally, track lighting was extended to the back of the platform and along the back of the chamber so that the walkway behind the marimba could be properly lit.
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This month started out with repairing some Ophicleide pipes (bottom end of the Tuba) that had collapsed under their own weight (high lead content in the resonators). Instead of looking circular at the top, they looked like squished eggs. Thanks to my friend John Cornue, he was able to persuade them to retake their original form. This was a very interesting process to watch and certainly yet another artform. Thanks John!
With the rest of the lumber on hand, a temporary spray booth was constructed in the basement out of plastic sheeting and some fans out our future bedroom egress window. With those supplies, some staples and tape, we were able to create a negative pressure enclosure to spray in. The two large pieces of the platform that stay stationary were completed so the 8’ Tibia offset could be installed. Finally some more pipes! The second trap trunk was also constructed, along with racking for the Diaphone and Ophicleide as the originals did not come with the organ. Thanks to Zach for all of the help with these things! His table saw certainly isn’t a stranger to this project… Another few pieces missing were some metal fishplates. Fortunately, there is a metal fabrication shop near us that was able to make copies of an original. Finally, the three remaining buttons that took two months to get and another month to have engraved were delivered and installed in the console drawer. This month’s progress can be summarized by lumber, platform and marimba. During our last large work day in December, we came up with a shopping list for the remaining poplar boards to have milled and plywood needed for the platform. Badger Hardwoods of Walworth came to the rescue again for the milled poplar boards (to match Wurlitzer’s spec) and Alpine Plywood of Milwaukee supplied the one inch-thick aspen sheets. As you may expect, these were heavy, as is everything pipe organ!
A full day was spent cutting up the plywood into jigsaw puzzle pieces to cover the platform up. Each panel was made to fit tightly so as to not allow any sound out. With the exception of two panels, all are removable to service the reservoirs underneath. An additional sheet of plywood was cut up for the second trap trunk and another sheet was used for two walkboards. These will now need to be sanded and spray shellacked. Finally, it was decided that the marimba needed to be rebuilt the rest of the way, due to excessive wind leaks. Although some of the marimba was rebuilt before we got the organ, there were many pieces that remained on original leather, surrounded by an abundance of coal dust. The amount of pieces required to strike each marimba bar is simply amazing to me. Since the last update, a full day (until midnight if I recall correctly) was spent winding the remaining percussions and traps. Some additional wiring was needed for the crash cymbal, tap/roll cymbal and tambourine. A last minute “we should do this too” connection was the hi-hat. It was a long day but much was accomplished! After things were alive, a “short list” of things to fix was made with t-minus four days to go before our concert. When the fire gong and wood block pneumatics were re-leathered previously, there wasn’t enough leather put onto the secondaries, so they inflated but didn’t travel far enough to strike either the sheet of brass for the fire gong or the wood block. Releathering those proved very difficult as the wrong type of glue was used. One pneumatic took me over an hour to get the old stuff off and wood prepared for the new leather.
With those things working, the next thing I focused on was to make the sleigh bells work better (this is the season for those afterall!). Many needed valve adjustments and just about all needed new armatures (the old ones were very dirty). While I was this far in, all magnet caps were removed, port holes milled (to make them smooth) and all new armatures installed. Finally, reiteration contacts were wired in for the fire gong, castanets and tambourine. Although the sleigh bells have reiteration contacts on the action, I chose to use Uniflex to make these notes reiterate. Through the software, custom reiteration pulse timing can be set per note. Lower notes are pulsed longer, whereas higher notes are pulsed faster. Another plug for Uniflex! On December 9th, we welcomed 67 people for our second annual Christmas concert featuring Zach Frame at the console. Special thanks to Mike Jacklin and our neighbors, the Leep’s, for borrowing us padded folding chairs. To fit that many chairs in, we removed all the furniture in the music room, dining room table and pushed our large couch across the room. We were overwhelmed with the amount of food that was brought. At the end of the night, we were left with an entire island filled with various dishes. Thanks to everyone who brought something! What has become a tradition is the creation of an eCard consisting of a video recording of one of the songs played. Here is a link to this year’s video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wRtnFy4mNck This month, work was done to further regulate the accompaniment manual on the console. Although most keys were about right, there were little differences between them that made things look uneven across the whole manual. To level things out, a piece of aluminum “L” channel was purchased and cut down to fit on the manual. With a straight edge present, it was easy to make very small adjustments up or down to level things out. With that project behind me, the console should be ready for our December program!
Downstairs in the chamber, the glockenspiel, xylophone, toy counter and sleigh bells were wired. Although not installed yet, the rear toy counter spreader was made, wired and installed where the counter will be mounted. Both toy counters go to a 66 block (the only one in the whole installation!) for easy punch down patching of things. Two traps on the front toy counter consume a lot of current, and thus need another relay. Those things are the auto horn and enclosed siren. The organ actually has two sirens – one in the chamber and one in the tone chute. Together, it sounds like a full air raid is upon us… our son likes playing with those buttons. He will stand at the drawer, hold them and smile. Perhaps he will be an organist. Perhaps he will take up percussion. Back to the auto horn – this thing uses so much current and creates so much electrical noise, that I installed a separate power supply in the closet, just for it. The power supply has a voltage dial on it so you can dial things up or down to change the sound of the horn. The power supply is plugged into an outlet that was added on switched power (with the rectifiers). Next was the sleigh bell project. About half of the bells were on the wrong straps, so ringing individual notes sounded more like arguments than a single pitch. There was no easy way to fix this problem outside of taking each strap off, removing all the bells and using a tuner to find the pitch of each bell. Once figured out, the proper bells were re-attached to the straps and mounted back on the action. Although there are some bells missing due to being cracked or needing major tuning, there are plenty of bells to make a lot of noise with. Continuing to work our way down from the console to the floor… under deck lighting was installed so that the reservoirs would be lit up in case of future maintenance needs under the decking. LED tape was installed in aluminum housings with plastic diffusers. A toggle switch was installed near the back of the chamber, where you could enter the enclosed area. Finally, the entire chamber was given a good cleaning out and vacuuming. Although at the time of writing this article (11/15), the toy counter and percussions are not yet winded, that is the plan ahead of our December 9th program! Just outside the chamber in the tone chute, the magnet rail was installed on top of the stack for the upright player piano. Together with two 25-pair cables, an extension cord for the vacuum pump and vacuum line for a control panel gauge, a bundle of cable was made to feed that piano. Although the piano still needs some work to play from the organ, this was a good step in the right direction. Along with installing the magnet rail, two conductors were added on a terminal strip to drive the LED light that illuminates the inside “guts” of the piano, which is visible from above through the grills in the music room. This light turns on when the rectifiers are on. Finally, I’d like to thank Andy Meyer for mitering a post horn pipe to fit. Andy continues to do phenomenal work on what is more of an art than a science. More on that in a later update. Today brought us a new instrument to co-exist with the Wurtlizer within the music room. A Seeburg "KT Special" from 1927 (a year before the Wurlitzer was built). I submit this "update" as they are cousin instruments made in the same mechanical music era.
Beginning about 1910, reaching a manufacturing peak in the 1920's, and continuing until the early 1930's, the U.S. and some European countries designed and built coin-operated mechanical musical instruments for restaurants, bars, dance halls, and other types of parlors. They were usually built around a piano and one or more instruments such as xylophone, bells, organ pipes, and drums. They were operated by punched paper rolls with multiple tunes. Driven by electric motors, these machines contained large reciprocating pumps circulating air through long lengths of small tubes, through elaborate valves, and into tiny bellows controlling each piano note or other instrument or control. To attract attention, the machines had elaborate leaded glass fronts and fancy colored lighting. These machines were the forerunners of radio, jukeboxes, and other forms of musical entertainment. Besides offering musical enjoyment, they were money making machines for the proprietors gobbling up nickel after nickel. Captivated patrons were delighted to snappy popular tunes of the day and received hours of musical entertainment. Some machines had keyboards similar to upright pianos, but most were simply in large, elaborate cabinets. The Seeburg KT Special was introduced in 1924 and originally sold for $1,500. Marketed as "Ballroom Favorite”, it was designed to serve in places requiring the ultra-supreme in automatic orchestral development. The elimination of a keyboard reduced the instrument to convenient dimensions. The great depression of the 1930's and newer forms of entertainment such as radio and jukeboxes brought a rapid decline to these instruments during the 1930's and 1940's. By the 1950's, most had been cut up for scrap until few were left. As these are fairly rare, especially in this condition, a special thanks goes to my friend Paul Woelbing for making this acquisition possible. We look forward to sharing this machine and the music it makes with all who visit. October brought on many visual changes for the organ chamber. On October 17th, the decking structure was completed, percussion upright legs assembled and installed, along with the Xylophone, front toy counter, Sleigh Bells and Glockenspiel. The main reservoir also received legs to help support the spring tension. Next steps will be to wire and wind those things so they can be ready for Christmas!
Finally, more time was spent on the console, where each keyboard was regulated / contacts adjusted. The three swell coupler switches were also swapped out with new switches, as the originals were completely worn out. This month, a day was spent planning, measuring and cutting various pieces of lumber to make the decking that will be installed over the reservoirs. While the table saw was in use, cleat stock was also made, which will be put to good use as the construction process continues. As of the time of writing this update, one support and associated legs are standing in place that will support the deck (and everything on top of it).
Work was also done to complete wiring the drawer in the console. Spreaders were tucked into the console, taking the 30 gauge wire bundle from the drawer and transitioning it to 24 gauge wire to the Uniflex boards. The two-digit display (with 14 segments) each had to get a resistor wired in series between the output board pin and the individual segment. This was necessary to drop the voltage and current down to an acceptable level for the segments to function properly. Finally, the surf got some attention as when it was originally installed, it leaked wind very badly. After some investigation, it was determined that there was a screw hole that was stripped out, holding the piece of wood tight which covers the slot where the wind comes out when it is operating. The hole was drilled out and a dowel was installed along with some wood glue. After it had dried, the dowel was shaped on one side to match the slot. Then a pilot hole was drilled, screw reinserted and the unit reassembled. Back in its place between the Marimba levels, it no longer leaks and operates properly! This past month, the remainder of the manual chest winding was completed. Screw eyes were also located and installed under each reservoir so that the springs have something to attach to once ready to go.
Perhaps the largest accomplishment was actually upstairs at the console, where the right side drawer was installed! Thanks to Zach Frame for the assistance with this very tricky installation and to Neill Frame for use of his plunge router! The drawer is ultimately attached to the key desk using a long, threaded bolt with some washers. To ensure that the slide out drawer doesn’t travel too far right or left, a pin is inserted into the back side of the drawer that sticks up around ¾”. That pin rides in an arched groove in the bottom of the key desk. Felt was installed in the far extreme corners of the groove so that the drawer may have a soft landing when getting opened or closed. While we were at it, a second groove was cut in on the left side for the future left drawer, containing buttons for more traps (sound effects). We also installed the back box for the swell shoes. No more seeing through the opening and looking at little lights flashing from the console components. Finally, I’d like to thank my Dad for coming over and helping me with squaring up the blower room door and installing some trim! This past month, custom buttons were received from HESCO for the right drawer. These include controls for the second piano and other “important” things like the tuned beer bottles…
Speaking of the piano, I have wired in a 12 volt relay in the control cabinet to connect Uniflex to the vacuum pump relay. This pump will sit in and run the upright piano in the tone chute. It isn’t desirable to have the pump run all the time, so a button in the console drawer will activate the pump. Finally, the xylophone was gone through and wired up with a plug. I am now done pre-wiring percussions! |
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