Organ Update July 2021

This past month, work continued with rebuilding the four rank Wurlitzer chest. WOW, there are so many parts… Magnets are all being removed, tested, re-gasketed and re-installed. My assistant, Eleanor, helps with the process by removing all of the old gaskets and testing the magnets with an ohmmeter to ensure they are good to get reinstalled.

Substantial work has been done with wiring up the control panel and VFDs. The goal is to finish up all of the things within the walls so the drywall can be installed. When that is complete, the massive pile of organ parts can make their way from one side of the basement to the other!

The upright piano has a vacuum action in it which requires a vacuum pump to operate. The one that I had on hand was a rigged shop vac pump that was extremely noisy and smelt of ozone as soon as it was switched on. A new pump was ordered and arrived this past month. It has a potentiometer on it for controlling motor speed (suction). It operates quiet enough to just place in the base of the piano. This was a win and allowed me to cross off running another pipe from the blower room.

Finally, the projector arrived. Although it fit in the projector alcove, there wasn’t enough height to tilt the projector down. Out came “Sammy” sawzall… The projector alcove is now 16” taller, which leaves plenty of room for tilting the projector, heat dissipation and extra traps!! After all, there is a wind line that runs up there…  The project was successful overall despite dropping Sammy while walking in the attic. The blade went right through the ceiling over the kitchen table. Yes, my wife was in the kitchen at the time and I might have gotten in a small amount of trouble!

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