Barn-Fresh Estey Philharmonic(?)

[Mr. Polecat]

Being a continuation of this thread: https://organforum.com/forums/forum/...ify-this-estey ,
but with a more descriptive title, and more focused on getting it working rather than figuring out what it is.

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Hoooo boy oh boy, this thing is bad. Lol.




Supposedly this thing belonged to Dixie Lee, but there is of course no paperwork to verify that providence. :P

It's apparently done some traveling, though.




... During which time someone nailed the lid on.



(Continued)

[Mr. Polecat]

Bass/Treble break is E/F below middle-C.

Here's the Melodia (bass) high E reed. Looks to be about 3/16" tongue, a hair less than 1/2" frame. Is this a philharmonic reed?


Diapason (treble) low F reed. Looks about the same to me.


Diapason high E reed. High F was corroded and stuck in there, so I pulled this one instead.


Chorale reed from about the middle. Note the different riveting.


Low-C sub-bass reed. It has a 13-note sub-bass, C to C.


(Continued)

[Mr. Polecat]

Someone "fixed" this mute with little brass hinges. Thanks, buddy! -_-


Can't make out much on the tag. It's stained with soaked-in soot. I can barely make out what I think is a "1" and a "4" penciled in the second space, which make me think maybe this is a "114 model" Philharmonic?


This is stamped on the frame though. Serial number?


Broken sub-bass linkage.


Missing grand organ swell. :(


(Continued)

[Mr. Polecat]

Apparently the top was once hinged, before it was nailed down. It doesn't look like the Estey factory work, though, at least from what I've seen on Casey's youtube channel.


17 stops.





(Continued)

[Mr. Polecat]

Numbers written on keys. I wonder if it's a melody-by-the-numbers. :3


The Melodia/Diapason reeds are in the middle, under a removable mute, pointing to the rear. Note the space between them.


Looking in on the 4' flute reeds. They are in the front under the keyboard, facing the front.


Looking down on the Bourdon/Basset mutes. They are in the middle, under the same removable mute, facing the front.


Looking in from the back at the Chorale reeds and the spot where the sub-bass box goes. Chorale reeds are in the rear, facing back. Sub-bass reeds face up, of course.


Still trying to figure out how to get the front off so I can get at the exhausters.....

Videos, at least until my phone got full. Please pardon the horrible playing. I was pumping as hard as I could and trying to hold the hymnal open in my lap. That's my excuse, anyway!

[SubBase]

That is indeed a large-scale Philharmonic, restored and owned one very similar, slight cabinet differences. The missing hinges had L-shaped pins so they could be pulled easily, as on a grand piano lid. And the gap between the bass and treble sides. It's a huge restoration job, but worth it for the full, rich, velvety, organ-like sounds that it has. These are the very best reeds made in the US. When you see how they made the bellows, you will gasp, and so will your wallet. Three flap valves per exhauster, and they are huge panel-and-frame construction, sealed with leather inside. Varnished outside. Like a work of art.

[Mr. Polecat]

Oh my. I hope this isn't beyond me. I would hate to ruin a fine instrument through my ignorance.

On the other hand, it's already pretty bad, so....

If I wasn't just a dumb farmer, I might try to get you to restore it for me, but quite honestly I should really put that money into fixing my house lol. I think that given the time and persistence, I can fix *what is there*, but sussing out how the missing stuff is supposed to be made may be tough. If I don't make things exactly the right lengths, the mutes will be opening the wrong amount and best case the sound will be unbalanced or worst case I'll tear a hinge or mess up a spring or something.........

The cosmetic condition of the cabinetry is also extremely poor. There's nothing rotted out or anything, at least not that I've found yet (it didn't really come out of a barn, that was just a turn of phrase, haha). But given the stickers on the back and the scuffed and splintered stuff on every corner and protuberance, I think there's a pretty good chance that it lived a pretty rough life as a touring instrument before it retired in Charlottesville. Apparently it lived in this same house since sometime in the 1950s. The husband died, it was his organ, the wife sold the house, and the organ came with the house and the new owners just wanted to be rid of it.

For me, I think the most difficult part will be the cosmetic restoration. I mean, with the insides restored it'll play fine, and I guess that's what counts in the end, so maybe I should just let it be ugly. But I do have some antique walnut panels salvaged from a Putnam organ that a local bozo turned into a liquor bar, that I think could be used to make a new top and maybe splice in some new wood around some edges where the worst of the splits and chips are. But that's way outside of my wheelhouse. I'd have to pay an antique furniture restoration guy to do it right, and again I'm just a dumb farmer. :P

In a way, maybe it's a good thing that the cabinet is so bad. Perhaps if I don't have to worry too much about not modifying anything, I can leave the music desk and the top grille off, and make a shelf there to put a digital piano. That would be easier to play simultaneously than my current setup of having an organ and piano at right angles to each other, and twisting around on the bench while trying to pump.

[Mr. Polecat]

PS: How does the front come off, to get to the exhausters? I can't find any screws to take out like my 1914 Parlor Organ has. All I can find are a couple that are at awful right angles up underneath the treadles, and surely those aren't what come out first..... Surely the key bed doesn't have to come out to get in there?

[SubBase]

When I got mine from Nelson Pease, it was a pile of parts in one of his storage rooms. And glass jars of screws. I had it assembled in an hour. It's very simple once you break it down.
For inspiration, here is Marilyn Swett playing it at the 2004 ROS gathering. You can appreciate the tone quality. It ended up at Ithaca College Music School, part of Cornell University. This was the organ upon which the legendary organist John Weaver opined "this has the best lungs of any organ, pipe or reed, I have ever played". So fix those bellows right! This is worthy of your best efforts.
https://youtu.be/yJ9o6T9INTU

[Mr. Polecat]

Hey folks. Trying to figure up a bill of materials and make a plan, and it's turning up a few questions.

Does it matter if I use chrome tan leather for some of the valves and gaskets? I have a huge box full of thin chrome tan leather that would be nice to use up some of. I know the chemicals in chrome tan are bad for metal, but I've never used it with wood. What types and weights of leather do you guys use for the various parts?

I still haven't figured out how the front comes off, heh. I guess the action does have to come out of this thing to get to the exhausters? I was going to do a temporary fix on the exhauster valves and play it a little before tearing it all the way down, but if I have to tear it all down anyway then I might as well just get on with the project!

Do y'all do anything for rust prevention on the various metal bits and bobs, beyond wire brushing and rubbing a little oil on? I've been thinking that one might cold- or torch-blue screws, coupler arms, etc. Or brown them and dip in phosphoric acid to produce a rust-proof coating. Or even powder-coat and bake certain parts (more on that below), if one was going for function in lieu of complete historical accuracy.

I assume that a dry graphite lube is recommended for wood-on-wood and wood-on-metal bearing surfaces?

I've also been thinking a bit about historical restorations vs restorations using some modern materials (on the inside, where they won't be seen)............

For example, I have some sheets of very slick, very durable teflon-plastic stuff that I use in some of the crop processing equipment, that are exactly the right thickness for making replacements for the little forks in some of the various stop linkages. Some of those are broken, so I might experiment a bit.... It might make for very slick stop action. Likewise, I wonder if one could bake a teflon powder-coat onto the coupler arms and metal linkage parts, and improve the action thusly. That would be a harder experiment to reverse if it didn't work out well, though!

Steinway experimented with teflon bearing surfaces in some of their pianos once upon a time, and everyone hated it! But honestly I couldn't tell any difference. What do y'all think about historical accuracy vs modern materials?

For the missing bracket to mount the grand organ knee swell, I think I will try to replicate the intact one off the other side, with aluminum, using sand-casting. I've never tried to cast with aluminum, but surely it can't be much different than with lead........... I just don't have the equipment to cast iron/steel, though if worst comes to worst I am confident that I can weld something up and grind it to shape. It just won't exactly match the shape of the existing one if I do that. Likewise, the way the existing one is shaped, I think it would be impossible to exactly replicate it on a mill. At least with my hick-farmer-level machinist skills!

Sorry about all the dumb questions. I know y'all have better things to do, haha. This is waaaay more involved than my parlor organ was, though, and I kinda want to make sure I do it just right.......

Thanks, folks! :D

[SubBase]

IIRC,the bellows come out from the back after you disassemble everything else, mine from 1894 had no front access, though the 1906 one did have a full-width removable "trap". The sliding stop parts work in felt-lined traces. Candle wax on the wood and polish it with fine steel wool, there should be no friction. The metal parts in these esteys were all steel with a copper plating. Copper plating is easy to do at home.If the surface of the metal still looks good once you clean it, I use paste was like Butcher's on the metal, buffs out really smooth. As for the knee swell hinge, you can find these on ebay, the paddle with hinges, quite regularly.

[Organfella]

Hi and thank you for all the pictures and comments. Glad you got the old gal home but also a bit sad that she apparently had a rough life. However, like old folks, these old ones can stand it and should be preserved at leased to comfortable playing condition. You sound much like myself - not a cabinet maker by any means and if the thing makes beautiful sounds, I tend to be happy and leave the rest be. Of course if the outside is an eyesore I might patch it up a little but it is really the insides that matters.
I do not have too much knowhow about Esteys but to get the front panel off look for obscure screws, latches, slides or anything. It does not seem logical to have to remove the action to get the front off... On some organs the middle of the front panel slides upwards to reveal the treadle straps and exhausters. But as I say, the Estey is not all that well known to me. Perhaps Casey has overlooked your question. He will surely guide you better.
Don't put yourself down as a farmer - you folk keep all the others eating and often have to make do with very little to make things work around the farm. Fixing machinery, mending gates, fences and pumps - mending all those things takes a lot of planning and energy. Keep at it, you will not be sorry.
Luck!
Nico

[Mr. Polecat]

I am documenting the restoration of this instrument on one of my YouTube channels (mostly to help myself put it back together again later, haha). I'll keep posting the videos to this thread, in case any of y'all are interested in following along with my blunders. I'd certainly appreciate any suggestions!

Here's the first one. I'll encode the second one directly. Since this one, I have it stripped down to the wind chest, but I haven't gotten the wind chest separated from the frame yet.

[Mr. Polecat]

PS: I have a set of keys off a Putnam organ.

I'd like to remove the ivorine bits from those keys and use them to replace the broken bits on the Philharmonic keys.

What is the best way to get the tops off the keys, intact?

[SubBase]

Table saw, with the wood against the fence, then use a sharp scraper or hand-sanding to get off the rest of the wood fibers.

[Mr. Polecat]

Mmh, good idea. Thank you, sir!

[Mr. Polecat]

PPS: Is there any particular trick to getting the broken bits off the old keys without mangling anything too badly? I assume gentle application of a sharp wood chisel in front will pop them off in a couple of pieces, kinda the same as accidentally breaking the tops off piano keys?

My understanding is that the ivorine is made of nitrocellulose, so I assume I don't want to try to take it off with a power sander.... Heh.

[Mr. Polecat]

Down to the wind chest now. The wind chest is still not out of the frame (been busy with t-day stuff), but I find it peculiar that the top of the wind chest is made of so many panels, sealed with leather, rather than a single sheet!! Perhaps spruce plywood wasn't a thing in 1889?

[SubBase]

The crack is probably the mark from the marking gauge used to position the screw pilot holes.
You can call them pitmans or pitman rods.
Vacuum the assemblies before you pull them, you need to do it anyway. A toothbrush helps to get the old dust loose.

No! the long screws do not hold the reed cells down. Never attempt to remove the reed cells, they are permanently glued to the foundation. Those screws just hold the swell supports.

The long thin strips of wood on the 8ft and 4ft are the "dolce effect" rails. The bass stops used a different hinged type of dolce strip. I have pics of all this for you.

The flathead screws are across the front so you can remove reeds easier, and the sells close on a flush surface.

The pallet felt and leather is probably still serviceable. You cannot buy that felt any longer, it is angora wool.

Casey

[SubBase]

This is the hinged dolce effect rail over the bass 4ft in front, the one for the bass 8ft is the same. Yours were ripped off and discarded. It's a thin leather hinge under the wood bits. The rear face of the wood is angled so that when the dolce stop is opened, the mute opens but the felted edge of the rail remains on the soundboard. As the full stop is drawn, the angle meets the mute and lifts the dolce rail clear of the sound board so the volume is greater, which you can see below, labeled Diapason Mute.



.
Here, the melodia stop is shown open all the way; when the dulciana is drawn, the mute opens so the leather edge is in contact (or proximity) to the dolce rail. Notice how well the Estey shellacked woodwork cleans up with some windex, steel wool, and finally paste wax.

[Mr. Polecat]

Oh nice. Thank you very much! That explains a lot.

So, there is no swell shade over your Chorale reeds either? Or is it just removed in your picture? It looks to me like mine is supposed to have a swell shade there, lifted by a little metal rod in the far left corner (as you are facing the organ from the back). Then it looks like there is probably supposed to be a linkage on top of that swell shade that also opens the 16' swell shade on the removable swell box thing.

Man you weren't kidding about those billows and exhausters!!! It's a heck of a thing, haha!

Thanks again for all your advice!!! I don't think I'd be able to do this correctly without it.

PS: It looks like there are a couple of broken image links at the top of this post? Forum attachments that failed or something it looks like. I'm bladamson at gmail dot com if you want to email them.

Happy turkey day!