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Hi all, I'm new here:
I recently acquired an Estey folding organ (you know, the ones covered in green Tolex and used for the military). I've had to do some basic repairs and I feel like I've got a pretty good understanding of how it works.
When I pump it down, I'm not sure whether it's leaking back up faster than normal or at a normal rate. When I stop pedaling I can hear air leaking into the accumulator bellows, but I can't figure out where it's coming from . So question one: on one of these little folding organs, how long should one note sustain without pumping? Or is there a better way to tell whether air leakage is excessive?
Sources of leakage: the individual valves? I've inspected all of them and they look good, well aligned to the slots, leather soft. I re-glued some of them where the ends of the leather and felt were coming loose. No cracking on any of them. I don't have anything to compare against, but the key forces all seem consistent implying I don't have any weak springs. Should I continue to consider this?
The big plywood sheet that all the action's mounted to and which mounts to the top of the accumulator bellows has a felt gasket all round. This felt LOOKS OK to me, it's all present, not moth eaten, seems still somewhat resilient. Is it likely that this needs to be replaced?
I inspected all three of the actual bellows and I didn't see any obvious cracks or holes. What's the chance that there's significant air leakage even though a basic visual inspection doesn't show anything? Should I look for holes/cracks/etc using a bright light in a dark room?
Bellows valves: The valves for the accumulator bellows are only accessible by pulling off the exhauster bellows, which means a lot of work. I can reach though the holes (approx. 1.5" diameter and touch the leather with my finger, when I've got the action board off. To my eye it looks like the leather's seated against the surface where it's supposed to be, and it feels soft. What's the probability that I need to get in there?
Exhauster bellows valves: These are on the bottom and I could get to them pretty easily - it seems, however, that their main effect would be to make it harder to pump down the accumulator bellows, rather than causing it to leak up too fast. Again the leather seems to be soft and to lay well against the sealing surface. Is there something I ought to be looking at there beyond just the visual inspection?
Finally - reeds: I have taken them all out, cleaned them up and vacuumed out the various dust etc our of the air passages. All the reeds seem somewhat slow speaking but since this is the first and only reed organ I've played I don't know if they're normal or not. Any ideas how to judge?
Thanks for reading this, if you made it to the bottom. Look forward to hearing suggestions from those more experienced. Please do keep in mind this is the simple Estey portable folding field organ so it amy be that experience with the great big organs may or may not be applicable.
I recently acquired an Estey folding organ (you know, the ones covered in green Tolex and used for the military). I've had to do some basic repairs and I feel like I've got a pretty good understanding of how it works.
When I pump it down, I'm not sure whether it's leaking back up faster than normal or at a normal rate. When I stop pedaling I can hear air leaking into the accumulator bellows, but I can't figure out where it's coming from . So question one: on one of these little folding organs, how long should one note sustain without pumping? Or is there a better way to tell whether air leakage is excessive?
Sources of leakage: the individual valves? I've inspected all of them and they look good, well aligned to the slots, leather soft. I re-glued some of them where the ends of the leather and felt were coming loose. No cracking on any of them. I don't have anything to compare against, but the key forces all seem consistent implying I don't have any weak springs. Should I continue to consider this?
The big plywood sheet that all the action's mounted to and which mounts to the top of the accumulator bellows has a felt gasket all round. This felt LOOKS OK to me, it's all present, not moth eaten, seems still somewhat resilient. Is it likely that this needs to be replaced?
I inspected all three of the actual bellows and I didn't see any obvious cracks or holes. What's the chance that there's significant air leakage even though a basic visual inspection doesn't show anything? Should I look for holes/cracks/etc using a bright light in a dark room?
Bellows valves: The valves for the accumulator bellows are only accessible by pulling off the exhauster bellows, which means a lot of work. I can reach though the holes (approx. 1.5" diameter and touch the leather with my finger, when I've got the action board off. To my eye it looks like the leather's seated against the surface where it's supposed to be, and it feels soft. What's the probability that I need to get in there?
Exhauster bellows valves: These are on the bottom and I could get to them pretty easily - it seems, however, that their main effect would be to make it harder to pump down the accumulator bellows, rather than causing it to leak up too fast. Again the leather seems to be soft and to lay well against the sealing surface. Is there something I ought to be looking at there beyond just the visual inspection?
Finally - reeds: I have taken them all out, cleaned them up and vacuumed out the various dust etc our of the air passages. All the reeds seem somewhat slow speaking but since this is the first and only reed organ I've played I don't know if they're normal or not. Any ideas how to judge?
Thanks for reading this, if you made it to the bottom. Look forward to hearing suggestions from those more experienced. Please do keep in mind this is the simple Estey portable folding field organ so it amy be that experience with the great big organs may or may not be applicable.