Pictures and information about the chamber build in the Reaktor Hall.
We had no idea about how the percussion tower was looking when the organ was in the theater. Most of the mounting lumber was gone. The solution was the Internet. I put out some questions and got a lot of pictures. With help of these we built up a percussion tower to what we thought it once looked like. |
Restoration of swell shades.
The shades had been shortened for some reason when the organ was installed in the City Hall. The original installation in the Skandia theater only had one set of shades.
New longer ones were manufactured by Tamano AB.
The shades had been shortened for some reason when the organ was installed in the City Hall. The original installation in the Skandia theater only had one set of shades.
New longer ones were manufactured by Tamano AB.
Now it is 2014 and after nine years it's time to power up. A huge job in front of us, make sure everything works and that it sounds like a Wurlitzer. Over the years I have discussed with Wurlitzer people around the world and they all seem to agree: "You absolutely need a separate Tibia trem". Our position was, let's leave it original, at least for the time being. We have here in Sweden several skilled organ builders but none knows how a theatre organ should sound like. During the restoration process I had been in contact with Len Rawle, MBE, and we asked him to come over and assist us.
A lot of adjustments had to be done. One was of course tuning. For this we engaged an expert to do the work.
Magnus Blix at the console.
Magnus Blix at the console.
Improvements. New!
Over the years we have been advised that our little Wurlitzer absolutely needs a separate tibia tremulant, but we have decided to keep the disposition, only two trems, Vox and Main. There are few original small Wurlitzers left and we think it’s worthwhile keeping it original.
We have done a couple of improvements lately, the siren was barely audible due to the placement in a corner. That was necessary since the siren is part of the Sleigh Bells and assembly is in its original place on a wind trunk.
We took a bell from a trumpet and mounted the siren in the bell and a hose from the original outlet and placed the bell in a better place. Various bells provided by Lars Gerdt AB.
We have done a couple of improvements lately, the siren was barely audible due to the placement in a corner. That was necessary since the siren is part of the Sleigh Bells and assembly is in its original place on a wind trunk.
We took a bell from a trumpet and mounted the siren in the bell and a hose from the original outlet and placed the bell in a better place. Various bells provided by Lars Gerdt AB.
The other improvement had to do with the swell shades. The operation has been somewhat irregular and required regular maintenance. I removed the contact assembly and found that some contacts had become loose resulting in bad contact.
I decided to buy a complete new assembly with reed contacts from Arndt Organ Supply. This was very easy to install, two screws required (included), one to mount the magnet assembly and the other to mount the PC board. No drilling and tapping required.
I decided to buy a complete new assembly with reed contacts from Arndt Organ Supply. This was very easy to install, two screws required (included), one to mount the magnet assembly and the other to mount the PC board. No drilling and tapping required.