THE SKANDIA ORGAN
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  • The Skandia Theater
    • The Organ arrives
    • Organists playing at Skandia
  • Beginning of a Project
  • The Restoration
    • Various parts
    • Main 7-rank chest
    • The Console
    • Pipes
    • The Relay
    • The Reaktor Hall
  • Coming Events
  • About us
    • Contact Form
  • Useful links

Various parts

A common question is how to get spare parts for a 100-year-old instrument. There are companies that manufacture vital new parts like magnets
Here are a few examples.

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Left is Wurlitzer original, middle original with new coils and right newly manufactured magnet assembly. Photo by Per-Olof Schultz.
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In the main chest it's clearly written "STOCKHOLM STYLE E" with a blue text. Photo by Per-Olof Schultz.​

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The main chest on its way to Johan's workshop. Photo by Per-Olof Schultz.
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Restored Bottom Board. Photo by Per-Olof Schultz.
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Assembly of Cathedral Chimes action after cleaning and new leather fitted. Photo by Per-Olof Schultz.
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Chrysoglott. Photo by Per-Olof Schultz.
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Glockenspiel, reassembly. Photo by Per-Olof Schultz.
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Installation and adjustment of releathered bellows. Photo by Per-Olof Schultz.
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Many inserts had come loose during disassembly. We opted to installing new, modern inserts with M6 screws with 10mm hex head. We never aimed for museum quality so we had no hesitation installing metric screws. Photo by Per-Olof Schultz.
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Reassembly ot the Xylophone. Photo by Per-Olof Schultz.
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Example of original wiring. This was done in a hurry, no time to trim wire ends. Signs of cold solder as well. Photo by Per-Olof Schultz.
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One chest, the 7 note Diapason, was missing. Due to a stroke of luck such a chest happened to be available in England .
It was donated to us, courtesy of Mr. John Abson.
The original installation (Gaumont New Cross) was in a cinema close to a busy railway station which was quite obvious when the chest was taken apart. A smell of coal and oil was still present. 
Photo by Per-Olof Schultz.​

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After cleaning and releathering it looks like new. Photo by Per-Olof Schultz.​

Pictures below can be enlarged by clicking. There were many magnet caps with broken dags. All of them were repaired using the method described here. This particular magnet  is part of the swell shade action. Photos by Per-Olof Schultz.
Example of a bad repair.
Removal of broken dags using a tube type drill.
Holes drilled, plugs installed. Ready for new dags.
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After disassembly, cleaning, releathering and new gaskets the result can be like this.
This is a combined Trumpet and String chest. 
Photo by Per-Olof Schultz.​

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Consoles for swell shades in need of repair. Photo by Per-Olof Schultz.
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Field repair of damper bellows for swell shades. Photo by Per-Olof Schultz.
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This message was found inside a swell shade motor. I couldn't read all of it but it ends with "I love you". Hope everything went well! Photo by Per-Olof Schultz.
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Sometimes things were not correctly mounted. This is the xylophone. Problem was corrected before final assembly. Photos here and below by Per-Olof Schultz.
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Damage, probably caused by improper storage.
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Solder blob. I left it as is since the coil is OK.
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Ugly solder. Probably not done by Wurlitzer but caused later
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This shows some misalignment of the valves. It's the Cathedral Chimes. This was very clean inside which would indicate little use. Problem was corrected before reassembly
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Air leakage. It's an indication of the air quality when the organ was installed in the theater.
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This was a strange problem. The note to the left had no armature! See closeup in the right picture
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Judging from the amount of dirt the armature had been missing a long time. It's the F# on the 12 note Flute offset. No cipher though.
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Representative example of the original cables. We didn't even try to use them. But we sold the cables as copper scrap. Copper prices were high.
Continue 7-rank chest

Page updated September 8, 2024
  • Home
  • The Skandia Theater
    • The Organ arrives
    • Organists playing at Skandia
  • Beginning of a Project
  • The Restoration
    • Various parts
    • Main 7-rank chest
    • The Console
    • Pipes
    • The Relay
    • The Reaktor Hall
  • Coming Events
  • About us
    • Contact Form
  • Useful links