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.
Here are a few examples.
Left is Wurlitzer original, middle original with new coils and right newly manufactured magnet assembly.
In the main chest it's clearly written "STOCKHOLM STYLE E" with a blue text.
The main chest on its way to Johan's workshop
Restored Bottom Board
Assembly of Cathedral Chimes action after cleaning and new leather fitted.
Chrysoglott
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Glockenspiel, reassembly
Installation and adjustment of releathered bellows.
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.
Reassembly ot the Xylophone
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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.
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.
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.
After cleaning and releathering it looks like new.
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.
After disassembly, cleaning, releathering and new gaskets the result can be like this.
This is a combined Trumpet and String chest.
This is a combined Trumpet and String chest.
Consoles for swell shades in need of repair.
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Field repair of damper bellows for swell shades
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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!
Sometimes things were not correctly mounted. This is the xylophone. Problem was corrected before final assembly.
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
Air leakage. It's an indication of the air quality when the organ was installed in the theater.
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.
Page updated January 23, 2021