Final testing
While others were fussing around the organ I was trying to concentrate on the
tubing of the main action. Any mistakes would further delay the completion of
the job. We were working frantically to get the organ ready for its public debut,
but the complete absence of time for final tuning and prolonged testing was
very worrying.
Although the heading above is "Final Testing", that never took place. A few books of music were put through the keyframe, accompanied by a steadily increasing number of ciphers (unwanted continuous playing of notes). I believe these were caused by the afore-mentioned sticking keyframe levers, and one lone baritone action mis-behaving. This latter was cleared by simply pulling its action tube out, curing the symptom. At this stage there was nothing else I could have done. The cure of the cause would have meant removing the baritone case from the front of the organ for access to the bottom of the chest.
Also, I realized that the springs on both drums and glockenspiel beaters were not being stretched to their fullest extent. At the outset, with six reservoir springs the wind pressure was not enough to raise the reservoir. The blower had been on the organ since the early 1990s, so should have been adequate for the job. I removed two of the springs to lower the applied pressure to 9½ inches w.g., which was about right, so the obvious remedy now was to decrease the percussion spring tensions. This was quickly done with the drum springs, but to get at the glockenspiel would have necessitated accessing the back of the baritone case as mentioned above.
The ultimate solution, according to the Atkinson crew later, was to fit a more powerful blower. Whether or not the reservoir was reverted to six springs is unknown to me, but if that was the case, the resulting pressure would have been too much for the re-adjusted pipework, with possible unstable speech.
Despite its problems the organ attended the Great Dorset Steam Fair at Blandford, where the restored bandmaster was fitted. Click here for pictures of the work done on the bandmaster action. I am still waiting for its return to the yard for completion of the job.
Watch this space for further developments... Epilogue now added, August 2007
The completed side wings were reunited with the organ at Old Warden a week after the GDSF finished. However, the panels on the wings were not accepted (see picture at the head of this page) and have now been repainted.
Now, two years on - the organ has not returned, although it has been worked on by Graham's own staff and helpers. It now plays very well, and is well-received wherever it appears.
My story ends with some final comments from a few organ enthusiasts, click here.