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 Post subject: "Fantasia"
New postPosted: Wed Jul 20, 2011 7:24 pm 
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George asked me to let you all know how I am getting on with "Fantasia" (so you can blame him for this!)

The organ is at Ian Rogers' place in Cornwall still, and will be until the lorry has been serviced and pronounced fit for the road.
To this end, four new rear tyres have been fitted (gulp!), and a full service and a few odds and ends arranged with their local friendly HGV mechanic.

I went down to Ian's last weekend, and with his and James Dundon's help, we managed to get what was basically a non-playing instrument up and running. Well, sort of.

To start with, I had to remount the keyframe drive motor, as the (very oily) chain drive kept jumping off. This done, the books ran much more smoothly.
Next was to try to get the old girl to play, so James was allocated the task of 'organ feeder', whilst I stripped the wheels of rust and painted them gloss black. Dunno why I did that, but it looks as though someone cares for the lorry now.

After a fair while of book feeding, we started to notice a change in what was happening. (I should point out that previous to this, I had some Hammond Oil delivered to Ian from Andrew Pilmer, with instructions for it's use.
Oil? On a semi - electronic organ? Oh yes.
The Hammond tone generator is driven by an electric motor, which turns a shaft that disappears into a long, rectangular box. This is what needs the oil, as a symptom of lack of lubrication is a high pitched whine, and a dull droning noise through the speakers, both of which are present).
The difference was that the above noises were becoming less intrusive, and what's more, the actual notes being played were holding a true pitch (another symptom.....inability to hold a note). Also, the action was reacting more quickly than before, and was coping with runs and trills.

We discovered that the counter melody was very faint, so as it's electronically generated, checked the cables to and from the amp's, eventually finding that the volume had been turned right down.

Still, grovelling around on the floor between the organ 'front' and 'rear' cases enabled me to retrieve the valve that Ian had spotted rolling around on the floor earlier.
Not wanting to stick my fingers into a 'hot' box of electronics, we elected to wait until my next visit to see where it belongs. This missing valve is probably the reason why the accomp. doesn't play.

But even so, what is playing sounds really good....better once I'd found the tremulant puff sand made them work (by lifting them with a screwdriver!)

The key frame will need a thorough overhaul, as the keys are very flattened on their points, and there are other problems as well.

Keep the overtime coming, boss............

Alan

Post script: I am told by KF Editor Dave Smith (Sir!) that the first article on this organ will be appearing in the next issue.


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 Post subject: Re: "Fantasia"
New postPosted: Thu Jul 21, 2011 11:02 am 
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Joined: Sun Nov 15, 2009 10:07 am
Posts: 261
Location: Widnes,Cheshire,UK
Thanks for the update Alan sounds as if you are having fun.
Keep the progress reports coming, Hope the cost of renovation is within reason.
Nice to hear that you have got help from Ian and James, there seems to be a friendly and helpful group of Organ enthusiasts now in Cornwall.
Best of luck and Kind Regards.
George. :grinder:

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Regards,

George


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 Post subject: Re: "Fantasia"
New postPosted: Thu Aug 18, 2011 12:38 pm 
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Sounds like a 105 key Decap Dance organ to me!


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