Reflections of a Canadian Churchman

As mentioned in a previous post, when the organ was at Jan and Bill's place, I only had my old Blackberry with me and the picture quality was not great.  Now that we have the organ in Dad's workshop, we decided to take some photos with his Nikon camera.  Now, one thing you should know is that photography is not amongst the Churchman's greatest gifts. At any rate, the should give you an idea of what the organ looks like and some of its interesting, and quite lovely features. Here is a view of the keyboard with the keyboard cover opened.  It is quite a nice presentation. Here are a few close up shots.  You will note that the instrument is a C-C instrument with 61 keys. Many keyboards are F-F.  The front of a few of the keys are missing and all the white keys are quite yelloed and dirty. The black keys are in quite good shape, though.  No splits or breaks on them.  A few are a bit scratched, but generally look quite good. ...

Last time, I promised a post on the resources that we would be using to restore our Mason and Hamlin reed organ.   I got a little behind on that and we have now begun work on the organ, so here is a little “catch-up” post with the promised information. One of the gurus of reed organs was the late Robert Gellerman.   Gellerman has a very useful book entitled, The American Reed Organ and Harmonium , which not only gives instruction on reed organ restoration, but includes a detailed history of the American reed organ.   He also has a detailed chapter on tuning, as well as designs for organ benches, stop face fonts, and much more.   Gellerman also is the compiler of the Reed Organ Atlas , which is a directory of reed organ manufacturers, where they were located, and known serial numbers by years.   It is a very helpful resource for identifying and dating the old reed organ in the church basement or in the attic of the proverbial “Aunt Maude.” A book that ...

Restoring a Reed Organ – Part 2: Identifying the Instrument As I mentioned in Part 1, when Bill Bartram showed me the Mason and Hamlin reed organ now in our possession, and offered it to me, I knew less than next to nothing about reed organs.   I didn’t even know enough to photograph it properly to begin to research it.   I took a couple of photographs with my blackberry, with its less than adequate camera, and began to do some research.   As the instrument is now at my dad’s, and I won’t be there until this weekend, these are the only photos I have at present.   I have since learned that it is imperative to photograph every step of the restoration, making note of where every part of the action, every screw, and every little part goes.   Many of the amateur restorers whose websites can easily be found have excellent photo-journals of their efforts.   So, the first step was to find out something about the instrument and I set about that task with the ...

We usually spend our summer holidays in Orrville, ON at my parents’ home on Duck Lake.   Summer days are spent sitting next to the water, catching up on reading, and by the occasional swim, walk, or visit with relatives.   This summer, a new diversion is about to be added; the restoration of a Mason and Hamlin reed organ.   Now, you may ask, what does the Canadian Churchman know about antique reed organs?   Well, I’m learning.   However, when I first saw this particular organ I knew less than next to nothing about them.   This gem came to my attention during the March break this year when we visited our dear friends Bill Bartram and Janet Bartram-Thomas, at Dalighiri, their getaway home near Collingwood, ON.   Whenever we get together with Jan and Bill the days and evenings are filled with music.   Jan and Bill both play the piano, Jan plays the guitar, and they love to lead evenings of singing.   For many years they have hosted a caro...