Reed Organ Restoration - Part 16 - Bellows Rebuild Complete

[@donaldheimbach7126]

I am working on a estey 1886 organ and the bellows were bad so I would not have been able to fix them without your videos , thank you 🤓🙏

[@maconSTUFF]

Glad to help... best of luck!

[@ReazonAce]

awesome skills attention to detail high standards - deep respect

[@dennisbarnes8447]

Thank you for posting. I can see how things were done , start to finish...it is a great help to me. No judgement on my part, after all, I live on an island in the middle of the Atlantic...we do what we have to. Awesome job.

[@James_Bowie]

I have no problem with the aluminum strip bracing. Better safe than sorry.

[@bensimonmusic]

you're amazing man. this is such a gift to the community. i'm so inspired by what you've done with this reed organ. special to me was how dedicated you were to the organ even not knowing much about them. you really show that people can make things happen if they put the time in and go at a chill pace. thanks !!

[@maconSTUFF]

Thanx a lot Ben... very kind of you...

[@AS-xc3be]

incredible resource you have created here, good work

[@maconSTUFF]

Thanks a lot!

[@lukemurdock2236]

Macon Your upgrades are spot on you are dealing with late 1800's tech and they just did not have the upgraded material you are using

[@maconSTUFF]

Thanx Luke...

[@grahamwright6928]

I restored a reed organ 30+ years ago using vinyl cloth and contact adhesive it is still working now!

[@maconSTUFF]

Thanx Graham... very relieved to hear that... been kinda worried about that...

[@prakashgandhi582]

Sir I from India verry good knolage

[@WoozleEffect]

I was really hoping to find a vintage set of organ bellows that I could use to create a silent vacuum for drawing reeds on my harmonica maintenance bench. Now that I see what you've accomplished here, I'm inspired. Is there any chance you might be interested in publishing some plans for how someone might be able to build a set of pedal controlled bellows?

[@quacksplatt]

Great videos.It is as important to know how NOT to do something as well as how to do it correctly.You work meticulously. I am about to start an identical project on a harmonium I purchased yesterday for £50.Made by John Malcolm of London. Thank you.

[@povertyhill5197]

Excellent Job! I'm totally inspired now.... I know what I'll be doing during July. It's good to read through the comments too, so to avoid the dreaded "fart syndrome"!

[@maconSTUFF]

You can do it! :-)

[@josvlietstra]

You're doing a great job ! Instead of contact glue, I use fish glue, which is an organic glue and very, very strong.

[@maconSTUFF]

Thanx man... I've read about it, but I cant get it here unfortunately... :-(

[@josvlietstra]

@@maconSTUFF I will look at the bottle for the adress of the firm who sells this stuff

[@fnersch3367]

Good for you !!! You cleated with those aluminum strips. Everything you've done is superb except (maybe) the bellows material. That can be redone if needed.

[@en2oh]

not sure if your contact cement is different from ours across the pond, but it almost looked like you applied the bellows material to the freshly brushed cement. Contact cement here is applied to both surfaces, allowed to dry to "tack dryness" and then brought together. Otherwise, the joint is very weak. Sorry if I'm missing something in your video.

[@maconSTUFF]

Yeah man... contact cement works the same here... LOL... Well this was quite a while ago, so I cant recall whether I let it dry or not... anything is possible

[@en2oh]

@@maconSTUFF I have to say, your persistence and attention to details is inspiring!

[@TakamiWoodshop]

Very cool! When you did the compression test . Well done matey 👍🏁🏁

[@maconSTUFF]

Thanx buddy... yeah, that was areal big relief... LOL

[@janhogan3873]

Well done! Improvisation is essential particularly for challenging projects such as bellows, there is not a lot of instruction around unfortunately, and they are tricky little devils, I'm about to do, or I should say try to do, a tiny harmonium bellows, if the rusty, embedded screws will let me get to them that is!!!!

[@AndrewduToit]

Happy holidays. Looking forward to next year.

[@maconSTUFF]

Thanx Andrew... same to you buddy...

[@jakelencher817]

Where did you get the bellows cloth, found it on Steve's piano repair but I wanted to see if it really just is that expensive.

[@Mattospianos]

If not Leather,convertible vintage car double cotton rubber cloth: cloth/rubber/cloth. It´s used in player-pianos feed and reservoir bellows,it´s the better choice,ofcourse used with hot glue...also that kind of big valves should have some cardboard strips,prependicular way,like 4 or 5,because depending on the leather and thikeness, without them you might experience what we call the "fart" síndrome,they tend to vibrate against the wood in a funny way,and if that happens after you close it it's a true pain.... Any way Well done!!!!

[@maconSTUFF]

Thanx... Damn, its a bit too late for the inner valves... might have to think about adding that to the exhauster valves... hope I dont get the "fart syndrome" LOL

[@zaord]

Hi, Mattos :) Whene do you find such double cotton rubber cloth ? I am interested :)

[@James_Bowie]

Yep, fart syndrome is a real thing with such leather valves.

[@sergioferreirs69]

Great! I'm glad that you got through the bellows section. I have one question: doesn't the contact glue that you used need to be applied to both sides, left to touch dry then put together? I just finished a reception counter where I had to glue the edging with contact glue and those were the instructions. The edging is glued and wont come off even after I made a mistake and glued the wrong edge, I had to use the table saw to remove it. I think yours will hold especially with the aluminium strips. Good thinking Batman!

[@maconSTUFF]

You're exactly right... but that stuff is hard enough to work with on one surface at a time let alone two, especially in this instance, so I decided to ignore the instructions... 😳 besides, I did it the same way with my test pieces and it seemed to make a pretty good bond... I can only hope that, along with the reinforcements I added will be good enough...

[@fredquann2796]

Be nice if he mentioned the glue being used.