Mason & Hamlin
page 2
Below is the bottom view of the reed pan or soundboard. The reed pan also had to be dismantled into about 10 pieces of wood. It was re assembled and sealed. The reed cell board was glued to the top of this reed pan. You can see the red painted cells from above shot showing through the top reed holes.
Below the pallets have all been refelted and releathered they are here being cut apart to be reinstalled. At right below is the top of the reedpan with the reed cells glued back.
The stops have been installed below with new springs and cleaned action rods. All new hinges are canvas or Motor cloth as was original.
The testing phase is next as the organ action is put onto the test table and pressurized, or in the case of an American reed organ, DE-pressurized. They work on suction. This allows us to make sure of every gasket and stop sealing properly. The Mason Hamlin uses a small exhaust valve when a stop closes, it opens to make sure there is no possibility of a stop that is off sounding. A Mason has many more parts than most other brands. They are famous for being overbuilt. The design of a Mason is better and more extensive than most other organs. The black "Y" bracket actually holds the stop knob action.
Below is the bottom of the stop knob board showing one end of the rollerboard
This organ is now back in the customers home. We will get photos of that soon.