Orgel- und
Harmoniumwerkstatt
Thomas Reilich
Pedalharmonium:
Schiedmayer Pianofortefabrik, Stuttgart. Built around 1890

Everything began in April 2008 when woodworms forced me to take this instrument out of storage and disassemble it in order to treat the wood and protect it from these rodents.

The two photos show the lid of the case, which was badly damaged – as was the rest of the casework. Having repaired all the damage to the wood, I proceeded to polish the shellac surface of the entire instrument and renew some of the varnish.

The bellows assembly had already undergone several repairs, the most recent idea having been to use a great amount of white PVA glue and linen strips to paste over the decaying hinges of the bellow folds. Result: everything was stiff and brittle!!

After a facelift, the action of the feeders is again as soft as silk and the reservoir bellows is leak-proof, just as it should be.

It took a few days (or weeks) of work before all the movements were perfect and all the parts were shiny.

Because the instrument had apparently suffered several bouts of water damage, the metal action was in an equally bad state of repair.

This picture shows the process of disassembling the windchest on the workbench. It is a real miracle that there were practically no traces of water damage here. There were only a few small cracks to be repaired which posed no problems.

All the valves were removed, taken apart, cleaned, relined and remounted; the reeds were also removed and cleaned.

View of the octave couplers in the process of disassembly …

… and during reassembly. All the felt and leather parts of this instrument were renewed.

The pedalboard proved to be a particular challenge. Due to the water damage, it was only being held together by dirt. First, the woodwork was repaired and renewed in part, then the frame.

Even the back is beautiful

In the left-hand photo, it is not very beautiful at all. A few of the pedal stickers had been replaced with square slats, the bellows is rough and has been badly repaired, some of the wind channels allow no wind to pass through, etc. etc. etc....

Things are quite different in the right-hand picture which was taken shortly before work was completed. The stickers are round again, new bellows, channels repaired, everything is shiny and gleaming and works properly, too.

No words can do it justice!!

An instrument which was a case for the scrap yard was transformed in a matter of months to become a beautiful and extremely interesting pedal organ.

Stop list:
I. Man:
Bourdon / Clarinette 16'
Cor Anglais / Flute 8'
Forte Bass / Diskant
Oktavkoppel Bass / Diskant
II. Man:
Dolce / Celeste 8'
Forte Bass / Diskant
Pedal:
Subbass 16' (permanent)
Grand Jeu
Manualkoppel
Knee lever: Grand Jeu / Forte