Anatomy of a WurliTzer Theatre Pipe Organ
Releathering GLOCKENSPIEL Hammer Pneumatics
This shows the process used for releathering all the Secondary Pneumatics in the hinged or book style.
The jigs designed for the pipe chest pneumatics proved useful for the percussions
as well.
The process runs from right to left starting with the bare pneumatic wood pieces, with a hinge at the back and
a felt buffer pad.
The leather is first glued to one side and front of the pneumatic while held at the correct opening in the jig.
After removing from the jig the other side can be glued.
One end is glued across the back.
The other end then glues down on the back giving a double layer on the back end.
Excess leather is trimmed off with scissors held close to flat against the top and bottom surfaces of the wood.
The aim is to get a neat edge but with no leather overhanging the wood. If a very small amount of wood is
trimmed away from the edge with the leather it will not do any harm. Any excess glue that has worked out along
the edge will also be cleaned up in this process.
There is an alternative ay of cutting the leather such that
it is the correct shape to just cover the pneumatic so that no excess is wasted by trimming after glueing. This
takes a lot more time to mark out the skin to minimise waste and then cut out. Positioning the leather perfectly
for glueing again requires more care and time and the end result is likely to be less perfect than the square cut
method. Even for someone whose time is of no direct value the small amount of leather that might be saved is
unlikely to be worth the effort.
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