Anatomy of a WurliTzer Theatre Pipe Organ

Manual Chest.

The joints of the chest side walls to the end of a manual chest are a potential problem source for leaks between adjoining ranks. These joins are not always perfect so gaps may be present.

While the chest was the other side up as the inside of the chest was being shellaced extra shellac was run into these joins. In some cases the shellac ran out the other side. Repeated coats caused the leaks to stop. The gaps were not large enough to allow glue to be forced around all the corners. The shellac is liquid enough to wick its way around the corners and will fill all the small gaps. It will shrink as it dries but the next coat will have a smaller gap to fill until it forms a complete seal.

Leathering the joint on the non-pneumatic side is not possible because you can not get to the ends due to the rails top and bottom. It is possible to leather on the pneumatic side. The original was done with rubber cloth but that was replaced with leather the same as was used in the manifold on the end of the chest.

Either the shellac or the leather should provide an effective seal but using both gives double the chance of not having a problem later.

These leaks have no effect when the adjoining ranks are on the same regulator and trem system but they are very important when the adjoining ranks are supposed to be seperate. A very small leak will cause the trem from one chest to effect the other chest causing a rank with the its trem off to have an unexpected trem. If both trems are on it will be impossible to get either to behave properly as each will effect the other. If the chests are on different pressures e.g. the Vox (6") next to a Flute (10") the higher pressure will slowly pump up the lower pressure regulator above its correct pressure until the trem is turned on or some pipes are played.

All these problems can be very mysterious and confusing when there is no obvious way that the two wind systems could possibly be joined, but quite obvious when you work out what is going on. It is best to avoid confusion by ensuring that these problems do not happen.

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