Meticulous Care for Electro-pneumatic Pipe Organs™
Completed & Ongoing work...
WORK COMPLETED: Releather both reservoirs, clean the organ area, manufacture and install a new walkboard and through-tune the organ.
Originally built for the Chapel of Holy Trinity Lutheran Church in Cleveland, OH, it is uncertain when the organ was moved to The Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Rankin, PA (near Pittsburgh) but the little nine rank Holtkamp has served the parish well for at least two decades.
As is usually the case, leather covering the two reservoirs begam to fail about ten years ago— make-shift repairs were successful in keeping the organ playing though there seemed to be more duct tape covering the corners of both reserviors as is obvious in the photos:
The photo to the left shows the reservoir which supplies regulated wind for the Pedal Bourdon (actually a Quintaton).
High pressure wind from the organ blower passes through this reservoir
and is delivered via the large wind line to the manual regulator
installed above. It is noted here that the organ was actually
“on” when this photo was taken— the leather in both
reservoirs had deteriorated to the point that there was a constant,
audible hiss coming from within the organ when the blower was turned
on; the poor condition of the leather (and the accompanying wind leaks)
prevented the development of adequate pressure to lift the lid of
either reservoir. The entire organ was under-winded and noticeably flat
as a result. 
The second photo shows the larger (top) reservoir once it had been
removed from the organ. The condition of the gusset leather is clearly
shown here.
WORK COMPLETED: Releather both reservoirs, clean the organ area, manufacture and install a new walkboard and through-tune the organ.
Originally built for the Chapel of Holy Trinity Lutheran Church in Cleveland, OH, it is uncertain when the organ was moved to The Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Rankin, PA (near Pittsburgh) but the little nine rank Holtkamp has served the parish well for at least two decades.
As is usually the case, leather covering the two reservoirs begam to fail about ten years ago— make-shift repairs were successful in keeping the organ playing though there seemed to be more duct tape covering the corners of both reserviors as is obvious in the photos:
The photo to the left shows the reservoir which supplies regulated wind for the Pedal Bourdon (actually a Quintaton).
High pressure wind from the organ blower passes through this reservoir
and is delivered via the large wind line to the manual regulator
installed above. It is noted here that the organ was actually
“on” when this photo was taken— the leather in both
reservoirs had deteriorated to the point that there was a constant,
audible hiss coming from within the organ when the blower was turned
on; the poor condition of the leather (and the accompanying wind leaks)
prevented the development of adequate pressure to lift the lid of
either reservoir. The entire organ was under-winded and noticeably flat
as a result. The second photo shows the larger (top) reservoir once it had been
removed from the organ. The condition of the gusset leather is clearly
shown here.