Here is a picture of how we clean out the inside of the organ pipes. This brush is run down inside each pipe and scrubbed around to loosen stuck on dirt. Today we finished up running the new tremolo windline from the solo and then cleaned up the area beneath the choir stalls where the new Choir and Solo relays will go. Dad also gutted the old combination action cabinets which will now be used to house the new relays.

Here is a valve seat that has been sealed. The valve seat is the raised wooden part beneath the white valve pad.

All the windchests are vacuumed out before replacing the toe boards.

Here is the new electric expression motor for the Choir. It replaces a pneumatic motor. The new motor allows the shades to open fully. The old motor only allowed them to open about half way, plus the old motor spanned the entire distance across the shades from left to right. The new motors should allow more sound to exit the chambers. All the old motors in the organ are being replaced with these electric motors.

Today we continued cleaning in the Choir chamber. Just to give you an idea of the steps involved in cleaning a chamber like this, here they are.

1. Remove pipes from chests and store in cardboard trays.
2. Wipe down and remove the rackboards from the chest.
3. Vacuum off the toeboards and remove all screws.
4. Turn the toeboards over one by one to oil the Wicks valves and inspect/seal the wood valve seats
5. Reconnect the chest ground wire and replace toeboard.
6. Blow out and vacuum all toe holes
7. Replace rack boards
8. Wipe down all pipes, inside and out, and replace on the windchest
9. Disassemble all reed pipes (trumpets, clarinets, oboe, etc) and clean the reeds, clean the shallots, swab out the resonator, and reassemble.
10. Remove all non-organ related material from the organ chamber
11. Clean and polish all wooden parts of the organ.
12. Clean the floor.

Here is the console that is being built by the Wicks Organ Company.

As you can see, the choir division is in need of some cleaning. Actually much of the organ looks like this or worse. We started in the choir today removing the pipes from the chest and tearing out the old expression motor. All the old pneumatic expression motors are being replaced with Peterson electric motors. Another thing we are doing that hasn't been shown yet is the inspection and sealing of the valve seats in the windchests. More pictures to follow.