One of the more delicate restoration tasks involved replacing
the silver contacts in the keyboards. The cumbersome original system
was failing. Phosphor Bronze spring wires with small sterling silver
contact wires attached by solder make up the original design. The solder
was beginning to fail and the contact wires simply fall off. The result
is two fold. First, the contact point now becomes the spring wire itself,
which is prone to corrosion and poor contact qualities. Second, the
absence of the silver contact throws the geometry for key depression out
of regulation. In fact, the key would have to be pushed fully down
to make contact.
The complexity of the Aeolian keyboard system and the construction of the keys did not make it possible to merely insert a modern contact mechanism. Replacing the silver contact wires in the manner of original installation seemed to be an impossible task. A compromise solution was to slightly modify the system by using new silver contacts that could slide over the original spring wire thus eliminating the impossible task of soldering, side-by-side, two small wires that are held only by solder.
A steady hand, small needle nose pliers, and a crochet hook were the best tools for this task. After this picture was taken, a small jig was used which held the silver contact in the precise location prior to soldering.
The complexity of the Aeolian keyboard system and the construction of the keys did not make it possible to merely insert a modern contact mechanism. Replacing the silver contact wires in the manner of original installation seemed to be an impossible task. A compromise solution was to slightly modify the system by using new silver contacts that could slide over the original spring wire thus eliminating the impossible task of soldering, side-by-side, two small wires that are held only by solder.
A steady hand, small needle nose pliers, and a crochet hook were the best tools for this task. After this picture was taken, a small jig was used which held the silver contact in the precise location prior to soldering.
This picture was taken early in the restoration of the
contacts. Later, the technique was improved and included removing all
the old contacts before installing any of the new contacts. The
yellow paper strips helped see the work and protected the area below from
solder drips. In this photo, the phosphor wire is held with the crochet
hook while the new contact in the pliers is fitted onto the wire. The
next several wires still have the old silver contacts in place. Most
were removed just by lightly nudging with a knife.
Since there are two contacts per key in this photo, it can be identified as the choir manual. (the swell can be coupled to the choir). The great manual has three wires per key and the swell has only one contact per key. That means the operation above was performed 366 times.
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Since there are two contacts per key in this photo, it can be identified as the choir manual. (the swell can be coupled to the choir). The great manual has three wires per key and the swell has only one contact per key. That means the operation above was performed 366 times.
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