Mike Knudson wrote:
> Many thanks to the several private and public responders to my 20-note
> Deleika organ queries.  The overwhelming consensus is that I have a leak
> in my bellows or chest, probably a cracked end grain or cloth slipped off
> a board end, and I must find and fix that before anything else.

I do not agree :) but I can't say that there is no leak, too, for I
simply couldn't take a look and ear at it.  ;)

> I timed it last night and the reservoir bellows takes only three seconds
> to collapse completely after being filled, once I stop cranking with no
> notes sounding.  I'd expect ten seconds or more would be normal, and one
> person said to look for a whole minute!  It's time to remove the bellows
> and see...

I haven't stopped it so far, but the Raffin one (the little 20/31) - at
least ours - doesn't seem to get more then five seconds to collapse.

> There are screws for adjusting the bleeds for best repetition, but no
> adjustments I can see to regulate the flow to each pipe.

This is something I definitely wouldn't change anyway.

Now I have to re-cut your mail to get things together:
> I bought it used, so I have no idea how it played when new, although I think
> the wind supply and melody pipes were a tad better when I first got it.

That makes things difficult, but it confirms my thought of this organ
never been playing better.

About the pipes: they were a tad better?!?  That's amazing!  Normally,
pipes are getting better the more you play and store them :)

> Ingmar Krause confirmed my suspicion that Deleika under-engineered
> the wind supply (*snip*)
> I'd heard that Deleika once worked for Raffin and copied his designs.
> But I guess he had to make his own mistakes?

Well, I thought I told so;  the 20/31 by Mr. Raffin has the same problem:
insufficient wind-creation and storage.

therefore:

    yes, - one of the partners of the Deleika-firm had been working 
for Raffin until he decided to build those organs himself¶
    yes, - he copied his design and system, but in a less quality (to be cheaper)¶
    yes, - he has made his own mistakes, but he also copied the original ones (!)

> (*snip*) (and also made sure I can't sell this organ to anyone
> on the MMD List :-)   I already tried once, at the MBSI convention
> in Chicago, to sell this organ to buy a bigger one -- preferably 31 notes
> with a register or two.  (Having studied the organ and Bach, I don't
> consider it an _organ_ if it doesn't have stops :-)

Sorry for you, but everyone else on this list is very thankful for that!
;)  That you tried to sell it to buy a bigger one is a good sign for me:
you learn by your mistakes ;)) (just kidding)

> Anyway, I still enjoy the organ and usually crank through an Elvis Presley
> tune or two every day (amazing what you can get cut onto a roll).

(Just nosy -  ;)   These titles?

    Love me tender
    One night
    Crying in the chapel
    There goes my evrything
    Can't help falling in love

or others, too?

> Thanks again,
> Mike Knudsen

greetings by(e) InK

Ingmar Krause¶
ERlanger drehORGEL-Trio, Familie Krause, erorgelt@balloon.franken.de