Over the winter I plan on cleaning the bleeds in the unit blocks
(primary valves) on the Seabreeze band organ after 4 seasons of playing.
I think those Wurlitzer-style unit blocks must have come from Player
Piano Company, and whatever they used to coat and seal the wood of the
blocks has caused the cork-rubber gaskets to weld to the blocks.  In
getting to the bleed cups, you end up destroying the gaskets.

If memory serves me correctly, Wurlitzer used sheet rubber gaskets.  I
have never cared much for the cork-rubber composition stuff, and wonder
whether I shouldn't just make new gaskets out of 1/16" sheet rubber?
I'd clean off the face of the unit blocks on a belt sander, re-coat the
faces with orange shellac, clean out the bleeds, then re-mount the
blocks on the organ with the rubber gaskets.

I never had any problem removing gaskets from original Wurlitzer unit
blocks to service the innards.  Was that because of the gasket material
they used or because of the way they treated the block faces?  I think
now that the block faces were bare wood, un-shellacked, right?  If so,
I'd omit the shellacking step in valve preparation, letting the rubber
gasket do the sealing work.

Any comments or better ways of doing the job?

Matthew Caulfield