Wear and tear

Les and I are spending about two weeks restoring the two manuals (keyboards) and pedalboard for the pipe organ at St. Paul's Basilica, Toronto. It is the oldest instrument I've worked on, built in 1898 by R.S. Williams & Sons. It was restored in 1977 by Gabriel Kney. Les was working for Kney at that time, so he has a long history with the organ.

It is also the first tracker organ I've worked on. All my experience up until now has been with electric actions, mostly with electro-pneumatic valves controlling wind to the pipes.

In a tracker organ the action is purely mechanical. Each key controls a pipe or pipes directly via an intricate series of slender wooden rods, called trackers. The parts articulate using an assortment of pins and levers. Wherever two parts rub together, they're insulated with felt, leather or a combination of the two. These materials tend to wear out after 30 or 110 years. I've spent most of this week replacing leather strips around the back ends of the keys.

Les made a service call today, so I had the shop to myself all afternoon, and sad thoughts.

Someone I have loved for several years, and considered spending more time with, seems bent now upon a self-destructive course. I had glimpsed something beautiful in him, but during our last encounter I saw a dragon laying waste to his best qualities. I've encountered alcoholism, but never quite this way before.