Pump organ

[Ron Nossaman]

> I have a friend who is considering buying a pump organ made by the 
> “Chicago Cottage Organ Co.”  Does anyone know anything about these? 

Wasn't that the name Sears sold? Cost about $16 new around 1900.


> Of course since it has a keyboard, I’m supposed to know about it!

Well, sure. Best advice, have a cynic who knows pump organs look it 
over before the friend buys it - like any keyboard instrument. The 
fact that it currently makes noise when the pedals are pumped, with 
a given stop pulled and a key pressed isn't any more an indication 
of long term viability with these glorified harmonicas than it is 
with a suspected piano. There's always more wrong than meets the 
optimistic eye. Always. Be prepared to have it break down shortly 
after being purchased and pressed into service again after sitting 
for 50 years un-touched. It'll work for a while (and look like a 
bargain), but the more it's pumped, the more the petrified bellows 
and reservoir rubber cracks, the more it leaks, and the faster you 
have to pump to keep up - until you no longer can keep up. Then it's 
time to do it as right as you can. A generic 11 stop organ will 
likely (or should) cost somewhere between $1500, and $2000 to 
rebuild, without refinish.

Ron N, intermittent organator