So not much time today but time just to open the main chamber. I’ve been worrying about this bit for a while. The main chamber is connected to the base with the bellows by a number of screws, some under the front on the case (where your legs normally go).
The other screws you need to remove are at the back but from the top. You can see the holes where I have removed the screws below.
And here are the pesky screws hiding behind where the front of the case connects to the main chamber. Took a lot of head scratching and crawling about with a torch to find these.
And finally the main chamber lifts with ease..
You can see the black seals stopping air leak through the wood plank gaps. At the top you can see the lines of air plugs on their springs beneath the wooden rod plunger from each of the keys.
the picture above also shows the stuck rod we saw from one of the keys. The rod has overtravelled and pushed the plug into an incorrect alignment.. thankfully at this level this is now an easy fix..
We can also now see the gasket (seal) around the main chamber. I was wondering what it would be (having read they can be leather, felt or paper) in our case it looks like paper, probably some sort of blotting paper. It doesn’t look in too bad a state. If I were replacing this I might use leather but I’m hopeful this can stay as is.
If I remove one of the sprung plugs we can see the two reeds that can be played by pressing the key. Not all the notes have two reeds but many do. They can be played together or independently based on the stop positions that move the flaps above this level.
The stick dropping down is from the key which when pressed moves the plug out of the way so air can pass.
Despite evidence of the wood worm (hopefully a dead infestation) the main chamber does not look too bad compared with my worst fears. So I’m happier than when I started. I will have a clean through but I’m not planning too much in here if I can avoid it ,especially as the blotting paper doesn’t look damaged.