JLM van Dinteren
In the weekend of the Waldkirch organ festival Mr. and Mrs. Brian and Christine Wells, from Banbury (UK) presented their 89 VB Gavioli that was newly restored.
In November 1997 Brian Wells managed to buy a Gavioli from the USA, via Andrew Pilmer. The instrument must once have been in the Benelux; there is an inscription of Charles van der Mueren (Belgium) iside the main wind chest. In New York the key frame was replaced by a roll mechanism. The original factory number was removed and replaced by 2005. The organ played in the Toboggan Company Carousel nr. 15 in Philadelphia (picture of 1907 in Bill Manns' book). Later the carousel was moved through the USA several times. In 1923 the organ was parted from the carousel and was sold to the Heller-collection. The bottom part was damaged in that time, because the organ stood in a barn for some time. About twenty years the instrument was bought by another collector, who did some repair work.
The organ arrived in bits and pieces and the 400 pipes were packed in crates. The wood of the main wind chest and other vital parts was cracked and the roll playing mechanism was missing as well as the statues (these are being kept out of the transaction quite often!). Despite all this the organ was in a restorable condition. According to Andrew Whitehead the instrument may have been built as a 89-1 type. It lacks the characteristic trumpet pipes in the centre. In restoring he rebuilt the organ according to his speciality: the 89 VB system. The added baritone register is placed in the back of the organ, in order not to disturb the looks. Christine Wells and her daughter removed all layers of paint untill theu would reach the original. The restoring of the front was often done in public, during the Banbury Rally and the Great Dorset Steam Fair in 1998. A new organ chest was made out of walnut. The main wind chest was made new, the original bellows were repaired (so no wind machine!) and a new key frame, metallophone and percussion set were added.
In January 1999 the Gavioli played again for the first time.
In HP 1998 p. 122 and 123 the purchase of a Gavioli by Mr. Teddy Reed of Amersham (UK) was mentioned, with a fhotograph from the Gavioli catalog on which an identical organ front could be seen. After the elaborate restoring of this instrument all of Mr. Reeds organs are again in playing condition after the disastrous fire of 28th August 1992.
This Gavioli was imported by Chiappa Ltd. in London and rebuilt to the VB system. After the ownership of H. Jennings for his gallopers many others owned the organ. Kewith Emmet did a lot of trading in organs. Sometimes statues or other parts were lost in these transactions. The organ then was sold "as seen by the buyer". Mr. and Mrs John and Kathleen Bailey were the last owners for the past decades. After Kathleens death John decided to grant his late wife's wish and sold the Gavioli to Teddy Reed, knowing Teddy's perfectionism.
Kevin Meayers did the main restoration job, which took about 18 months. Judith Howard and Paul Davies repaired parts of the organ. Several additions to the organ were removed in order to bring it back into the condition in which it once left Chappa Ltd. The original bellows, still in the organ but not working, are now working again, without the wind machine. This Gavioli now has taken the place of the Marenghi and will be presented at rallys. The Marenghi is now part of Mr. Reeds private collection.