Antique Reed Organs

- Restoration News
- Featured Organ
- Organs for Sale

The Lee Conklin Antique Reed Organ Museum proudly displays about 95 fully restored and working antique reed organs. Visitors to the museum are often treated to the beautiful sounds of these antique instruments. Lee Conklin's first organ to be collected was this cottage organ manufactured by Mason & Hamlin of Boston, MA in 1884. A painting of Lee Conklin is displayed on the wall above the organ.

Restoration Workshops

Restoration workshops are held under the leadership of Don Glasgow of Archibald, OH, John Hasting of Ellsworth, MI, and Keith Heiss of Nashville, MI each an expert in the field of antique reed organ restoration. Workshops are held one weekend a month. Please see our calendar of events for specific dates and times. Anyone with an interest in reed organ restoration is welcome to come and learn by doing.

We work on several organs at a time depending on the participation that session. Typical activities include repairing bellows, replacing valve faces, tuning, cleaning, and case restorations. One of our biggest current projects is restoring an Angelus Player Organ by Wilcox and White c. 1900. A second Player Organ (the Wilcox and White Angelus Player Organ) continues to make progress but we do not have an estimated completion date yet.

Please contact Ray Pengra for more information or call him at 517-563-2833.

We regret that we are unable to provide appraisals of reed organs.

Featured Organ
Gem Roller Organ

In the late19th Century, middle class families were looking for affordable modes of home entertainment. One such home entertainment device was the roller organ, a type of table-top music box that played wooden rollers called cobs because they resembled an eaten cob of corn. Although roller organs came in different sizes and degrees of luxury, the most popular one was the "Gem" Roller Organ, manufactured from 1879 to 1928 by the Autophone Co. of Ithaca, New York and a number of other companies. At 16 inches long, 14 inches wide and 9 inches high, the Gem Roller Organ was small and light enough to place on a parlor table. Originally, these hand-cranked organs operated by air pressure from exposed bellows, but as technology improved, later models worked by vacuum pressure, thus enabling manufacturers to reduce the size of the units.

Because of its relative simplicity, manufacturers produced tens of thousands annually, thereby keeping the cost of a roller organ affordable. Sears & Roebuck, in their 1902 Catalog, offered the Gem Roller Organ for $3.25, including three rollers. Today, roller organs and rollers can occasionally be found for sale at estate auctions or on Ebay.

The Gem Roller Organ, available in either a painted black or walnut-like finish with gold stenciled applied designs, used pins embedded into a 20-note wooden roller, similar to the cylinders used in Swiss music boxes. Pins operated on valve keys while a gear turned the roller. The rollers were priced as low as 18 cents each and roller music ranged from classical to sacred to ethnic and popular tunes. The tone was similar to a parlor organ of the time. Over one thousand rollers were available and each song had a unique number with numbers 1-100 all being hymns.

The Gem Roller Organ at the Conklin Reed Organ Museum was donated by Mr. Nick Poole of Muskegon, Michigan. It usually is found on a stand on the stage in the organ room. There are seven rollers for it, the most familiar one being “Take Me Out To The Ballgame”. It is sometimes played for tours of the museum or other functions. Most people are surprised by the quality and volume of its sound.

The song you are listening to was recorded by our resident organist Frances Hartmann.

Organs for Sale

These organs have been restored.

left- R. Wurlitzer & Bros, Cincinnati, OH c. 1870

middle- SOLD

right- Beckwith Co. Location unknown c. 1920 Sold by Sears & Roebuck Company, Chicago

Contact Ray Pengra for more information or call him at 517-563-2833.