FOR SALE:  Aeolian 3/40 Player Pipe Organ, Opus 1345.

PRICE:  $65,000 / best reasonable offer.

REASON FOR DISPOSITION:  At age 71, I feel it is time to part company with the organ, rather than leave this potentially difficult responsibility to my heirs.  Although I am in apparent good health, one never knows for sure.

LOCATION:  my home, Carmichael, CA (a suburb of Sacramento, CA).

MY RESTORATION:

• within the chests I completely re-leathered all the mechanisms (pouches, pneumatics, valve facings) & repaired felt damage to the valves.  I re-leathered all the pouches in the coupler stack.
• I repaired considerable moisture damage and repainted the chests.
• I repaired, cleaned, and re-shellacked the pipes.
• I de-rusted and painted steel parts.
• I rebuilt and repainted the supporting structure and ducts.
• I installed a Devtronix MIDI interface to the organ (permits playing the organ by a computer sequencer).

I.e., I not only restored the organ to functional condition, but I attempted to do so in a way which would maximize its future life span.  In my opinion, this now is well on the way to becoming a "museum-quality" organ.

FILES OF INTEREST:
(to download, right click & select "Save Link As..." or "Save Target As...")

• The organ Stoplist, as formulated by Nelson Barden in Boston.
• The original purchase contract between the Aeolian Company and John Spreckels.
• Photos of this organ on the Organ Historical Society web site:  click here.
• A history of the rescue of the organ by Edward Barr (previous historian of San Diego’s Spreckels Organ Society) and by Wendell Shoberg (previous owner of the San Diego Pipe Organ Company, from whom I purchased the organ).
• Interesting Aeolian history emailed me by Nelson Barden explaining how purchasers of Aeolian organs often increased the size of their Aeolian purchase order (e.g., John Spreckels' purchase order was increased from two to three ranks).
• Copy of the April-May 2009 issue of Coronado Magazine, describing "rediscovery" of this organ.
• Three music CD's (.mp3 format) I recently recorded of Aeolian 1345, playing MIDI files which I created (apologies for the fact that the organ has not been tuned in quite a few years):
  • Aeolian 1345 Plays Classical
  • Aeolian 1345 Plays Popular
  • Aeolian 1345 Plays Christmas
• Video slideshows:
  • Remodeling my home to accommodate the organ
  • My restoration of Aeolian 1345
  • Aeolian 1345 Restored
  • Aeolian 1345 Plays Music
• Proposed Bill-of-Sale contract between purchaser and me.

PURCHASE INCLUDES:

•  This Aeolian organ complete (i.e., the items in my possession), including console, pipe chamber contents, chimes, harp, blower + motor.
•  >100 original Aeolian pipe organ rolls.  These are the earlier Aeolian pipe organ rolls which play notes but do not automatically recruit appropriate stops and couplers.  The roll player in the console plays these rolls.
•  A stand-alone Aeolian roll player, designed to play the later Aeolian pipe organ rolls.  This player is in good but un-restored condition.  I have no rolls for this player.

Serious potential purchasers will want to see the organ prior to commitment.  Naturally I will schedule this, but I will require thorough documentation of the identity, location, and interest of the visiting individual(s) prior to scheduling the visit.

NEW OWNER'S RESPONSIBILITIES:

• Removal of the acquired items from my home, within a reasonable, defined time.  Upon request, I can provide the name of a west-coast based professional organ remover who has examined my installation.  The remover(s) will have to be approved in advance by me.
• Transportation of the acquired items to the new location, and reinstallation of the organ.
• Reimbursement for unexpected damage to my home (in excess of $500) during the removal process.
• Payment-in-full (if purchased) by secure transfer of funds, either Cashier’s Check or bank-to-bank wire transfer, prior to starting removal process.
• Purchaser agrees that the organ is sold "as is, where is."

BRIEF HISTORY:

The organ was built by the Aeolian Company at their factory in Garwood, NJ.  It was installed in John Spreckels' mansion (now the Glorietta Bay Inn) in 1916 in Coronado, CA.

Ultimately the organ fell into disuse and was intended to be discarded.  It was saved by Edward Barr and Wendell Shoberg and stored for some years by Mr. Shoberg.

In the early 1980's I purchased the organ from Mr. Shoberg and transported it from storage sites in San Diego to my home in Carmichael, CA, where I spent the subsequent fifteen years meticulously restoring it. 

                      E-MAIL ME  (serious purchase inquiries only, please)