This barrel organ arrived at our workshop in an unplayable state, with no documentation whatsoever about its origins. From the way it was made and the materials used, we concluded it was most likely a homemade Czech instrument - a hunch only strengthened by the Czech folk song Studentská halenka, one of seven melodies recorded on the barrel. The instrument had no prestigious Chrastava address, no serial number. It was, quite simply and honestly, the work of someone's own hands, their own imagination, and their own desire to make music. And that is precisely why we took a liking to it.
The barrel, roughly 10 cm in diameter, is small - and so each of the recorded songs lasts only 20 to 25 seconds, depending on how fast the handle is turned. When the instrument arrived at our workshop, the pins were bent so badly that nothing resembling a melody came out of it. Straightening them was patient, time-consuming work - each pin had to be treated individually and the result checked by ear. Even after the repair, the pins are not driven in with perfect precision, and the melody wanders slightly from the ideal here and there. We decided to leave it that way. To correct this imperfection would have meant reaching into the very soul of the instrument - and that was not something we were willing to do. The charm of a homemade piece lives precisely where the craft falls just a little short.
The instrument has a single register - a continuously sounding reed stop with penetrating reeds. Most of the reeds were in surprisingly good condition, but four of them either produced no sound at all or let out nothing more than a rasping, unusable noise. The culprits were bent reeds and corroded edges around the openings in the boots through which the reeds vibrate. We cleaned all the boots as a precaution, carefully straightened the damaged reeds and dressed the affected surfaces. After this work, the stop sang out again evenly and fully - just as its maker had surely intended.
The bellows leather was completely rotten and torn in many places — there was nothing left to save. We carefully removed it and replaced it with new material. The instrument's case was in a similarly sorry state: cracks, loose joints, and the original zinc-dovetail connections largely destroyed. We took the case apart, filled in the missing sections, reassembled everything, and carefully fitted new wood into the gaps left by years of the timber drying out. Finally, we applied a fresh protective finish to the whole instrument — always with the same intention: that the result should feel not like something new, but like an honest repair of an old friend.
Some of the instrument's brass and iron fittings were missing. We faithfully reproduced the absent pieces based on the surviving originals, then straightened and polished everything that remained. Once all the work was done, the instrument returned to fully playable condition. It plays all seven of its songs again - including Studentská halenka - with that slightly uneven, but all the more sincere melody that was always its own.
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