Toe Board Refurbish and Repair

Randy A. Bergum
September, 2008

The purpose of this article is to review a successful Refurbish and Repair of the Wurlitzer Toe Boards. Topics covered include refurbishing Pallet Valves, Toe Boards, and repairing cupped Toe Boards.

General Description

Wurlitzer toe boards were made with three layers of wood stacked vertically. This composite construction provides stability as the grain movement in each layer can partially negate the others.

In order from Bottom to Top, the layers and descriptions are as follows:

Bottom:: This surface seats against the main chest gaskets, and has narrow slots milled for the pallet valve seats
Center:: Larger slots are milled here - said to act as a concussion chambers. This arrangement also allows the top layer to have toe holes placed within a wide range side to side.
Top:: Toe holes and chamfered for pipe toe seating.

Over the years Wurlitzer made improvements in the toe board design as follows:

Early:: Springs attached to a stay that is screwed right to the board with a domed leather nut and thin felt punching, dimple in pallet wood, three guide pins.
Middle:: Slot in pallet and spring has a loop formed at the contact point. Can also have a dimpled brad for spring bearing point, or a small nail in a slot.
Late:: The Spoon contact surface is changed from a simple rod to a broad contact surface. The springs are removable and are constrained by an overhead stay. Five guide pins are used on the pallets.

Refurbishing

Pallet Valves

Pallet valves should have originally been adjusted to contact the center of the Secondary Pneumatic Flange. The spoons dodge right and left to avoid screws and hardware inside the chest, as well as poorly placed pneumatics.

Note: Before removing the pallet valves, number them so to replace back in the original positions. This will help you minimize readjusting all the spoons back to the optimum spots.

Remove the Springs

If attached to a carrier (Early style) - remove any rust with a wire brush in a dremel tool. If removable (Later style) - toss the springs into a tumbler and clean them up.
After cleaning, coat with McLube 1725L, which is a dry mold release spray containing teflon. This seals the springs from rust and offers a nice slick surface to the pallet until it beds in after some use.

Stripping and Refurbishing the Pallets

The pallets have two layers of valve leather that can be pulled off easily by hand.

Wire brush the rust off of the spoons - take care around the contact surface where the spoon touches the action cloth on the Flange - only stroke lengthwise here to avoid creating an abrasive surface. Smooth and polished is ideal.
Wire brush dimpled brads if any.
Coat the spoons with McLube 1725L.

Note: Sometimes you will encounter Mystery Glue (White PVA glue, or anything else) that will not come off with hot water. Sand off old leather and mystery glue on belt sander - remove the MINIMUM amount of wood, but ensure that the final surface is flat.

Installing the Leather

Leather is two layers of valve leather available from reputable Organ Supply Houses and can be had in prefab strips. For Manual Chests there are two widths: 2-5/16” and 3-5/16”

The pallets are placed across the width of the leather strip - apply about 4” of hide glue and place the pallets on the leather in a row.
Allow to glue to gel and then slice them out with a sharp knife.
Trim any excess off with scissors, placing one anvil on the wood for the closest cut.

Toe Board

Inspect the valve seat areas - remove old leather crumbs, repair chips and uneven spots using a polyester based wood filler.

Note: If the seating surface is cupped, see the section later in this article.

Remove crud and rust from the guide pins with a wire brush in a dremel tool.
Coat the pins, and springs with McLube 1725L.

To Assemble

Replace all pallets in original positions.
Install springs and check for uniform tension.

Adjust the pins that guide the pallets:

A small tube of 1/8” diameter can be used over the pins for quick and accurate adjustments.
The pivot pin through the pallet tail should have no binding throughout the travel of the pallet. This pin should lean back a little to provide this clearance.

Note: The guide pins should be straight and must not bind.

Check the pallet seating by pulling back and letting go - pallet should give a “pop” sound. If not, investigate for problems.

Toe Board Cupping

The bottom layer of a toe board can cup, especially if exposed to moist conditions.

To check, place a straightedge across the pallet seating surface and shine flashlight at back of edge. If there is cupping, light will show through. (see arrow below)

Photo #1: Cupped Valve Surface and Gap

To Repair:

Remove the pallet valves and springs, spring retainers and all guide pins down to the bare wood.
Using a jointer, skim off wood using THIN settings until the bottom surface is flat. The original surface was dusted lightly with shellac, and the shaved areas will contrast with remaining areas.

Note: Check your work with straight edge and make sure you don't see light on bottom edge of ruler.

Photo #2: Valve Surface After Skimming

Apply a sizing of thinned shellac and let dry.
Take a sheet of 220 grit Garnet paper wrapped around a block of wood, and LIGHTLY sand any nibs that will prevent the pallets from seating. Do NOT sand through the size coat - it is there to seal the surface of the wood from dirt and to slow the migration of moisture.

At this point you will want to releather the pallet valves, as they will have taken a set to the old cupped seats and will murmur after reassembly.

If the guide pins were damp, they may have rusted at the surface of the wood. To fix this do the following:

Remove rust with a wire brush wheel, then re-install them in the toe board.
After installing the pins, I spray them with McLube 1725L. This seals the pins from rust and offers a nice slick surface to the pallet until it beds in after some use. Do not spray the pins first - you need friction to retain the pins in the wood.

Now reassemble the spring guide hardware, and install the pallets and springs.

Photo #3: Finished Toe Board

Cross Talk Between Notes

If the chest was exposed to water, some of the glue may have been damaged that binds the toe board layers together. In some cases an air channel will open up causing cross-talk between notes and murmuring. Some folks have solved this by stripping the toe board and pouring burnt shellac into each toe hole (as per factory), then rotating the entire board around such that the glue coats the entire interior surface, effectively sealing the leaks. (anecdotal info.)

Many thanks to John Ledwon for help in preparing this article.

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