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89 key Gavioli c1900 : The Wells family
Click on the picture to view a larger version (photo by Brian Steptoe)
Professionally recorded CDs of the Gavioli are available from kate_spencer@btopenworld.com priced at £9.95 + £1.50 p&p. Follow the link for playlists and samples from some tracks.
"The American Gavioli" was built in Paris between 1890 and 1900 by Gavioli & Co, with an 89key V.B. scale. Her history is unknown up to the point when she was restored by Van de Mueren, when her original serial number was changed to 2005 (this does not correspond to Gavioli's numbering system). She continued her working life in the USA, as the centrepiece of a four abreast carousel (galloper) built by The Philadelphia Toboggan Company. At this point, she was converted to playing on the Wurlitzer paper roll system.
In 1923, she was removed from the carousel and became part of the Heller collection. She was not to play again until 1998. Stored in an earth floored barn, she suffered much deterioration over the course of almost 60 years.
In about 1980, she was bought by an American collector, who began restoration work on the bellows.
Then in 1997, as a result of a chance conversation between Andrew Pilmer and Andrew Whitehead, the Wells family became the new owners of this sadly neglected but magnificent instrument. Restored over the next two years by the Wells family, Andrew Whitehead and friends, she played her first note in 75 years, on 31 December 1998.
The restored front panels, fastened into place on 31 December 1998. This was the last thing we did before putting the first book through.
The Gavioli arrived at the workshop in 1997 in a thousand pieces, many of them rotten. When laid out on the workshop floor, it was hard to imagine how these pieces, that looked no more than firewood, could ever play.
Work was essentially a huge 3 dimensional jigsaw puzzle, with an unknown number of missing pieces. The missing pieces were reconstructed by Brian Wells and Andrew Whitehead. During the restoration process, she was restored to her original keyframe operation, 89 key V.B. scale.
Far left; the windchest had deteriorated beyond repair, and a new one was built by Brian Wells and Andrew Whitehead, using the old windchest as a pattern
Left; the glockenspiel being removed from its packing case
The partially restored front, showing 50% salvaged components.
Left; the ranks of pipes before being dismantled and shipped to the UK
Below left; saxaphone pipes being refinished
Below right; the finished pipework
Far left; Andrew Whitehead checking the position of pipes on the top of the main windchest
Left; Brian Wells sanding the pouches on the relay
Restoration was not limited to the pipe work and musical heart of the Gavioli. Careful cleaning revealed not only the dancers who feature on the four side panels, but also little groups of onlookers who had been hidden by years of accumulated grime. These panels were carefully retouched.
Where the original designs were too damaged to save, the carvings and decoration were carefully sanded down, layer by layer, revealing three different colour schemes along the way. We shall never know whether each design was on display for years, or whether the original decorators simply over-painted several times. However we have made faithful copies of each layer to preserve each era in the Gavioli's history.
The Gavioli was finally repainted in her original colours by Chris and Helen Wells during the winter of 1998, and the final panel was fastened into place on New Year's Eve (picture, top). She played her first book in 75 years shortly after this photo was taken.
Chris, Helen and Kate Wells repainting the front
One of the four "dancer" panels, before and after restoration
With the exception of the "dancer" panels, most of the paintwork had deteriorated beyond repair. The front panels and decorative scrolls were sanded back to wood, and then painstakingly hand painted in the original colours
The Gavioli is mounted in a model 68GX ERF, supplied new to S and E Johnson, Corn Merchants, Derbyshire. She spent many years travelling to and from Liverpool Docks and in the surrounding dales. After having one working life she then passed to John Scarrott and sons, showmen, of Woodford Halse. She spent many years carrying their rides around their fun fairs in Northamptonshire, before being laid up in the open for seven years. The Wells family found her just before she was to be cut up for scrap. Restoration followed over a period of several years, culminating in the building of the original style body that now protects the Gavioli.
During 1999, 2002 and 2005 the Wells' and some good friends made the marathon journey to the Organ Festival in Waldkirch, Germany; each trip being a journey of 1200 miles. We also travelled to Paris in 2005 and Brussels and Essen in 2006 to take part in their respective transport festivals. Not bad for a vehicle of over 40 years old that has been retired twice already! Each trip was completed with only minor incidents - a couple of punctures, and a warning for (lack of) speeding on the French motorways, where we apparently going too slow!
