What are the bleed screws for on my organ, and how do I know whether they neeed adjusting or not?
They do need adjusting. All keyless organs are fitted with tiny holes in the mechanism to equalise the pressure when a hole in the music has passed over the tracker bar in the key frame. The size of these holes is so critical to the operation of the organ that the holes are provided with adjusting screws which can be used to open or close the holes slightly. These adjusting screws are visible on the primary action of the organ, and there will be one screw for every tube leading from the key frame. As the organ is playing, these bleed holes will gradually get clogged up with dust until there comes a time when certain notes will not cut off sharply enough. This prevents those notes from repeating properly. All owners of keyless organs should keep a test book handy, which will have a section for testing the repetition of each note (called the ‘bobble’ test). The test book will identify any notes which do not repeat fast enough. It is then a simple job to unscrew the bleed screw very sligh
