Carillon Keyboard Restoration
Over the 30+ years that I have been climbing carillon towers, too many times I have seen wonderful laying and practice keyboards abandoned inside the tower, with the players using an inferior keyboard to play and practice on. Many of the companies that do regular carillon work around the world would much rather sell a new keyboard instead of restoring the original ones, making more of a profit. Many times, modern keyboards are not as well built as the keyboards that were built in the 1920’s to the early 1970’s.
There are approximately 180 Hand Action Carillon in the United States, with about 60% of them being installed pre-1970. Starting in the early 1920’s, the English bell foundries of John Taylor and Gillett & Johnston began exporting Carillons to North America. Their keyboards were expertly crafted, durable, and high-quality; performance models were quiet, while practice instruments sounded harmonious. Through the 1920’s, 1930’s, 1940’s and into the 1950’s these foundries continued building large carillons and beautiful keyboards.
Beginning in the mid-1950’s the Dutch foundries of Petit & Fritsen and Royal Eijsbouts began exporting carillons to the US. Like the English bell foundries, they also produced high quality keyboards that were both beautiful and well made. These foundries continued building these high-quality keyboards through the 1960’s and into the 1970’s. Towards the mid-1970’s the keyboards began to suffer in quality, some even being produced in steel instead of the traditional wood that had been done over the past 50+ years.
Protecting the legacy and the history of these instruments should be in the forefront of our minds. Most playing and practice keyboards can be restored to superb condition with proper restoration. Refinishing the wood, restoring steel, and using modern machinery to craft bushings and bearings can result in an instrument that feels even better than new. The parts that are too damaged to be repairable can be remanufactured in the same style making them virtually indistinguishable from the originals, if done properly.
The keyboards that were designed and built so long ago can and should be preserved for the next generation of players. Once these the original keyboards are gone, a whole period of history disappears from the carillon, never to return.
