The Dodge & Lord Melodeon Rebuild

A couple of years ago, my cousin mentioned to me that she has a melodeon, but it was not working, and one day she would like to see it function again for use in their local historical society group.  I was rather excited to hear that she had a melodeon, and that I would be happy to see if I can get it working for her.

Fast forward to June 19, 2021 - the melodeon was brought to my garage and I immediately started to dig in.  It did not look to bad from the outside, but that quickly changed once the previous 'fixes' started to be uncovered.  To date, this instrument has to be the most botched repair that I have seen, to a point where I thought it was not going to be reasonably repaired or ever work properly again.

However, I do like challenges, this this was no exception!

Follow the picture diary below for the complete story.