The reed organ was once an important domestic instrument, offering a cheap alternative to the ever-popular family piano while at the same time providing a suitable instrument for accompanying family hymns on a Sunday. It was the product of a world-wide industry which turned out hundreds of thousands of organs a year at its peak.
Reed organs are today the province of collectors and museums.
They are often found neglected in junk shops and furniture stores where their often impressively tall cases, redolent of the Victorian fondness for decoration and embellishment, immediately catch the eye of the curious. Briefly, the reed organ works by a suction bellows drawing air out from within the action of the organ. When a note is played by depressing a key, air is sucked into the action through a small chamber containing a free reed. The passing air causes the reed to vibrate, producing a tone. Stops are used to control which sets of reeds are to be employed for playing.