This is a unique instrument, The Pipe Organ Harp. These instruments were poplar back in the 20's up through the early 50's. They were used by EMSkinner Organ company, Austin Organs, Moller Organs, Aeoline Organ company and Wurlitzer. This particular Harp is currently installed in the Swell Division of my home Instrument. It was built by Moller Pipe Organ company and was part of a Moller Organ installed in a Methodist Church in Tupalo Miss. The organ was removed and sold to a Episcopal Church in Tupalo and the Harp did not fit. So now it belongs to me. It has been completely restored and has a wonderful rich "harp" sound. This harp does have a feature some do not have and that is it has dampers. It requires 2 stops to operate one is just "Harp" and the second is "Vibraharp". This is the ability to retract the dampers to give the wonderful "Harp" sound. The Bars are tuned 440 and are struck with the piano style hammers. It is a chore to completely restore one of these instruments and if you need some instructions let me know, I can help. Now the future home of this Harp will be in St. Timothy's Episopal Church I attend and will be part of a 30 rank 3 manual 1899 Hook & Hastings Organ that is in the process of restoration. Provided all goes as planned but for the mean time it will grace my instrument.

I also have a 9 rank Instrument, it consists of the following pipes: Swell-8' Geigen Principal, 8' Open Diapason, 8' Gedeckt, 8' Viola, 8' Salicional Great-8' Open Diapason, 8' Stopped Diapason,8' Melodia & 8' Dulciana, Pedal-16' extension from Swell Gedeckt. Total Stops are 22. The instrument is Romantic in Sound as all the pipes are from 1900 to 1934. I went through a lot of pipe purchasing to find the pipes that fit & blended together. The pipe makers in this instrument are Hook & Hastings, Votteler/Holtkamp/Sparling, Moller & Austin. The Swell & part of the Great are on 3.5" and the Pedal & remainder of the Great are on 4.0" of wind. The action in the organ is mixed Electric Valves and Electro Pneumatic. The 16' Pedal is a #1 Scale Austin and has Austin Pedal Actions. We will talk about Austin Valves in another posting. The wind is supplied by a .45hp Meidinger, 220volts 3 phase blower. I did have to put a Phase converter on the blower as I only have single phase in my shop. Presently the stop rail has Kimber Allen Drawknobs but soon to be converted to Stop Tabs. I am currently in the process of building the new Stop Tab rail. I am changing this out as I have additional stops to add and another rank of pipes but do not have additional Kimber Allen Drawknob Assemblies. The Organ was Started in the Spring of 2003 and completed in the Summer of 2004. I built all of the chest except for 2 offsets in my shop. I used Australian White Pine, Poplar and Russian Birch for the chests. The pictures show the keyboards and the facade and the rank of pipes is a Moller Viola. I will post more pictues of the pipes and chestwork on another post.

I will start with this organ. It is a 2 rank, 8' Open Diapason-Moller 1924, Estey 8' Stopped Diapason Bass 12 notes-1926 & a 4' l896 Hook & Hastings Flute D'Amore. Single Manual 5 stops: 8' Diapason, 4' Octave, 8' Stopped Diapason, 4' Flute D'Amore & 2' Principal. The instrument will be increased in size. This is being done presently in my shop. A String rank or a Dulciana will be added and a 30 Note Pedal Board will be added. There is also a 16' medium scale Bourdon also in thoughts. It is powered by a Spencer Orgablow small organ blower and the Power supply is by a Durst Rectifier 12volts DC. The Diapason has slide tuners & of courst the flute is Stopped.

December 16, 2007 Created this Blog today and now must organize all the information necessary to make it a worth while site not just for myself but all those that are interested in the wonderful world of the Pipe Organ, either the Classical Pipe Organ or the Theatre Pipe Organ