Adding a rank of pipes

The Opus 11 which contains 2 ranks of pipes, 1. 8' Diapason, 2. 8' Stopped Diapason has developed growing pains. Presently it consists of only one manual and no pedal but this Summer it is going to grow and have 2 manuals, 30 note pedal board and 2 new additonal ranks of pipes, an 8' Dulciana (l872 Hook & Hastings) and a 4' Flute D'Amore (l896 Hook & Hastings). The pipes are ready and have been completely gone over and the pedalboard has been completely restored. It is a l904 Midmer. The keyboards are from a l934 Estey. I know all these parts are from different instruments but believe it or not they all will work with each other and the pipes can be regulated to work with the existing organ pipe work. I will need to make a new main chest to accomodate 4 ranks now instead of the 2 but with some careful measuring and some tightening up it will all fit. I also have a 12 note 16' Bourdon extension and if I can muster up enough wind pressure it is a possibility to add this. A 16' always makes for a more beautiful and full pedal sound, but we will see. This is just an update on what is going on with my organs. The stop list will change and this is the new one: Great: 8' Open Diapason, 4' principal, 8' Dulciana, 4' Dulcet, 8' Stopped Diapason, 4' Flute, Swell: 8' Stopped Diapason, , 8' Dulciana, 4' Dulcet, 4' Flute Great to Swell Coupler, Pedal: 16' Bourdon(?), 8' Open Diapason, 8' Flute, 4' Flute, Great to Pedal and Swell to Pedal. It will be all

'

Soldering Organ Pipes

One of the most important things about having and building a pipe organ is a certain amount of repair to pipes. A lot of times we find a rank of pipes and invariably there is a pipe that needs some work done in order to improve the appearance or help it to speak. One of these is soldering. I really have not found any books that tell a lot about pipe soldering but there are a lot of books out there that can help and these are called "people". People that know how to do this very skilled part of pipe making and repair. Talk to them, I have found that most will be happy to share their skill. Also one will need the proper tools too. The first tool is called "patience" a lot of this is needed in order to learn the skill. Then comes the 1. soldering iron, 2. the correct solder, 3. steriac acid (floss) and a few other items I will discuss. Presently I am in the stage of learning this skill myself so I will keep this post updated and hopefully have pictures to show. I will post pictures of the items needed - stay tuned.

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