Someone offered me a FREE PIPE ORGAN!!!

[cantornikolaos]

Hi,

A friend I worked with offered to give me a free pipe organ. It is a three-rank unit organ. I do not know who built it and it is missing a console. The action is DVA and needs to be re-leathered. Also, some pipes are missing, but I don't know how many. I need a place for it to go and a place to work on it.

I want to add MIDI to it and create a midi console for the organ. Is that a good idea? I want to try and use it in church in place of that horrid, Allen MDS that was so poorly installed. Maybe I could use the Allen's MIDI to run the pipe organ and throw in a Artisan Sound Engine to replace the remaining Allen stops. Anyone ever done something like that?

[VaPipeorgantuner]

Re: Someone offered me a FREE PIPE ORGAN!!!



well, before you accept, please go look at the organ carefully and if possible take a dis-interested person knowledgeable in organ construction or maintenance. If you play, figure out what pipes are actually missing (or damaged). Used, odd-ball pipes are sometimes available but you need to know pretty exactly what you are looking for..(rank, wind pressure, scaling, etc). If the organ has Reisner DVA units, they can be recovered (releathered - the replacement pouches can be acquired from Organ Supply Industries by way of a local organ maintenance firm...they may or may not sell them directly to you...Miller Pipe Organs in Louisville may be a good place to inquire). Since there is no console, you will need a Midi-driven control system...Artisan, Opus II, Syndyne all make systems you can retrofit to this organ, then use your brand "A" to front-end the system that will play the pipes...altho you may need to involve the local Allen tech in interfacing the stop controls with your MDS monster. Best wishes. if I can be of further help, just keep on writing.

If you plan on doing the rebuilding work on your own, you will want a person that can be your technical mentor, and be prepared...it's a lot of hands-on work to rehab even a small unit organ - besides the replacement of the DVA pouches, there will be a significant amount of wiring work necessary.

Perhaps you can take some digital pictures? that might help those of us who are distant to provide further assistance.

Rick in VA

(pipe organ builder, tuning and maintenance provider and working church organist)

[cantornikolaos]

Re: Someone offered me a FREE PIPE ORGAN!!!



OOOOOOOOOOO!

Staunton, VA!

Are you hiring? Taylor & Boody is nice!

[NYCFarmboy]

Re: Someone offered me a FREE PIPE ORGAN!!!

there is no such thing as a "free" pipe organ.

The cost to move, cost to rewire it and releather will be quite alot.

3 ranks woul provide a "basic" organ. Any operating system is going to cost some money....I recommend Syndyne but get price quotes before proceding so you know what you are getting into.






Red flags: missing console: that will be QUITE expensive to fit on..or at least time consuming to wire in.

consoles show up n ebay and are given awayt hough from time to time so keep your eyes out.


Missing pipes: Find out exaclty which pipes are missing. a few treble pipes can be replaced with ease . Larger middle range & bass notes are going to be more expensive to replace as they will have to match the pressure of the organ and the rank they are going in on.




I would honestly only ever recommend a complete organ...WITH console, switching and wiring. Trying to make a pipe organ from parts is just plain going to be at the VERY minimum VERY VERY VERY VERY VERY time consuming, and most likely very costly..and for just 3 ranks perhaps not worth the effort unless you are very constrained for space.




I started out at 5 ranks...I'm at 22 now..going to 30 this summer or so....so warning..it IS addictive and the results are awesome if you start with something good. But if you start with something incomplete I think you will get burned out on it and the effort will be not so rewarding. Hate to discourage but wanted to interject that a FREE pipe organ is not possible.

[NYCFarmboy]

Re: Someone offered me a FREE PIPE ORGAN!!!

you are one hour from me: check out http://www.reuter822.com and come visit my house organ to get an idea of what you are getting yourself into! LOL :)

[VaPipeorgantuner]

Re: Someone offered me a FREE PIPE ORGAN!!!

[quote user="cantornikolaos"]

OOOOOOOOOOO!

Staunton, VA!

Are you hiring? Taylor & Boody is nice!

[/quote]

not at the moment...and believe it or not, most organbuilders take a vow of poverty (self-inflicted). Taylor and Boody build fine instruments and I have several friends and acquaintances that work for them. If I can be of further service don't hesitate to contact me.

Rick In VA

[cantornikolaos]

Re: Someone offered me a FREE PIPE ORGAN!!!



Is there any way to make the allen organ at church die? It is the worst thing I have ever heard!

My idea for the Free organ (if I can get started on it) is to go to Taylor Miller or Milnar or someone like that and buy ranks or parts of ranks to fill-in what is missing. Then, I'll add a few goodies and look for a console. Maybe I'll build a midi console.

[Guest]

Re: Someone offered me a FREE PIPE ORGAN!!!

MIDI keyboards are all over the place. You can use most synths or DAWs to generate MIDI output. one of the first things you sholjd find out is if the MIDI equipment you already have, if you have any, is it General MIDI format, if it's notyou will have to create patches. Once you decide on what you have to create andrecord MIDI programs (usually some type of sequencer)then you will have to have a system of reading the MIDI signals and operating the organ pipes. You didn't say what kind of valving the pipes had. A way of actuating the pipes could be through the use of programmable logic controller (my preference is Mitsubishi but there are many available at different price points) and then banks of relays and actuators. It sounds to me like you need to do some additional homework.It is nice to be ableto contemplate such things but if you don't have the technical background yourselfthings can devolve very rapidly. Anything can be done if you throw enough money at it!

[nsa66]

[QUOTE=cantornikolaos;210976]Is there any way to make the allen organ at church die? It is the worst thing I have ever heard!

[davidecasteel]

No message following the quote, nsa66. My own answer would be that an overvoltage would probably do it. However, Allens are usually pretty good instruments representing a significant investment: would it not be better to find some way to resurrect it?

David