New here, have organ

[MD1032]

Hi guys, I'm relatively new to the organ universe but I am really into it and looking to become familiar with the instrument and learn it to a tolerable level. I attend Lincroft Bible Church in Lincroft, NJ where we currently have a somewhat dormant organ that needs to be serviced a little bit before it will be in tip-top shape. I will post what we have up there later, but I think it's about 2/21. The walls are mostly wood with some brick with carpet floors and pews with non-removable cushions.

We could use a little expansion (We actually lack a 16' Diapason for whatever reason, I guess the organ builder couldn't find one or didn't think we needed one), but right now there's actually an entire 8' Trumpet rank not working for some reason. It looks like it's almost brand new, installed when this organ was put together and matches the 16' Trumpet we have in the pedal. Given that it is one of our only three reed stops, I would like to find a way to reconnect it but have no idea what I'm doing. I had my band director come over one day since he is knowledgeable with organs and I went up in the pipe room while he messed around and I heard clicking happening around or inside their wind chest, but none of the pipes activated. My band director guesses they were disconnected because perhaps they are not tuned, but I would like to reconnect them and try to use them regardless of the reason for their being disconnected. Any ideas? Thanks.

MD1032

[KleinErzahler]

Re: New here, have organ

Greetings,

Welcome to the organ universe.

I think a good place to start would be to gather some specifics about the instrument, such as:

1 - The make of the instrument, and the year it was built

2 - A complete stop list for the instrument

3 - Whatever photographs you can take of the organ would be helpful - you're welcome to post them on my web server for all to see - if you would like.

Once these things are known, we will likely be able to tell you more about how your mechanism works and whether or not the dead stops are a large problem or just something simple.

Good luck!

- Nate

[MD1032]

Re: New here, have organ

Supposedly they're discussing whether to fix it right now but in the meantime I'll take matters into my own hands. The organ doesn't seem to have a make at all. Rather, it seems to be an assemblage of old and new pipes thrown together to make an instrument. The only label I see is this one that you can see in the pictures. I don't have a stop list yet but I plan to make one ASAP. The pictures are too blurry to see the stops. But in the rest of the pictures you can see most all of the pipes.

I checked the 8' Trumpet's (on the great) wind chest and squeezed the tube going to it to see if it was pressurized and it was. Or at least it certainly felt that way. When my band director was pressing the controls for it, I can audibly hear clicking coming from the chest, but no sound results.

There are a lot of pictures and there seems to be no way to get them all uploaded at the same time. Who wants to do it? I'll send the zip file to you through yousendit.

[KleinErzahler]

Re: New here, have organ

Greetings,

Feel free to send them to my E-mail and I'll post them up - [email protected]

- Nate

[MD1032]

Re: New here, have organ

Sent via yousendit.

[MD1032]

Re: New here, have organ

No edit button on this forum, so here's another post to include the reference link it gave me. If anyone wants to download the pictures and host them, feel free:

http://s26.yousendit.com/d.aspx?id=1...S05PNZ9ZWEJYKO

[KleinErzahler]

Re: New here, have organ

Greetings,

Are you sure that the Trumpet isn't on the main Great chest? It certainly looks like it. It sounds to me like the clicking you are hearing is the key action for the main chest, and for some reason the stop action for the Trumpet is not working. I would look for a magnet and valve that lines up with the Trumpet rank, either under the passage board or under the chest somewhere, and try pushing that valve to see if it comes on, if it exists.

The chest is eerily similar to an OSI pitman chest in appearance...

Be careful for your ears!!!

- Nate

[KleinErzahler]

Re: New here, have organ

Hello again,

I just looked at Picture 71, I guess it is a different chest. Single rank chests are by nature unit chests - I would look for a 61-note switch that brings this stop on and off - it may be pneumatic or electric, and it is probably up in the chamber (if it were in the console that would mean 61 extra wires, so I doubt it's there).

It might be the switch pictured in #71 that is attached to the end of the main great chest - if that is hooked to the trumpet chest, have someone flip the Trumpet tab on and off and see if the switch moves, if it doesn't, it could be the contact in the console, or a break in the circuit somewhere along the way. A good way to rule out something broken or disconnected between the console and chamber would be to jump it from a neighboring contact in the console.

Hope this helps!

- Nate

[MD1032]

Re: New here, have organ

It just occured to me that you can't see the Trumpet chest alone in any of those pics (I don't know what you were referring to in Picture 71, you can only see the Great's chest in it), I will try to get some better ones. I am 100% sure the Trumpet is on its own chest. I remember making a distinct mental note of that because as I said, it looks like the Mixture III, 8' Trumpet, and 16' Trumpet are all newer and were built or bought for addition to this organ. Without that Mixture, trust me, it would be a very muddy organ.

I'll try that thing on the end of the Great chest...if I ever get around to going to the church, that is.

Anyway, those pics with the drawers containing the switches are unfortunately the method of registering the pistons! Each piston has a switch corresponding to a stop, and in order to register a piston I have to move my finger down the row and click each switch the way I want it to be since there is no "Set" button of any kind. It kind of stinks, if we upgraded the organ console that would be first on my list.

[KleinErzahler]

Re: New here, have organ

Greetings,

In picture 71 you can see that there is something attached to the side of the Great chest with a cable leaving it - that is a Reisner "gang" switch, it is likely the stop action for the Trumpet.

Fortunately for you, updating a setter-board console is fairly easy, as you can keep the old tabs and just hitch it up to a new combination action or solid state memory...

- Nate

[MD1032]

Re: New here, have organ

Solid State's expensive from what I hear, so that's probably not an option at the moment, but I'll mention that to the guy who is supposedly going to repair the organ, if the church board approves it. I have to find some contact info for the guy first.

I wish I had some red tabs for those reeds, though. ;)

So can I do something to this Reisner switch to turn on the Trumpet?

Also, as I'm new to this organ stuff, can you explain why when I hit the "Sforzando" piston or toe stud that it sounds like some electric generator starts up inside the console?

Still don't have any immediate plans for vising the church some night. Between marching band, college applications, and high school, I'm quite busy.

[KleinErzahler]

Re: New here, have organ

Greetings,

Personally, I detest solid state, but that's just me.

I am somewhat tolerant of the memory systems because they are quite useful. Actually, I'm not so much anti solid-state memory as I am against gutting and destroying historic consoles.

The solid state switching on the other hand, that I have no tolerance for. When it is installed poorly (which is quite often around here) it is the most irritating thing I can think of. Even when it is installed by the best, it can still give heaps of trouble. I see it as little more than a cost-cutting expedient for builders, as you can MIDI and transpose just about anything out there without even changing the switching.

At any rate, I'm sure that older memory systems are fairly easy to come by, even if they are one-level units.

As far as the Reisner switch goes, wedge down a few keys on the Great, put on your ear protection, and give the switch a wiggle to see if anything comes on.

Let me know what happens!

- Nate

[MD1032]

Re: New here, have organ

Yeah, I personally think the satifying "CHUNK" of a billion volts powering huge magnets and switches when you operate the pistons.

All right, I'm pretty sure I'll be able to go tomorrow to check out things. I'll try to get a recording of something for you to listen to. I was just listening to an improvised recording of some of the "tremolo" effects on the swell, and it is EXCELLENT. The tremulance is really fast, like almost theater organ fast!! I just played a couple chords with it on, and they are amazing. I have a feeling I'm really going to have some serious fun with that.

I'll try that wedging and stuff, I've got a couple ER-20's handy in case something goes wrong. Something actually did go wrong once, I was inspecting the Bourdon G, which was not responding on the pedalboard of the console, and manually tripped it. FFFOOOOOOOOOOM!!!! I got quite a scare, then turned it off. I guess it's working.

[MD1032]

Re: New here, have organ

OK, I was rushed, but I got a quick stop list tonight. This is from left to right and lists all of the tabs including the couplers:

Pedal:

16' Bourdon
16' Lieblich
8' Major Flute
8' Violon Cello
8' Gedeckt
4' Pedal Flute
16' Trumpet
8' Haut Bois (possibly a coupler to the Oboe on the swell?)
Gr -> Ped
Sw -> Ped
Sw -> Ped 4'

Swell:

8' Violin Diapason
8' Stopped Diapason
8' Salicional
8' Aeoline
8' Vox Celeste
4' Harmonic Flute
2' Flautina
8' Oboe
Tremolo
Sw -> Sw 16'
Sw -> Sw 4'
Swell unison release

Great:

8' Open Diapason
8' Melodia
8' Dulciana
4' Octave
2 and 2/3 Twelfth
2' Fifteenth
Mixture III
8' Trumpet
Chimes (FYI goes from A to E)
Sw -> Gr 16'
Sw -> Gr
Sw -> Gr 4'
Gr -> Gr 16'
Gr -> Gr 4'
Great unison release

So that puts me at 23 ranks not including the HautBois on the pedal or the chimes and including the Mixture III, right? Not bad. As a full organ, it sounds good and like I said hopefully I'll be able to get some short recordings of the instrument up soon.

[KleinErzahler]

Re: New here, have organ

Greetings,

Wow, that's a nice specification! I like it!

- Nate