Converting Vox Humana to Krummhorn or Regal?

[ebie0967]

Hello All,

Has anyone had experience converting a vox humana into a more "baroque" reed? I worked on an organ several years ago where someone had revoiced an old Moller vox into a rather convincing vox. I also read an old post on the old pipechat archives where a fellow cut off the vox resonator and used copper tubing of varying diameters to make a regal.

Any ideas/suggestions?

Thanks,
Brian

[Westminster]

The Fisk organ at King's Chapel Boston has a 16' Vox Humana on the "Brustwerk" (Choir?) division. IIRC Charles Fisk told me that this is the Vox Humana 8' from the Skinner which preceded it, the only alteration being replacement of the tongues with thinner ones, such that it would tune low enough. WP is a bit over 2 1/4". It's been many years since I've heard this organ, but my recollection is that the Vox rework was very successful.

Since Voxes typically have normal English style shallots the motors would produce whatever replacement resonators would impart. Identical shallots and tongues would have been typical for the usual Trumpet, Oboe or Clarinet of the 19th or earlier 20th C.

[Terpodion]

I've serviced several organs that had been "baroqified" - rather badly I might add. One of the techniques was to cut the tops off the Vox to make it into a regal. In these cases it didn't work. Vox Humanas are rather unstable to begin with and rather time consuming to tune. These techniques only made that worse. One should also realize that the Vox is a rather old stop. Just about all of the organs that J.S. Bach played had one. Almost none had a Krummhorn. Granted the Vox of the 16th and 18th century was voiced a bit differently than a "modern" Vox, like a Moller or Skinner, but the basic sound was the same. Modifying one is not something I would be able to get behind. Replacing the tongues with thinner ones so it would work on lower pressure is a different story and I am sure that when done by a firm such as Fisk it was done absolutely properly and professionally by an expert reed voicer. Modifying reeds is tricky at best. If not done by someone with sufficient experience it will result in a stop that is so unstable that it will be out of tune, loaded with dead notes and unplayable most of the time. I should also add that a really well made Vox Humana in good shape is worth a pretty penny. I've gone through as many as three sets of used Vox pipes before I have found a suitable one. If you have a nice Vox. Leave it alone.

[Westminster]

My post above was not very clear. In the King's Chapel example there is not a new bottom octave. The original 8' C became 16' C with the (much) thinner tongues. The timbre is quite typical for a vox, but quite soft IIRC.

[Guest]

The Vox is a baroque reed and can be used as such. It has the tuning stability of all short resonator reeds due to the fact that the resonator is not closely coupled to the reed and does not stabilize the pitch. It is quite useful to add some color to an ensemble.

[ebie0967]

Thanks to all who replied for your great and helpful insights. I appreciate your thoughts and time. I think I'll leave it alone and look for a krummhorn that was built to be a krummhorn. :-)