First post - fun day at the U Chapel

[Guest]

Hello, organforum.

So our company takes care of the organ at Princeton and I had the fun task of removing the Tuba Mirabilis reservoir this week. This E.M. Skinner stop is on 25" wind pressure and makes quite a remarkable sound. Thankfully Mander included it in the reconstituted organ back in 1993, along with a lot of other Skinner bits.

Anyway here are some pictures from the day.

Cheers!
afd

Looking across from the Solo to the main organ


There used to be a reservoir here


And this is why we had to pull it


It took us over an hour to pass this back up into the main Solo chamber, and then down through the Solo division. The solo is spread across three floors, accessed through a 20" square hatch 9 feet from the floor.

[crapwonk]

The Ohio Wesleyan University Gray Chapel organ in the '70s (a Roosevelt/Kimball, 5 manual) had a Tuba Mirabilis. It was the most wonderful stop I had (and have) ever heard. Very full and resonant.

That organ was replaced by a 4 manual Klais in 1978. It is supposed to be the largest Klais in the US.

[michaelhoddy]

Hi Adam,

I met you back in the summer at Tower Hill Presbyterian in Red Bank- my company was doing some audiovisual work and you were covering up that rather aggressively-voiced Reuter! Small world.

How's the leather and mechanism holding up overall at Princeton? Hard to believe the Mander rebuild is over 20 years old now!

[davidecasteel]

The Ohio Wesleyan University Gray Chapel organ in the '70s (a Roosevelt/Kimball, 5 manual) had a Tuba Mirabilis. It was the most wonderful stop I had (and have) ever heard. Very full and resonant.

That organ was replaced by a 4 manual Klais in 1978. It is supposed to be the largest Klais in the US.

I don't know about other Klais instruments in the US other than ours, but the Ohio Wesleyan organ is stated by Klais to be a IV/60, and the Richardson, Texas First UMC organ was originally posted as a III/64, with a 2010 addition of an Antiphonal Division of 4 ranks (plus several more in the Main Organ). According to my count, the FUMCR Klais has 4 manuals operating 83 ranks (70 stops). I don't know how Klais would characterize that instrument--IV/70? Counts are difficult to make because there are a few "borrowed" stops, a "derived" (Resultant) stop, and a couple of non-pipe stops (Zimblestern, Texas, Nachtigall). The rank count, though, only counted actual ranks of pipes--borrowing did not add.

I also don't know if Klais has built any new larger instruments in the US since ours was completed in 2010. BTW, we don't have a Tuba Mirabilis, but we do have a hooded Tuba that is just marvelous! It is smooth, powerful, and just plain gorgeous. It was originally planned to be a horizontal Tuba in the balcony (Antiphonal/Solo Division) but funding issues delayed provision of that part of the organ and the Tuba was moved into the Main Organ and is situated separately on its own chest between the Swell enclosure and the Great pipes; and it is operated by stop controls on the Choir, Great, and Antiphonal/Solo Divisions independently.

David

[crapwonk]

I don't know about other Klais instruments in the US other than ours, but the Ohio Wesleyan organ is stated by Klais to be a IV/60, ...

Sorry to continue highjacking the original topic... The current Ohio Wesleyan site lists the disposition as 82 ranks, 55 stops, and 4,644 pipes. https://www.owu.edu/academics/depart...usical-assets/

Interestingly, the brochure from the re-dedication in 2013 lists it as 84 ranks, 58 independent voices, 4,644 pipes, and 60 stops, so there are discrepancies even from the OWU side of the house.

The Klais site seems to be up to date in its stop list, including the 2 new ranks added in the 2013 restoration. The stop list posted on the Klais site matches the one in the OWU brochure and there are 60 stops, not ranks. No ranks are borrowed. Given the pipe counts by stop in the OWU brochure I would believe either of the 80ish rank counts. I actually came up with 86 ranks, but must have overcounted somehow.

The OWU organ was funded (don't know to what extent) by the Blanchard family. Dr. Blanchard was a German prof at OWU while I was there. The German dept. was on the second floor of the building containing the organ's auditorium, with large doors on the 2nd floor opening directly into the German dept's hallway. One afternoon freshman year, I was showing off for a roommate and had the Roosevelt/Kimball lit up. Dr. Blanchard for a period had been an organbuilder, including working for Moller. He came storming through the door, gave me hell for the noise, and then actually some valuable advice, something to the effect: 'If you are going to play loud at least know what you are doing and do it efficiently. I bet you have all the stops pulled. The softer stops aren't adding anything, but they are sucking air and destabilizing everything else.' I was mortified at the time, he was right, and have actually taken his advice (and I still like loud).

Just caught the problem with my original statement regarding the size of the OWU Klais. Like many biggest, there are qualifiers. At the time of installation (1980) the OWU Klais was supposed to be the largest Klais Tracker Action organ in the US. I just looked at the Richardson First United Methodist Church disposition and finally picked up on the distinction: the 1st UMC Klais is not a tracker. It is a very beautiful installation based on the Klais photo.

[davidecasteel]

We have the option to add tracker action to the Main Organ if we want to--the instrument was designed to accommodate it, as well as the electric action. The mechanical console would be placed in that blank space in the center behind the choir. The Antiphonal/Solo Division in the balcony would always be electric action. We do think our organ is quite lovely--thank you.

It was not my intention to derail the thread, or to start a size war among Klais instruments. I'm sorry if that is how it appeared.

David

[Guest]

Hi Adam,

I met you back in the summer at Tower Hill Presbyterian in Red Bank- my company was doing some audiovisual work and you were covering up that rather aggressively-voiced Reuter! Small world.

How's the leather and mechanism holding up overall at Princeton? Hard to believe the Mander rebuild is over 20 years old now!

Well, the reservoirs are starting to go. This stems mostly from the use of Alum valve leather on the gussets, which practice I think had been abandoned by that time here in the US, in favor of chrome-tanned leather. Well, we'll be putting that right one by one at some point.

- - - Updated - - -

There's a Klais in New York as well. Tony Thurman (from AGO HQ) plays it. His partner Ted Barr is a client of ours, playing a mid-60s Austin in Haddonfield. Haven't seen the Klais. And yes, this thread got hijacked in favor of Klais. Somehow.

I don't know about other Klais instruments in the US other than ours, but the Ohio Wesleyan organ is stated by Klais to be a IV/60, and the Richardson, Texas First UMC organ was originally posted as a III/64, with a 2010 addition of an Antiphonal Division of 4 ranks (plus several more in the Main Organ). According to my count, the FUMCR Klais has 4 manuals operating 83 ranks (70 stops). I don't know how Klais would characterize that instrument--IV/70? Counts are difficult to make because there are a few "borrowed" stops, a "derived" (Resultant) stop, and a couple of non-pipe stops (Zimblestern, Texas, Nachtigall). The rank count, though, only counted actual ranks of pipes--borrowing did not add.

I also don't know if Klais has built any new larger instruments in the US since ours was completed in 2010. BTW, we don't have a Tuba Mirabilis, but we do have a hooded Tuba that is just marvelous! It is smooth, powerful, and just plain gorgeous. It was originally planned to be a horizontal Tuba in the balcony (Antiphonal/Solo Division) but funding issues delayed provision of that part of the organ and the Tuba was moved into the Main Organ and is situated separately on its own chest between the Swell enclosure and the Great pipes; and it is operated by stop controls on the Choir, Great, and Antiphonal/Solo Divisions independently.

David