Originally posted by Sathrandur
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My guess regarding why there are no 32' Contre Bourdons in some of the larger organs has to do with the presence of speech. Of course, we all know the longer the pipe, the slower the speech tends to be, however, I know some of those characteristics can be mitigated somewhat with voicing adjustments. In a stopped pipe of that length, the slowness of speech tends to be longer than a shorter pipe, no matter how good the voicing.
I've seen many examples of a 16' Bourdon, but none of the 32' variety. They exist, of course, but only in some of the largest organs, and in those organs, there are other, more present-speaking-stops that can be employed until the 32' Contre Bourdon weighs in and provides the foundation. I could be wrong, but I think it also takes longer for the sound to stop in a larger pipe as well.
Just my uneducated guess. Now, ask a pipe builder!
Michael
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