A mild restoration

[aeolian pat]

Seems that this might be a very fine instrument indeed.
See this interesting bit of lore dive deep.
https://mander-organs-forum.invision...ders-leeds/ery

[Innocentti]

This organ is listed on the UK National Pipe Organ Register.

[aeolian pat]

The leather being used in those days was of extraordinary, high quality. Some say it was Kangaroo hide, others say that the treatment with mercury in tanning was that part that kept the leather supple.So the many pouches and valves in the coupler machine may very well be OK. Leather is best when it is kept working.

When the Empire was at its peak, high quality materials were available at reasonable prices even though there were no trees in Britannia there was a great deal of old growth wood available for pipe organ builders..

[Dave]

Thanks Pat. Hopefull over time some of what you say about the different stops will make sense to me when I can stop thinking about the mechanics and start really thinking about playing. I'm hopeful that the coupler issue may be a barely connected larger (2" ish) pipe just inside the console. Theres certainly 1, maybe 2 of the offset chests non functional given the range of notes missing on the pedal open diapson. I am however very glad to say that theres zero evidence of any water ingress and the entire roof on that side of the building was recently replaced. This may however also be responsible for detritus in the great departments pipes.....

[aeolian pat]

This specification is quite nice.
Often the choir manual can be thought of as the softer or lighter stops of the great moved to a chest that is enclosed. Quite often a powerful reed is placed there so it can be used at various levels of intensity. So a small three manual can be thought of as a large two manual with a divided great.
In your stop-list you will find a No.1 Diapason it may be a Phonon, this set of pipes would be designed for solo passages and it's leathered upper lip allowed for an attack that blends the sound of successive notes for legato melody passages. It also would act as a foundation tone in playing pieces like a Beethoven Symphony. It often works well used by itself with the 4 gt-to-gt coupler.
Your second diapason is for ensemble build-up .
In organ language we call the basic group of stops the big four. All at 8 foot, the (2nd on this organ) open diapason, the Gambe, (string sound), the large open harmonic flute, and the soft stopped flute.They were designed to be drawn together for a rich base of sound.
You notice that the Gambe is separated into the choir where it is designed to act as a substitute 8 foot diapason, the harmonic flute is raised an octave and can be used as a solo flute.. The Clarionet is imitative but can be used as a soft trumpet in light choruses, the spelling is peculiar to the era.The Clarabella is often a large open flute solo stop, it may work as the Harmonic Flute , they are all different.
Nice to see a swell Celeste on this organ this was not always so in British organ building. This stop is tuned sharp and provides a beautiful undulation imitative of a set of violins playing together. Often a second but soft unison string was provided rather than a Celeste.
Both swell reeds are for solo or chorus work, the Cornopean is a type of trumpet, smooth and dark. As with the Tromba on the great, the reeds should be thought of as imitating the town band type of brass.
The 16 foot open diapason in the pedal is unusual, for most diapasons of time were made of wood. this one may be on the brighter side. The scale looks pretty large, capable of a good amount of bass tone. If there is room in the chamber, a large 16 foot reed and an 8 foot metal Cello are all that is missing for a complete pedal.
Here is an article on tracker terminology which may be helpful in future postings. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tracker_action
The large boxes on which the pipes sit are referred to as Windchests. The boxes supplying air are called Regulators or Reservoirs, depending on their function. The air coming from the blower is at an arbitrary pressure and volume and must pass through a stabilizing device, the Regulator, this is passed through an air storage device essentially very near the pipes call the Reservoir. It is important that all of the wind trunks are made of stout material so that they are not the source of de-stabilized air. That's why they will all be of wood or metal.
You will notice that the larger pipes, particularly the diapasons and large flutes of the manuals have their bass pipes on Offset chests with their own reservoirs, this is because they suck up a great deal of air and they would steal air from the smaller pipes causing a Jitter in the small pipe speech.
This looks like an instrument that could be saved at a reasonable cost. The greatest cost might be to repair the coupler mechanism. There is not too much that can go wrong unless water is allowed to damage the windchests or the Wooden pipes.Most work could be done in small stages.

Thank you for sharing this little beauty with us..
Regards
Pat

[Dave]

Yeah, thanks. It'll be an inspection, as much to see a manufacturers name and hopefully date, then just to check the blades arent filthy. Its probably not been touched for 50 years....

[myorgan]

Be very careful if you're looking at the blower and blades. From an earlier post on the Forum, someone mentioned they are carefully balanced and aligned, so other than a cursory cleaning it is my understanding they should be left alone.

Michael

[Coenraads]

Dirt? Pipe out of position? Damaged/missing pipe?
When you find a dead note, have someone play that note and lift the pipe. If you hear a good air flow coming out of the toe hole, then the pipe needs a close inspection.
If there is no air flow for some reason, make sure the toe hole is clear of debris.

[Dave]

Thanks, the stops of the grand and swell are tracker, with everything else tubular pneumatic. Only the blower and the light bulb are electric. Having a look at the blower and its blades is high on my list. All the main bellows look in good condition to me, but i suspect some of the individual valves will need repair. I understand many of the faults and their causes but the major one that confuses me so far is this - in a soundchest (large wind box under a whole department of pipes, sorry for terminology again...), if I know that the key works i.e. said note works on most stops, and I know that the stop works i.e. most notes work on that voice, what can cause 1 note on one stop to not work?

[Coenraads]

Thanks for this. Tubular pneumatic and all those 8' stops and couplers, this is very much an instrument of its time. It is a time capsule that seems to have escaped being "updated". Besides the tubular pneumatics for the offset chests, what action does the rest of the organ use? Electro-pneumatic or tracker?

Nice to see someone taking an interest in this organ. BTW, has the blower been oiled in recent memory and is it quiet and running smoothly. Be careful of the moving parts and get permission to take a look. Call in an electrician if something is not right.

Begin with a good cleaning of the instrument and the pipes. Then after a tuning, reassess the condition of the organ and what needs to be done. Some repairs (e.g., detached linkages, leaking wind lines) are easily repaired. But for a releathering, expert help will be needed.

[aeolian pat]

Very nice, thank you.
Pat

[Dave]

Pedal	Keys 30 1 Open Diapason 16 2 Bourdon 16 3 Bass Flute 8
Choir	Keys 58 Enclosed 4 Viol De Gamba 8 5 Harmonic Flute 4 6 Gemshorn 4 7 Clarionet 8
Great	Keys 58 8 Large Open Diapason 8 9 Small Open Diapason 8 10 Stopped Diapason 8 11 Dulciana 8 12 Clarabella 8 13 Prinicipal 4 14 Tromba 8
Swell	Keys 58 Enclosed 15 Lieblich Bourdon 16 16 Open Diapason 8 17 Lieblich Gedackt 8 18 Voix Angelica 8 19 Voix Celestes 8 20 Principal 4 21 Mixture III 22 Cornopean 8 23 Oboe 8 24 Tremulant

Console

• Console type En fenêtre Stop type Drawstop Label type Plastic Label font Roman Pedalboard Radiating concave Couplers
  • Swell to Pedal
  • Swell to Great
  • Swell to Choir
  • Swell octave to Great
  • Swell suboctave to Great
  • Swell octave
  • Swell suboctave
  • Choir to Great
  • Choir to Pedal
  • Great to Pedal

Details

• 3 Comp pedals to Great - Non adjustable
• 3 Comp pedals to Swell - Non adjustable
• Balanced Swell pedal
• Balanced Choir pedal

[Dave]

[Dave]

As requested here's some photos. Its built by Abbott and Smith of Leeds, believed to be in 1913 when the church was built, though the earliest known photo, believed to be of the churchs consecration DOESNT feature the fascade pipes, though the angle of the photo doesnt allow for seeing if the console was in place. There were upgrades made in 1938 for the 25th anniversary but it isnt clear whether the whole of the choir department was added at this point or just the swell box. The fact that the the choir couplers are in an entirely different location to the others suggests to me that the whole department was new at this point. Again, we have little history of work done, but the Swell bellows are certainly newer than other sections judging from the rectangular metal wind conduits where others are wooden. Its not very pretty, and its currently in quite a sad state. I counted yesterday and there are 67 faults, ranging from weak or non functional individual pipes, to random behaviour from all the couplers, and the choir department sometimes doesnt work at all. Lots to do, once I've cleaned everything first (100 years of dust from a coal mine nearby if nothing else). We also have a day booked at the local archives office as they have listed boxs of paperwork from the local stately home whose owner commissioned the church, and lists such things as the architects plans for the building. I'm hoping there'll be a quote or invoice from the organ builders, or at least a mention of its cost

[Coenraads]

Ditto that including a console pic. And who is the builder?
Just curious.
John