Choir box tuning access

[Dave]

Is it common for a choir volume / swell box to have no access for tuning? We believe it is a 1938 addition to a 1913 organ. It has drop down hatch doors under the vertical louvres that access the reed pipes tuning, but as far as I can tell the only way to tune the rearmost pipes would be to remove all the louvres.

[majestique]

Here in the US it is common to encounter the type of configuration you describe, especially in older instruments and those with mechanical action. I encountered many that required removal of the expression louvers, standing on the frame for said louvers while tuning, holding onto the remaining louvers or the ceiling of the chamber while trying to access pipes that were far out of reach. It was especially fun when there was no passage space between the unenclosed division in front and the expression box, and no passage board over the treble end of the unenclosed chest. Remove a few facade pipes, straddle the unenclosed division, remove expression louvers while balancing between pipes with nothing else to hold onto, hoist yourself to the expression frame, and tune. And the church would wonder why it took a while to tune the instrument, and why I required the chancel to be cleared out in advance. Then there was the instrument where the only way into the expression box was via a hinged panel in the chamber roof, with no ladder down to the passage over the treble pipes. Roughly a three foot drop to the passage board, no light inside the box, and badly mangled pipes. I tuned that organ one time and told them I wouldn't be back unless they'd cover the costs of making safe access. I doubt that organ is extant at this point.

[Dave]

Thanks Majestique. I guess the only good thing I can say then is that there are only 4 ranks / stops to our Choir department, so at least once we've removed the front its not too great a depth to reach

[ChristopherS]

I made the choir chamber of the 1875 Henry Erben I'm working more accessible by modifying the side of the chamber so it can be opened for maintenance. We actually removed all the pipes so we could panel over the deteriorating plaster wall behind and re-graphite the sliders. The shades (added in 1923) already were removable, but I made some modifications to make those easier to remove.