Steve's Page

Steves Pipe organ

2012-01-19T22:53:00.000-08:00

I've always been concerned about changing the original configurations of the pipe organs I've acquired. Brian, a person I consider a good friend has challenged my thinking in this matter. Why not change the location of certain ranks to make the organ more true to the manuals on which they play in the setting they are in now. I can always make new rack boards and reserve the old to retain the originality for preservation. Thanks Brian! You have belayed my fears. Now I have a new problem as is what to put into the chests where they are located.

Steves Page

2012-01-19T22:34:00.000-08:00

Wow it's been longer than I thought. Though I've been playing more than building. I just bought two Austin Chests. A 6 rank great and a 8 rank swell chest. These are easy to change to electromechanical valves for unitizing and have an existing simple and reliable straight rank action. I don't have the chests in hand yet but am anxious in a way to get them. I have to make some room since they are rather large 10'6" long by 3'6" and 4' wide so I'm told. The direct magnet chests I previously mentioned may be held for other ranks. The Austin chests suit the ranks of pipes I have presently. When I get the chests I will have pictures. Till next time

Steve's Pipe Organ Page

2010-04-28T17:27:00.000-07:00

Hi Folks,

Been almost a year since I updated. I have the pedal Fagott up and running. I relocated the bass Violin Diapason and Bass Open Diapason pipes as you can see in this photo. I may move the pedal Fagott up closer to the front but before I do that I want to get the 16' Trumpet installed first. How that sounds coupled to the pedal will determine the final Fagott placement. I also recently purchased three windchests from Russell Meyers. One is a three rank Wicks, the other two are a three and four rank direct electric action chests of unknown manufacture. I also got a reservoir and some offset chests. I just hung two reservoirs and connected them to a Zephyr blower so I now have wind for the new chests and one I am yet building. I will supply a picture of this later. Here is the new ( to me at least ) 16' Holtcamp Pedal Fagott picture. Till next time

2009-06-03T14:15:00.000-07:00

These are pipes examples of five of the six ranks of pipes I just bought from Aaron Tellers. The one at the bottom is from a 8' Krumhorm rank, the next up is from a 8' Regal, next up is a 8' Trumpet (there is a 1/2 length 16' extension to this), nest up is from a 8' French Horn, and the last is a 4' Choral Bass. For who needs to know the four from the bottom of the picture are reeds, the top pipe is a flue.

This is the 16' Fagott rank. See how the cone shaped resonator has a cap that fits into the pipe and can close off the holes in the sides at the top. These tune the resonator. These are 1/2 length resonators. The square wooden pieces with the green sides are called boots. The metal block which holds the reed and shallot fit into the boot and the boot is pressurized with air when the valve open at the bottom. The green sides are very this and appear to be made of fiberglass or isen glass. I believe this resonates with the reed. This is a pedal rank and contains 32 pipes. The short looking pipes in the back hold the longer resonators.

These are the reed pipes with the boots removed so you can see the tuning wire, the reeds and shallot. For those who may not know, the reed is a thin flat piece of brass which vibrates against the shallot which is typically a tubular piece closed at the bottom with a slot in the side that the reed vibrates against. The top of the shallot is open and inserted into the lead block which opens in to the resonator. The tuning wire shortens or lengthens the vibrating portion of the reed changing the pitch. The differences in the design of the shallot, resonator, and reed makes the variation in the sound the pipe makes ie Clarinet, Oboe, Trumpet, ect.

This is a picture of the reeds from the top. The Krumhorn at the top has an narrow open resonator made of copper there is a slide tuner ( sleeve at the top which lengthens or shortens the resonator ).

The Regal below has a this brass tube which opens into a spotted metal resonator, (lead and tin mixture makes the metal spot, the more tin the finer or smaller the spots). It also has a slide tuner.

The trumpet (next down) has a cone shaped resonator with the top portion being spotted metal. It is open on top and has a scroll tuner in the resonator ( winds down like an old fashion sardine can with the key ) The different metals affect the sound as does the shape of the resonator.

The bottom one is the French Horn. It is cone shaped like the Trumpet but the top is closed but open on the edge and can be rolled up to fine tune the sound. It also has a scroll tuner on the resonator. The metal of the resonator is what they call Hoyt metal. It is a less expensive metal with a bright finish to resemble tin but in fact has a lot of lead in it. All the reeds have a tuning wire for the reed as well and the reed and resonator are tuned together to get it all sounding right.

I've got a lot of work ahead of me to get this all up and running, but I think it will be awesome when it is. I have run out of room for anymore pipes and I'm going to have to get creative to get these in place.

Til next time

Steve's Pipe Organ Page

2009-05-27T20:11:00.000-07:00

Woops, I did it again. I just picked up four new ranks of pipes. I now have a 8' French horn TC, a 16' Contra Trumpet 12 pipe ext. of the following, 8' Trumpet, a 16' Pedal Fagott with the windchests and a 8' Regal. These were purchased from Aaron Tellers who is another remarkable person I've met as a result of this project. Thanks Aaron! I still think one of the best parts of this project is the people I meet. OK, so now I'll need to get more output cards from Opus-Two and some more valves, and the list goes on.

Steve's Pipe Organ Page

2009-04-26T17:23:00.000-07:00

Just a quick update so you all don't think I dropped off the face of earth. I finished the windchest for the Stopped Diapason and now I am going to work on the wind supply for the lower pressure ranks. This way as I get windchests completed I can test them out and use them. I am planning to use a 3/4 hp Zephyr blower enclosed in a box with baffles to keep the noise down. The blower is not as loud as the furnace blower so enclosing it should do very well. If I need to add higher pressure ranks I will use the current Spencer that supplies the Kimball. I will get you some pictures of the finished Stopped Diapason chest and the new wind supply later.

Steve's Pipe Organ Project

2008-09-19T18:37:00.000-07:00

Charlie from the Diyapason Chat had a question about the flex line I am using so I thought I'd post a few pictures on the main wind line. Hope this helps Charlie

This is the Flexmaster wind line coming up from the 1-1/2 HP Spencer Orgoblo. I had to put an adjustable steel elbow at the top where it enters the corrigated culvert pipe at the wall. The turbulance and sharp 90 deg bend kept rupturing the flex at the bend. No trouble after putting in steel elbow. This is the NI-35 flex I think the NI-45 would have been better.
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This is the other end across the house where the main wind line enters the pipe chamber at the ceiling. It angles down past the pedal Bourdon and in the next picture you will see it disappear under the windchest into the Kimball regulator.

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These are abour 45 deg angles in the pipe chamber. The white line is the 4" pvc going to the 16' Pedal Bourdon and the lower five 16' Leblich Gedackt. This flex resembles the 4" dryer duct you find in home improvement stores except there is a 1/4" square nylon mesh sandwiched in laminate. _____________________________________________________________________

This is the 10" culvert pipe that stretches about 35' from the garage to the pipe chamber on the other end of the house. Contrary to what you see on the outside the inside is very smooth. You can still hear the blower noise at the end of this pipe. The flex does not muffle the sound. At some point I may put a muffler box or static reservoir on the blower.
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Here is a picture of the chest magnet valves installed on the side boards of a Roosevelt type ventil chest. This is my current project This chest will be for the Wicks Stopped Diapason. I have two valves to install on the end yet. And then the wiring begins again.
This chest is designed like a Roosevelt but the pneumatics have a wooden arm on the top of the wood as opposed to the steel bar inserted in to the wood. Gottfried supposedly built or rebuilt this organ. Is anyone aware of who made a chest like this with the wooden valve arms.
Hope you all enjoyed the latest post -- Till next time

Steve's Pipe Organ Project

2008-08-17T15:18:00.001-07:00

Hi Folks,
I finished the mitering of the lowest three of the 16' Wicks Gedackt rank. I now need to start on the windchest for the upper section of the rank. The bottom 14 has an offset chest which I need to supply wind and a regulator for these renegade ranks. I call them renegades because they do not belong to either complete organ ( Organcraft and Kimball) They are ranks from several manufactures Wicks, Austin, Kilgen, Gottfried and I'm not where the Gemshorn was made. I guess you could call it the Heines 57. Check out the pictures. These are the pipes I purchased from you, Allan.

CCC# in place. Bob, if you view these I had already put on the Silicone II prior to our conversation on the Diyapason. For everyone else silicone sealant can be problematic with wood. It soaks into the wood and nothing will stick to it ie glue if it needs to be repaired. Leather strips with a wood batton is probably the best way.
This is a picture showing the external braces or sometimes called scabs in construction. There is also a slot routed in the edge of the meeting sides with a 1/4" strip of wood inserted into the slot.
You can see this in the previous picture. It is the white patch under the external braces. The white stuff is the silicone II sealer

Well, there you have it all 14 pipes in a row.

Here you can see where the DDD# and EEE go between the floor joist. I only wanted to miter what was absolutely necessary. I would rather shorten the stopper handle.

Till next time

Steve

Steve's Pipe Organ Project

2008-08-12T20:30:00.000-07:00

Well folks,
I finally used the miter box and mitered DD, CC# and CCC of the 16' Wicks Gedackt rank I purchased from Allan. I really didn't want to do this but space is getting scarce. I have the first sections glued but have to route the slot on the long section of the pipe glue and seal the seams. Check out the pictures

This should be at the end of the pictures but I couldn't get the pictures to re arrange. This shows the slots routed into the sides where 1/4" thick x 3/4 " wide flat hardwood pieces fit into to join the mitered sections together.

This is a picture of the CCC pipe in the miter box with the saw half through, reminds me of the magicians trick. However, the pipe came out in two pieces unlike the lovely assistant.

Just another view of the pipe in the box as is the picture below.

The inside of the miter box with the saw part way through.

This is the lower 14 pipes of the Wicks 16' Gedackt. The three on the left are the piped to be mitered.

These are the assembled short lengths DD, CCC and CC#

Till next time.

Steve's Pipe Organ Project

2008-07-31T19:21:00.000-07:00

Hi Folks
I've been on vacation this week and got several things accomplished. What to do with the last day? Miter pipes, work on windchests or make room for the additional components.

These are the offset Open Diapason and Violin Diapason pipes on on their sides as there is not enough ceiling height. I set in the pipes and wired them to the Opus-Two controls and programmed them in. It is amazing how simple the Opus-Two makes this.

Rack and toe boards that will be used for the Salicional(Austin), Gedeckt(Wicks) and Flute de Amour(Moller) and Vox Humana(Wicks). These toeboards are from the Gotttfried rebuilt Skinner. I hate to do it but I'm cutting the 5 rank windchest into one rank sections for ease of placement and putting direct electric valves in. This was the echo chest At least the Wicks ranks should work well.

This is my homemade miter box for cutting the 16' Gedeckt and 16' Pedal Lieblich Gedeckt miters to fit under the ceiling. It has slots for 22.5 and 30 degrees.

These are the Kilgen Concert and Hohl Flutes stacked up by the main blower. I'm told these are a delightful salmon color by Allan, Music Director at Sacred Heart and a newfound friend. They are very clean and sound nice

Here is the Crescendo and Swell pedals and Toe Pistons installed and programed into the control system.

Till next time

Steve

Steve's Pipe Organ Project

2008-07-19T17:44:00.000-07:00

This is the display which shows many aspects that the system controls

This is the console with the pistons, couplers and the Opus-Two display installed

This is the chamber output cards. At the time of this photo only the primarys and pitman stop control is wired on the bottom two cards. The other cards are for the Kimball melodia and other ranks planned that need the windchests built yet.

This is the console inputs and and outputs for the combination action and the 3 Organcraft ranks integrated into the top of the console

Well, alot has happened since last post. I received and installed the pistons purchased from Arndt Organ Supply Company, another fine company with good people. I received the Opus-Two Instrument Control System from Essential Technology. A really nice system and super guy Dave Milton. I can't say enough about this system and the support I've received while installing. The Organcraft alone with only 3 ranks is so much more enhanced with the couplers. I purchased 4 more ranks to install, an 8' hohl flute, an 8' concert flute both Kilgen, a Moller 4' Flute d' Amore and an unknown 8' Chimney flute. So I have lots of work yet to do. Hope you enjoyed the picture update.

2008-06-11T20:36:00.000-07:00

Picked up the 16' thru2' gedackt pipes today. They look nice and should fit in nice with the organ eliminating some of the unification. I also ordered the opus two cards so all I have to do is make a chest for the 8' thru 2' pipes. Got to listen the large Skinner organ at Sacred Heart where I picked up the pipes thanks to Allan. They are at the first stages of rebuilding but these pipes are not from the Skinner. Now I'm going to remove the swell shades from the framework so I can get to the back of the Organcraft to make it easier to install the Opus-Two controls.

Steve's Pipe Organ Project

2008-06-06T14:50:00.000-07:00

I ordered the pistons today from Arndt Organ Supply Company today. The folks there are really nice people and it was a pleasure to do business with them. I had purchased a 10" flexible duct line that was supposed to handle 20" wind pressure. So far it has burst twice about 5' from the blower where it makes a 90 deg bend going into the main feeder line. I put a 90 deg elbow in that spot and I am planning to get the proper flex from OSI. It's so @#%& expensive though. I also purchased today a 16' thru 2' gedackt so I can eliminate some duplication from all the unification. One nice thing about this is it is only about 25 miles from home. I expect the OPUS-TWO controls tomorrow if they shipped in the same amount of time as the first time they shipped. I promise more pictures soon.

Steve"s Pipe Organ Project

2008-06-03T09:42:00.000-07:00

Well since last post the Opus-Two controls are finally on their way after the address disaster. I have all the bass pipes tubed off the main windchest. I still need to build 4 offset chests for the great gamba, swell salicional, swell vox humana, and pedal octave. Syndyne is currently not producing pistons so I'll have to scrap the 5 Syndyne pistons and order 22 Klann from Arndt if the dimensions fit.

Pipe Organ Update

2008-05-25T10:51:00.000-07:00

Thanks to the good folks who supplied assistance regarding spacing on the diyapasion chat I've got the holed drilled in the piston rails. The swell rail has swell to pedal and 1 thru 5 swell divisional pistons The great rail will have set, 1 thru 5 generals, great to pedal, 1 thru 5 great divisional, transpose up and transpose down, sforzando, and cancel. I missed the shipment of the Opus-2 controls due to my stupidity in forgetting my address. These are being sent again and I hope Dave Milton has forgiven me. When these arrive I will be busy rewiring everything in a more permanent fashion. I found some nice light, flexible hose at Lowe's where I work to use in tubing off the many bass notes. I was using tygon tubing but this is expensive, heavy and stiff requiring me to use barbed 90 deg elbows and supporting with wires from the ceiling. The new hose I'm using is made for piping water from sump pumps and costs about $8.00 for 25 feet at the store where I work. That saves a dollar a foot over the clear stuff. I will be adding more pictures when the rails are wired in.

Steve Pipe Organ Project

2008-05-15T20:29:00.000-07:00

Well I've added the drawknob jams. There are 7 pedal stops, 14 swell and 12 great stops. The rockers in the middle were the stops for the organcraft which is the console and the 3 ranks of pipes that the console is integrated. I will be replacing it with couplers. I will be adding the divisional names above the drawknobs and perhaps a trim around the divisions. The Opus-Two controls have shipped. I might add pistons on the great drawknob jam for options Opus-Two has. And of course it needs pistons under the manuals yet. The Organcraft is the 3 rank organ with exposed pipes. The Kimball is behind the swell shades. You can catch a glimps of the melodia through the left side of the swell shades. The box to the left contains the Wicks vox humana which needs a windchest and swell shades. I think I will make it a vox in a box. Lots of work to do yet.

Steves Pipe Organ Project

2008-05-13T09:11:00.000-07:00

My association with the pipe organ began in my sophmore year in high school. My father told me about a church in West Bridgewater, PA that was tearing out their pipe organ. As it worked out I began my first acquisition of a pipe organ. It was a three manual instrument. The name tag had the inscription "Made by A Gottfried Co Erie Pa for CB May Beaver Pa 1903" there is some question as to whether Gottfried actually made this instrument or rebuilt it. This organ was stored in the barn and unfortunately most of it is no longer usable. It had 23 ranks I believe. About the turn of the century I bought a 3 rank Organcraft practice organ on ebay originally from West Virginia University. This organ has an 8' metal gedackt, an 8' quint and a 4' principal. Two manual 61 notes and pedal 32 notes ep action and fits under an 8' ceiling. Around 2004 I purchased a Kimball pipe organ on ebay which came from the First Baptist Church in Pleasantville, NJ. Opus 6873. The photo is the right side of the Kimball pipe chamber. This is a 5 rank organ. The console was destroyed before the organ was listed on ebay. The only part that survived was the stop tab rail. I am now assembling the Organcraft and Kimball with a few renegade ranks from the Gottfried, Austin, Wicks, and a pedal octave whos manufacture I can't recall. At the moment after I'm through typing this I will resume working on the drawknob jambs. I will be posting pictures from previous progress and as I go along. I hope you enjoy the progress. I know I am.