Steves Pipe organ

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

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

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

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

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

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

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