JWAnderson

Some organs will have a special "Auto Pedal Coupler" which some people find useful. At my church, there are 4 organists, and out of them all I'm the only one that uses the pedals. Another way I have been told about to make an Orchestral Oboe is to have the Swell Oboe/Hautboy 8 and the Vox Humana 8 (if on a different manual couple the Sw to it) and have the Tremulant on. I haven't been able to try this as my organ doesn't have the Vox Humana, but has anyone tried this before?

The Auckland Town Hall in NZ used to have a really nice 4m 59rank 1911 Norman & Beard organ. If anyone knows the Wellington Town Hall 1906 Norman & Beard, it had just about the same specification as that but a bit bigger. Then in the 1970s George Croft rebuilt the organ to a more Baroque specification and left only 11 of the Norman & Beard ranks in there. A lot of organ builders say that this was a big mistake and if you've seen the current specification, its pretty horrific now. Fortunately the Klais Organ Company is going to be rebuilding it at some point in the future. I'll include the specification shortened up a bit: Great Principal 16, Quintaton 16, Open Diap 8, Principal 8, Stop'd Diap 8, Spitzflote 8, Oct 4, Gems 4, Nason Flute 4, 12th 2 2/3, 15th 2, Block flute 2, Sesq. II, Mixt III, Trumpets 16-8-4 Swell Open Diap 8, Chim Flute 8, Salicional 8, Vox Angelica 8, Principal 4, Open Flute 4, Nazard 2 2/3, Gems 2, Tierce 1 3/5, Flageolet 1, Scharf III, Corno di Bassetto 16, Tromp 8, Hautboy 8, Clarion 4, trem Choir Contr. Dulciana 16, Lieb. Gedacht 8, Viole d' Orchestre 8, Viole Celeste 8, Dulc. 8, Unda Maris 8, Lieb. Flute 4, Dulcet 4, Quint Flute 2 2/3, Open Flute 2, Mixt II, trem Positive Quintaton 16, Principal 8, Gedackt 8, Oct 4, Rohr Flute 4, Oct 2, Wald Flute 2, Larigot 1 1/3, Super Octave 1, Tertian II, Cimbel III, Cromorne 8, trem Solo Concert Flute 8, Holz Regal 16, Echo Trump. 8, Vox Humana 8, Rohr Schalmey 8, trem, Fanfare Trumpets 8/4 Pedal Doub. Opens Metal 32, Wood 32, Open Metal 16, Wood 16, Principal 16, Bourdon 16, Quintaton 16, Dulciana 16, Quint 10 2/3, Oct 8, Spitz Flute 8, Quintade 8, Oct Quint 5 1/3, 15th 4, Rohr Flute 4, Block Flute 2, Rauschquint II, Mixture IV, Contra Bombarde 32, Bombarde 16, Trumpet 16, Holz Regal 16, Bombarde 8, Cromorne 8, Fanfare Trumpet 4, Schalmey 4, Trumpet 2

I've played a couple of organs with enclosed Great organs. One was a Lawton & Osbourne installed at a school and that had most of the Great enclosed except for the Open Diapason Large 8' and possibly the Octave 4'. It is a really great organ to play and definitely has some power. The other organ is a Rodgers 751 electronic at my own church. Personally I don't really like the enclosed Great on this organ but all other organists at the church seem to make good use of it. Also I think that this organ lacks some important stops like a 12th or whether this is made up for in the Mixture IV, I have no idea.

A very nice organ that I sometimes play has only the Couplers and Tremulants in red but the sounding stops are in black. Another small 2m one by Brindley & Foster has the Sw reeds in red and the Couplers in blue

In the city I come from in New Zealand, we have a 1913 Nicholas Pearce organ which has had quite a bit of confusion over who actually built it as the nameplate merely says "Erected by N.T. Pearce". The Action, soundboards, wind trunks, pipes and bellows weights were actually supplied by Nicholson & Lord and the remainder built by Pearce. Its a great instrument, but is in all original condition and is starting to fail.