JWAnderson

Some interesting photos. Any idea who the original builder was? Seems a bit of a shame that it is not maintained. JA

Hmmm, I wonder what a Harmonic Dulciana would sound like?...

Two if you count dust from building works being spread throughout the organ. JA

One way of getting around this if the instrument has vertical shutters would be to have a piece of rope or cord attached at one end to a reservoir and the other attached to the shutter rod, this would mean when the organ is turned off, the EPn shutter motor will still close the shutters like it normally would, but as the reservoir deflates it will pull the shutters back open slightly. However I don't know if this solution could work on horizontal shutters (maybe if they are balanced). JA

I am not sure about the spelling of 'Gedacht' as I have seen it spelt this way on two organs I know quite well, then again could well have been the same engraver... I've heard of a organ teacher who left a note on the drawstop of the Trumpet 8p saying "F off" meaning the bottom F was not working. Unfortunately another organist took it by another meaning. JA

I wonder which is cheaper: this or real pipes. On the plus side at least this could perform a double function if the church's cooling systems broke down...

I have decided there will be four reeds on the organ; Bassoon 16p on Pedal, Clarionet 8p on Great, Trumpet 8p and Hautboy 8p on Swell. So yes I would like the scales to plan the layout. JA

Thank you Pierre, this has made it clearer for me. With regards to the diameter at the top of the pipe, would it be correct to say that if the scale was larger it would provide a darker tone and vice versa? Joshua

Hi everyone. Over the last couple of days I have been trying to design a small two manual organ in more detail than usual working out pipe scales etc. I've managed to work out the flue stops, but my question is what sort of scale do organ builders use when trying to scale reeds? I've had a search around the internet and various organ supply catalogues (Laukhuff etc.) but they only seem to have flue scales or the measurments of all the C pipes. Cheers Josh P.s. Another thing I was going to mention was that I had seen some examples of reed pipes where the diameter at the top of the resonator stays the same right up to the top note, but also some where it progressively gets smaller. What would be the advantages of either of these methods?

Well I can't say that I'm completely obsessed with them, but the Tuba at Christchurch being the first I've been able to play really caught my attention and it sounds great from the nave of the church. Have to find some Tuba tunes to really try it out for next week though. Josh

Hi everyone! After spending an hour holding keys and being slightly deafened while the Tuba was being tuned today at Christchurch Cathedral (NZ), this made me ask the question which Tuba in any organ members of this forum would think would be loudest. This Tuba Mirabilis is the loudest in New Zealand, being voiced on 19 inch wind and I have to say it sounds absolutely fantastic, and to top it off there is even a Fanfare Trumpet sticking 'en chamade' out of the transept case! This aside though I suspect compared to some Tubas I have heard of from the UK, it may only come in on the list about 30th. So here's a start: 0. Atlantic City Convention Hall - Grand Ophicleide 16/8' 100" (I'm a bit hesitant to add this one as I do not know if it can be classed as a Tuba or just a loud noise) 1. Liverpool Cathedral - Tuba Magna 8' 50" .. .. 30. Christchurch Cathedral, NZ - Tuba Mirabilis 8' 19" Josh PS. I should also add just to annoy someone, there's even a Dulciana complete with Vox Angelica which can only just be heard from the console with box open...

My mistake, I was getting confused between Llandaff and another organ. JA

NPOR says it is acoustic from CCCC to FFFF. The one at Holy Trinity goes right down to 32ft C and is used in the facade. JA

Well, it may not be in the UK, but the 3 manual H&H in Holy Trinity Cathedral, Auckland has a 32/16/8 Salicional unit which I think may be conical, but am not completely sure of this. Josh A

This could be possible. There is an 1890 Kimball organ in a church near where I live that did, I don't know whether it still does, have a cardboard 4ft rank. I think this may have been replaced by a Principal 4ft though. JA

I have seen a picture of the glass pipes of the Kouaua on the voicing machine at the Klais factory and from what I can tell, they look like normal pipes but I cannot see the mouths unfortunately. I think a email to either Klais or the city organist John Wells may give some information on this. JA

On the 1906 Norman & Beard at the Wellington Town Hall, all 4ft reed stops on the Gt, Sw & solo change to two ranks from G#44 to C61. I am not sure if they remain as reed pipes or at which point they change to flue pipes, although I will try to find out. JA

Good idea. My mobile phone does have a camera on it but being 3 yrs old now it doesn't take very good pictures.

I had a situation like this a couple of weeks ago when I played the organ (with setter board) at a local church for a school concert. The organists seem to insist on having the couplers set on the pistons which I find really annoying. Ten minutes before the concert I had to write down all the settings, just so I could set them to what I wanted and then setting them back afterwards! Even then when I've been back to the church I've found pistons that I didn't set exactly back to what the should be (like Gt 5 with the 8' flute added), but do I really care?

A very good question... I was thinking I would probably have this voiced more towards a Hautboy, but whether this would actually be of any use I don't know. Either way I would still like to have a reed in the scheme. JA

How about this: Great Organ Stopped Diapason 8 Gemshorn 4 Great Octave Swell to Great Swell Octave to Great Swell Organ Open Flute* 8 Salicional* 8 Octave Flute 4 Cornopean 8 Tremulant Swell Octave Pedal Organ Bourdon 16 - Probably not necessary, but 8' flute would have larger scale. Flute Bass 8 (Ext.) Octave Flute 4 (Ext.) Great to Pedal Swell to Pedal Swell Octave to Pedal * Bass Octave from Stopped Diapason. Electric Action, with attached drawstop console. All pipework contained on one soundboard (except for bottom of Ped BDN 16-8-4 unit.) I am not sure how tuning of Cornopean would be achieved, since I would want to keep the depth quite small so there would probably not be room for a passage board. The facade would use the GT 4' Gemshorn bass pipes, which would either be tubed off the main chest or have their own action.

I think the Peterson ICS-4000 has this feature. Also with the playback system you can record pieces to a MIDI file and save it onto the memory stick, a similar sort of feature to the Notre-Dame organ. JA

Thanks everyone. Some pretty interesting ideas. I'll try to get into the church this afternoon and see what it sounds like. JA

I have a sneaking suspicion that Klais are going to build one similar for the Auckland Town Hall, but I cannot remember where I read this or if they are going ahead with it. JA

Hi everyone, In the next term for school music, I have to do a solo performance on the organ. The piece I have chosen is the Fantasia in G Major BWV 572. The only problem is the organ, even though its a 3 Manual, is not the biggest specification. Here is the Speci: Great Organ Double Diapason 16 (ext. 8' flute) Open Diapason 8 Claribel Flute 8 Octave 4 Mixture (15-19-22?) Swell to Great Swell Octave to Great Swell Sub Octave to Great Choir to Great Swell Organ Violin Diapason 8 Rohr Flute 8 Gamba 8 Celeste 8 Principal 4 Horn 8 Oboe 8 Tremulant Octave Unison Off Sub Octave Choir Organ Lieblich Gedact 8 Dulciana 8 Flute 4 Clarinet 8 Tremulant Swell to Choir Pedal Organ Sub Bass 16 Lieblich Bourdon 16 (GT) Bass Flute 8 (ext.) Great to Pedal Swell to Pedal Swell Octave to Pedal Choir to Pedal Any ideas of registration would be very much appreciated. JA