CTT

No argument from this corner either. But if it has been sealed and is stable - let sleeping chipboard soundboards lie, that's what I say. CTT

Setting aside the issue of obtaining suitable timber - one point that is only mentioned in passing, is the context in which the materials are going to be used in. Obviously in a restoration, one isn't going to use modern materials (though I have seen it done - shudder!). However in a rebuild or addition the case isn't quite so clear cut. Thinking of a pair of instruments that were installed in a rebuilt a couple of years ago - there was a three manual instrument installed in a west end gallery and a two manual chancel organ. Both had to be reconfigured to fit into the available space. With the two manual instrument, being more historically intact than the three manual, the decision taken was to continue using timber for the trunks and use traditional materials and techniques. The gallery organ having a new layout and additions, the decision was made to retain all that was viable and useable of the existing instrument, but use new materials where required. That meant new timber building frames, but that zinc trunking was not used in the new layout. Rather marine plywood for all the main trunking and pvc trunking to the off note chests. For anyone that has tried to solder up old zinc trunking - especially 'dirty' zinc - using pvc is a blessing. It can be heated and curved, comes in a large variety of diameters and bends and wooden flanges can easily be made to fit any chest. (The pvc being screwed into the timber/ plywood flange and sealed with sealant.) - Not that I am advocating using pvc in any and every situation. Once again the instrument and context determines the material. (Obviously working on a 1920's HNB is going to involve a lot of zinc trunking and dark mutterings) With the new chests inside the gallery organ, marine plywood as well as timber was employed. Rackboards and faceboards were made out of marine plywood and to fit in with the existing soundboards, timber rack pillars were used. With regards to using plywood for chests, or any part where there is wind passing through a hole in the ply - the hole still requires sizing out and sealing. Here is where I think that some issues with more modern materials has occurred. There has been this 'new' wonder material that has just come out ( be it chipboard, customwood, mdf, hardboard, etc...) and so it gets used, and used badly. For example, there were organs in New Zealand that were built or rebuilt using chipboard (or if the budget stretched that far customwood or plywood.) And every time a swell shutter or trunk is brushed as the tuner moves around the organ, another layer of chipboard falls down into the pipework. All because the chipboard was not sized with glue, but rather just painted. And yet there is a cathedral organ with chipboard used in the soundboards - but because it was sealed properly there is no problem with it and it is over 40 years old. With plywood faceboards I have had faults where there is running between chest magnets that can be put down to gaps in the laminate, and if the holes had been sized with glue in the first place it wouldn't have to be glued on site upside down while lying on bellows weights. It may be what was alluded to with regard to the pipe feet and mdf topboards. If the mdf was properly sealed there should be no reaction between the pipe metal and the chest. Or customwood chest that have no dowel plugs inserted across where the faceboard screws are located so that the screws are biting into timber rather than end grain mdf. Once again it is not so much the material rather the lack of consideration of the properties of the material, and how to best treat it. Anyway - I had better rein in this hobby horse before it breaks into a gallop.

Why did I know as soon as I put some statistics on here that I would have to be correcting them soon. Having overlooked a few instruments in the surrounding districts, and talking to some owners the casualty list at the moment is as follows. Of the instruments no longer playable, five are destroyed and twenty have been removed from the buildings or dismantled so that the building can be repaired. Others are damaged or await inspection once (if) the buildings can be made safe. Instruments that are playable. Three manual & pedal - 1 out of 12 (the residential instrument is now out of action) Two manual & pedal - 23 out of 56 One manual & pedal - 5 out of 13 Manual only - 2 out of 7 So only 31 out of 88 in the Christchurch area. In Christchurch itself it is worse. Three manual & pedal - 1 out of 12 Two manual & pedal 15 out of 45 One manual & pedal 3 out of 7 Manual only 2 out of 7 Total in Christchurch city 21 out of 71. Christopher

Well I don't know how the tuning has stood up to the pipes being shaken about, but I tuned six instruments a fortnight ago. Which is a shame since the usual December tuning round should be thirty four. Here is the tally of organs still useable in Christchurch and surrounding towns. Three manuals & pedals - 2 out of 12 (and one is in a private residence) Two manuals & pedals - 22 out of 52 One manual & pedal - 2 out of 10 Manual only - 2 out of 7. Total 28 out of 81 - 34.5% Not that a lot of the remaining instruments will be used for the Christmas services. The Anglican churches at least are holding the services outdoors under canvas. Shepherds may have quaked - but I wish the ground wouldn't.

The Australian Finchams were descended from George Fincham 1828 - 1910. Henry Fincham was his nephew, being the son of George's elder brother John Fincham 1819 - ?. The whole family were organbuilders. George Fincham was apprenticed to Henry Bevington 1842/3 - 1849. Then he was foreman for James Bishop & Son then worked at Forster & Andrews before heading to Australia.

Which one? And yet another one just to show that the art of hymnody is not yet dead in New Zealand. From the same hymnbook "Take a grape and an apple, take a pomegranate too, Take a fig, and a melon, take an apricot or two, take a date, and an olive, throw some nuts into a bowl, and you'll have a fruit salad that is good for the soul. It's the bounty of nature and lovely to see: They are food for the body, the fruits of the tree By planting and growing and tending with care We may harvest the crop and enjoy it there. Take some barley and wheat, take a cucumber too, take an onion, some beans, and a lentil or two, take some millet and leeks, add some salt (not a lot), pour in water, make soup for your soul in a pot. It's the bounty of earth and the sun and the rain, and there's food for the soul in the growth of the grain. Take some love and some patience, some faithfulness too, take some joy and some kindness, take a good deed or two, take some gentle behaviour, add some peace and self-control, and you'll have a fruit salad that is good for the soul. They're the fruit of the Spirit and lovely to see, all the fruits of the life of the Spirit in me." This is sung to the tune Yamsong - which one of the sopranos says is stolen from a Wiggles songs she plays to her pre-schoolers. Meanwhile I am considering joining the Society of Friends!

Well, you can have the best of both worlds if you can get your hands on a Compensating Pipe Organ Company instrument. They are a free reed instrument with a rank of enclosed Stopped Diapason pipes. With one manual (divided at middle C) and pedal there is both flute and reed tone. Manual - (Bass). 16', 8', 8', 8', 4', 4', 2', 2'. Manual - (Treble). 16', 16', 8', 8', 8', 4,' 2'. Pedal - 16', 16', 16'.

While not exactly on the topic of playing the organ at weddings, I was told of a couple signing the register to a recording of 'Madamina il catalogo e questo' from Don Giovanni because they liked the music. (Pity about the words and context... )

There was a new hymnbook launched in New Zealand last year that goes under the name Hope is our song. Found amongst the pages can be found such favourites as the new Hymn 'Jumping Jesus'. The third and final verse of which is: Jumping Jesus, Jumping Jesus, puts the bounce into my life, takes my hand and whispers softly, 'love's the thing, not war and strife'. We will leap together so: jumping, jumping, here I go! Learning how he does that trick, bouncing on his Pogo stick; off he goes - I'd best be quick - Jumping Jesus. There are other examples of a similar standard of work, however every time I try to type them in here, I find myself lying in the corner in a foetal position, whimpering to myself. CTT

There is a 32' stop in the Presbyterian Church Palmerston North New Zealand that goes under the name of Rumble 32'

There was an instrument in Christchurch (NZ) that had at least three ranks of paper pipes, (Principal 4', String 8' TC and Stopped Diapason 8') that in a circuitous (and damaging) route ended up in our stock. They played surprisingly well on a low pressure. The languids and ears were made of mahogany, the all other parts being made of paper. That included the slides (both open and stopped).

Thanks for the link Jenny. Looking at the images, what damage there is seems all too familiar! CTT

Thanks for the news Jenny, I am glad to hear that the organ is not as badly damaged as it could have been. (Now for more of the interminable waiting... )

I could perhaps imagine a few problems in adding a cone tuned rank to a chorus of pipework that is slide tuned. One issue could be the climatic conditions in the building. There is one instrument I look after, less than ten years old, a delightfully constructed and build mechanical instrument, well lit, easy access, all relevant pipework cone tuned or tuning rolls. And it is a nightmare. There is a temperature variation within the building that I have measured at 30oC within the one year. With that sort of difference, even given the Sunday heating in winter the tuning drifts and requires more than the occasional 'touch up'. Having cone tuned pipes is a disadvantage when the pipework will require frequent tuning. Another disadvantage is that having a cone tuned rank on top of a slide tuned chorus is that it will not move with the chorus. Another instrument I know has a cone tuned mixture to cap a full diapason chorus (to 15th) that has pipe slides. Generally the chorus moves around en masse with the seasons and having the mixture sitting proud and stable does it no favours when it is used. If the instrument has access that is less than spacious, cone tuning can become a problem when it comes to tuning the pipes. With cone tuning, one is holding the cone in their hand (obviously) and so the tuners body is only an arms length from the pipe and can shade the tuning - especially if the rank is two or three stops into the soundboard. (With some cone tuning hammers this is not so much of a problem.) Whereas using a tuning knife on a pipe slide, a tuner can be an extended arms length + length of tuning knife away from the pipe - so decreasing the chances of shading the pipe while tuning.

Oh, and number 893 was January 1914.

With regard to the opus numbers or job numbers, number 676 was imported to New Zealand and installed by the 2 June 1909 and 1021 was installed and opened in 1927 and number 1022 opened in 1928. (This may not be quite accurate as it is unknown as to how long the last two organs were held as stock with the New Zealand sole agent for the Positive Organ Company).

Make that four, one (St. John's Hororata) was sideswiped by a falling tower. Seriously wounded, but it does not look fatal.

They build them tough down here. Generally the pipe organs have fared much better than the buildings they are in. There are only three organs that I know of silenced directly by the earthquakes so far. St. John the Baptist Anglican Latimer Square - 1864 Holdich et. al. I haven't seen the organ as the building is still red carded, but the bell tower landed on the blower. St. Matthew's Anglican St. Alban's - 1922 Brett / 1960 Strachan organ moved and main trunking damaged, front pipes fallen out. St. Mary's Anglican Halswell - 1922 Pearce / Croft - liquefaction half buried the blower under the floor. At least eight others are silenced at this stage because the buildings have yet to be stabilised and are unsafe to enter. Some will have to be removed after the buildings are secured to enable the building repairs to be completed.

Good luck with the cleaning. The most I have found under a pedalboard was at Christchurch Anglican Cathedral, where there was an envelope with $50 inside. It was marked 'For the Organist', but did not say which one. So in the end it went into the general organ fund. (So in a round about sort of way I did get to see a fraction of it!)

Vuvuzela, tuning, in the same sentence. Surely not!

But would it be legitimate to knuckle the bottom octave of a Contra Vuvuzela?

Yes to both, that is why it is best done right besides an extractor fan that takes all the smoke outside. It saves having to climb up the ladder and reset the smoke alarms too! As for water damage to soundboards, I would rather have a timber soundboard get wet than a chipboard one. With timber it drys out and sometimes cracks and can be reglued, whereas with a chipboard one it drys out and falls apart. We have a job on the floor at the moment that was a 3M Hill & Son, rebuilt in the 1970's with all the latest materials (read plastic flexi-trunking, vinyl, and chipboard) that had 30 000 Litres of water from fire sprinklers through it. The timber soundboards are still intact, the chipboard swellbox was crumbling as it was taken down. The reservoirs ended up true to name in more ways than one with that job.

I would put money on a link between Melodia Orgelfabriek and the New Zealand organbuilder, (Matla) who was from Holland before coming out to New Zealand. Not having seen any of the organs for a decade or so, my only recollection of them is they were a curse to get into, and lacking any grunt in the Pedal department. Whether they are the same organs as The Melodia Pipe Organ 12 Rathbone Place, London, will remain to be seen. CTT

Hmmm, I don't know if there is any connection, but there was an organbuilder in New Zealand who 'built' Melodia Pipe Organs, there being at least two models. However it is obvious from the standard of the work that they weren't built by him but definitely imported. This would be in the mid 1950's. Melodia No. 1 was Gt. 8', 8' Sw. 8', 4'. Pedal coupled down. Melodia No. 2 was two manual & pedal, 11 stops, electric action, mahogany & oak casework. (Original disposition unknown as the organ has been rebuilt since then).

The clunking noise could also be from the reservoir collapsing rather faster than it should if there is no non-return valve attached to the blower, or similar flap inside the trunking from the blower to the reservoir.