Classic car man
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Posts posted by Classic car man
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O.K. folks,
here are some more details of the organ:
Rank A8' STOPPED BASSES (narrow scale) Wood 12 pipes4' HOLZFLOTE (STOPPED FLUTE) Wood 54 pipesRank B4' ROHRFLOTE (CHIMNEY FLUTE) Metal 54 pipesRank C
2' GEMSHORN (C to C) 49 pipes
Rank D4' OPEN BASSES (GAMBA PIPES) 12 pipes2' PRINZIPAL 54 pipesRank E16' SORDUN Free Reeds 30 reedsGreat (lower)
Principal 8 C
Stopped Diapason 8 A
Octave 4 C
Chimney Flute 4 B
Gemshorn 4 D
Twelfth 2 2/3 D
Fifteenth 2 C
Cornet V A/B/D
Swell (upper)
Rohrflote 8 B
Gemshorn 8 D
Nason 4 A
Nasat 2 2/3 B
Blockflöte 2 B
Klein Quint 1 1/3 D
Tierce 1 3/5 B
Krumhorn 8 A/D
Pedal
Resultant Bass 16 A/B/C/D
Bourdon* 16 A
Principal 8 C
Flute 8 A
Choral Bass 4 B
Fifteenth 2 C
Mixture II B
*TC - bottom octave repeating
Five thumb pistons to Great and Swell
Five toe pistons to Pedal
(Fully adjustable)
The stop derivations indicate only the main ranks used. Some pipes from the other ranks have been added or substituted judiciously to enhance the sound.
The derivation of stops can be altered with the use of a computer program, which would be supplied with the organ. Any pipe or electronic sound (via MIDI) can be assigned to any key.
The pedal 16’ Sordun in the original is a set of 30 free reeds, but they do not work very effectively. For that reason, along with the tremulant, they have not been incorporated in the new April 2011 specification. However, they are all in place, with the action intact, and they might be made to work by someone with a little knowledge and some enthusiasm. The rest of the instrument is in full working order.
Six new stop knobs were added above the upper manual in 2011.
The organ was designed by the late Ken Smith, and built by Terry and Andrew Fearn in 2007.
Dimensions: 4’10 wide, 3’2 deep, 7’7 high.
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Dear All,
a friend of mine is moving house and doesn't think he will be able to take his house organ with him.
It is a lovely little three rank, 2 manual house pipe organ built by Terry and Andrew Fearn - a quality instrument built by IBO approved craftsmen.
it has had a new transmission and capture system fitted, made by Hugh Banton, which is software based so changes to the spec can be made quite easily via a laptop.
I have photos which I can email to any interested parties (I have no idea how to add them to a message)
Details of the spec are on my computer at work so will update the post tomorrow.
Organ is near Liverpool and can be viewed at any time.
A
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fantastic!
thanks very much - a great help.
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Hi Folks,
I seem to have ended up with three gigs in Krakow next june and wondered if anyone knows anything about the organs in:
St Peter and St Paul,
church of the ark in Nowa Huta
St Catherine of Alexandria,
thanks
A
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As DW says, splits or a loose stopper is the usual cause of these things, but is it on the soundboard? If not, a pair of size 12s might have squashed the kopex/conveyance flat!
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the mechanical side of the instrument is pretty dire. It is a typically complicated electo-pneumatic action from the time when organs were conceived as pneumatic instruments with a bit of electrickery on the side. Consequently there are abundances of pill box motors, internal purses, change over machines and Harrison internal pnuematic actions, all of which are extremely complicated and well beyone their sell by date. The work involved in putting all this right is as major as starting again.
There is much that is good about the organ - the French Horn in particular is a wonderful stop, and so versatile being in the box.
I fully applaud the decision to transmogrify some of the better ranks into the new job.
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The ladder is to enable the poor old organbuilder to get on top of the screen, and thus to the top level of the great, after being trussed up in a full rigged safety harness! Not a pleasant experience but a damn site easier than moving 100 chairs and going in through the bottom, as it were. . . . . . Can't wait for the new Tickell!
Shame the curtain is behind the Jesus Chapel altar, hiding the wonderful Pedal 32s.
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I played for my Uncle's funeral there a couple of months ago. It is a reasonable sounding 2 manual Allen - I forget the model. It is at the back and a little remote from the proceedings up at the front.
Hope it goes well for you.
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Hi Folks,
does anyone know what the organ in Hull Crem is like as I have been asked to play for a family funeral there next week and it might help to decide the music!
ta
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I think you mean "Hear, Hear."
Mr. Willis now lives in India of course. It's our birthdays today.
DW
Better wish you both a very Happy Birthday then!!
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when Dr. Campbell was asked by the Dean (during a similarly heated discussion about music and 'religion' - "What do you think the Cathedral is here for?" - answer: "To keep the rain off the organ".
DW
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I was quite surprised to find an advertisement (from one of our leading firms), for a general organ-builder:
He or she needs to deal with 'the interpretation of drawings and CAD...the manufacture of all component parts from small action parts to large slider soundboards, consoles and casework...assembly of mechanical action and electronic parts...ability for hand finishing of wood to a high standard and veneering...knowledge of a wide range of finishing techniques...carving of decorative details...design ability including freehand drawing and CAD...ideally qualified to degree standard or equivalent, and some musical knowledge would be an advantage.'
£10-£10.50 per hour.
This superwoman (or man) would obviously be a highly skilled woodworker: I know several tradesmen with much more primitive skills who earn four times as much or more.
How does this compare with other countries?
[/quote}
Whatever country you are in, you will never be rich being an organ builder, but you will get to see some amazing places and organs, although many of them you will never, ever, want to see again. . .
This is actually well above the average UK organbuilder's rate! Who is it, I'm tempted to jump ship!
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I can't help picking up on this:
"...the mindset of "so-and-so makes good enough pipes, so we'll use those. There's no need to make our own". This isn't the attitude of an artist or a worthy craftsman, this is the attitude of a chancer, a jobsworth, someone with a superficial understanding of quality and little desire to improve their craft."
I quite agree with this, HOWEVER the majority of firms that do not, for all sorts of practical reasons already discussed, make their own pipes do not fall into this category. Don't tar us all with the same brush. How many IBO members cast their own metal? How many make their own pipes from their own cast metal? not many, 4 or 5 if that!
It is the input details that are crucial, not whose pair of hands puts the irons in the fire. There is probably more discussion and interaction between an organbuilding firm and a pipe making firm than between the office and the metalshop. I would argue that the presence of a fully equiped voicing shop is far more important than having a casting bench. Having a casting bench does not guarantee quality, neither does not having one make you a cowboy.
" felt tremendously dispirited that this board had reached a consensus so quickly that there was really nothing wrong with subbed out pipes without any dissention or any real discussion of the subject "
That's because, in the majority of cases, there really isn't anything wrong with dedicated, trained, skilled, independant pipemakes making pipes to firm's detailed specifications.
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Having the facility to manufacture your own pipes gives you a level of control and detail you can't really get if the pipes are sub-contracted out.
Although some builders enjoy a very close relationship with a supply house (e.g. Schoenstein enjoys a very close relationship with Schopp and they work together on researching new pipe designs - usually in the quest of recreating orchestral sounds in ever greater fidelity), having pipes made in the workshop, next door to the voicing room gives the voicer and builder an opportunity to collaborate with the metal shop, through experiment and working on detail, which isn't as easy if the pipe manufacture is subcontracted out. It also makes the manufacture of replica pipework easier if the builder has the originals in their workshop for research, investigation and restoration, which again is harder to do with a subcontractor - it's a two way process of investigation and testing, re-iterated again and again until the builder is happy with the results.
Are you suggesting that a firm which makes its own pipes is somehow better than a firm that doesn't? NO! I agree it is all about experience and skill. Practice makes perfect and although there are many firms with full order books making new organs, there often isn't the work for a full time metalhand making pipes - casting metal is another ball game altogether! Whilst there ARE some firms who will simply ask a supply house for a "principal" to be made, most firms give specific instructions as to scale, mouth width, foot length, etc etc etc. These same details would be given to an in house metalhand, if there was one, so there really is absolutley no difference in this sense as to who makes the pipes. In addition, a specialist pipemaker will be able to supply pipes in Willis, Harrison, or whomever, house style.
I don't agree that match pipes need research, investigation and testing over and over again. Historic pipes may warrant material investigation, which would be undertaken by a specialst metalurgist, but general replica pipework is very ordinary stuff for metalhands to make.
There is nothing new in Organ Building, just a re-cylcing of ideas. The days of Vincent Willis experimenting with pipe constuctions are, I think, largely over.
There is always a place for specialist suppliers/subcontractors as long as they are under the control and instruction of the main firm.
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So, the pictures of the trackers, rollers and and roller arms, which are obviously very new, are from another instrument altogether. These are all of bright clear new wood with bright brass links. It appears that the arms at each end of the roller all have two holes in the arm, at a very rough guess, about 3cm apart.
But why two holes?
Were they in a completed instrument or one under construction? Could the extra hole be used to work another roller via a sticker and thus onto another soundboard? Or could it be part of a coupler system that connects directly to the roller? Was the front or the back hole 'empty'? If the back hole was empty, and given the movement of a pedal key is more than that of a manual one, could the front hole come from a manual key, and the back hole come from a pedal?
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I have been biting my tongue and at the risk of saying something I shouldn't. . . .
'Re-voicing' , like 're-build' are words which mean many different things to many different people. The readers of the Liverpool Echo which ran the article which started this thread, will interpret them quite differently to people on this forum. The plan, as I understand it, is to thoroughly clean the reeds, and re-regulate their speech. The resonators are full of dust and debris due to the various major building works which have gone on in the last 6 years, quite apart from the general build up of dust since their last cleaning. The reeds will then be re-regulated for speech i.e. even volume and tone throughout the compass. AFAIK there are no plans to change the character of the reeds.
Bazuin, were you there a.m.? The sparrow mass is a strange piece isn't it? I forget the exact details of the cental organ pipes but there really isn't any difference between them and those of the main organ. One of the Principal pipes actually has the signature of Henry III on it. I must say I am surprised you don't think the mixture works well. What was it that didn't sound right? It is always going to sound 'brilliant', especially in the treble as it is VI ranks but when I have heard it down the building I thought it fitted in very well. On Easter Monday I.T. played the Healey Willan Gelobt sei Gott, on just Central Space Organ and Tompette Militaire and it was quite simply electric.
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Thanks classic car man, should have kept my mouth shut, not having been there since October.
Not at all Jim. The pipes ARE quite hidden from view. Best view point is to stand under the West End Bridge and look towards the altar. . . then up a bit. You can just see the tops of the bass pipes, gleaming high up in the Corona Gallery. Talking of pipes hidden from view, if you stand with your back towards the glass door into the refectory and look across to the gallery below the tower window, you can just make out some of the 600odd pipes of the Central Organ through the stonework tracery.
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They're still there unless anyone knows to the contrary. They are not easily visible from the floor.
The Milly was removed just before Christmas for safety, as much of the stonework above it needed remedial work. It has now been cleaned and re-instated.
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Have a look in Maplins or somewhere similar for a digital hygrometer so you can measure the humidity. - don't forget to put the thing inside the organ rather than just at the console - you will be amazed at the differences! Surely one humidifier unit with two outlets feeding LP and HP wind would have worked, as long as the backflaps are working properly? 60% is the setting I usually use. As DW said, first thing is to find out why your HP one has been turned off. It is also worth checking that there are bleed valves at the end of each wind run as otherwise the nice moist wind can't circulate properly.
Runnings and murmurs are a sure sign of humidity problems, ciphers less so, depending on the action - what action is it?
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Pipes come under a huge amount of stress when being cone tuned. Whether you sharpen or flatten them, you bash hell out of them. Whilst pipes made properly, with good thick metal for the feet, initially bear up well to the stresses, in the long term they all seem to suffer either from metal fatigue or inexperienced tuners. IMHO I don't believe that coned pipes stay in tune better than slid pipes - there are far too many other factors, temperature stability (obviously), scale, voicing etc etc which all contribute. Although, I have to say, I have seen far too many pipes 'crimped' by being fitted with tuning slides which were far too tight, it is not as many as have been destroyed by cone tuning, and don't get me started on poor tip regulation!
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"I thought that you ought to be made aware that there is an intention by Warrington Borough Council to have the Parr Hall’s Cavaillé-Coll concert organ dismantled and removed, so that the hall stage area can be widened and deepened as part of refurbishment proposals."
This implies that the organ is going to be scrapped. Far from it! There are plans to move it to another place, somewhere where it will get daily use and have rather more importance than the authorities in Warrington have ever given it. This is a fabulous organ and deserves to be used regularly.
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The last time I played Beverley, well before the re-build, every time you pressed a piston the TV camera went on the blink - it was an interesting service!
St. George's Hall, Liverpool must surely rank at the top of the list for imposing case and a stunning setting. The hall itself is opulence itself and the organ, quite apart from being an astonishing instrument, looks amazing. Shame (to put it mildly) it is in the state that it is.
St John's, Tuebrook liverpool is another stunning case - fabulous Hill organ, likewise Arundel Cathedral and Manchester Holy Name. Beautifully coloured front pipes.
The flamed copper front pipes of the Tickell organ in St Barnabus Dulwich are very impressive. I also have a particular affinity with the cases in Oakham Parish Church and Douai Abbey, also by Tickell.
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no probs - give me a week or so and I'll sort you a copy
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One of my ex-rectors, always used to tell the bride that for every 5 minutes she was late, he would preach for an hour. It worked every time. At my last church where the Vicar wasn't made of such stern stuff, if a bride was more than 10 minutes late I would simply stop playing and start up again with the wedding march.
Drawstop console wanted
in Nuts and bolts
Posted
yes - email sent to you