Classic car man

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=7mDxKSrNdxw this is the 'new' organ in the 'new' auditorium in Santa Cruz, Tenerife. It has a write up in the current ISO magazine. I had a tour round it recently and it is absolutely stunning. Seeing the En-chamades emerge through the wall is a bit surreal, but quite something! for more info see http://www.orguesblancafort.com/

Every 'commercial' humidistat I have come across has worked on 240 volts so take care!

In large cathedrals etc it is not unknown for humidifiers to run for 24 hours a day during this time of year! Get a digital hygrometer from Maplins or Farnell and check what the humidity actually is. 60% is the aim. These machines are designed to run for long periods and as long as it is in good order, i.e. has been mainained regularly I shouldn't worry. However the fact that the 'lawnmower' connection is the wrong way round doesn't fill me with confidence that the system has been fitted/maintained by a professional

I use an AIWA portable DAT with a pair of AKG C1000S which give a really good sound. I prefer to use 'proper' audio equipement rather than using the computer though as I don't do any fancy editing, simply copy from one DAT machine to another to remove pauses between movements etc. (or sometimes direct to a stand alone CD recorder) I also use an Alesis Quadraverb multi-effects unit to tweak the sound if recorded in a very dry accoustic. I think someone like Studio spares, HHB, or www.Thomann.de would be a good place to search what is available

Worst case is that the dust has got down into the reeds and clogged the tongues putting them off speech. Dust on the key contacts can cause intermittant notes. Grit on the slides can get under upperboards causing runnings. Unfortunately this sort of thing happens regularly due to general ignorance of builders and church authorities. Dust hangs around in the air for a very long time. Leave it at least 10 days or a fortnight between the work finishing and taking the sheeting down.

Although numbers are usually used to save time when writing registration details in a copy, 69 is a lot quicker to write than Solo Tuba Clarion for instance, I can't think why they are so large. If there wasn't a decent capture system and there were lots of visiting recitalists one could almost see why, but there seems to be a comprehensive capture system. I don't think much to the stop layout - whatever happened to stops ascending in pitch, with the loudest of each pitch being at the bottom? I wonder what the blank stops do?

Most Cathedral organs involve a marathon to get from console to pipes, or from one side to the other. At Worcester for instance one has to go out onto the roof to eventually get to the pipes! For a tuner I think Sky Hooks come as standard with a set of doubles! Most parish organs are a nightmare to get into. Usually because the access to organs are universally perceived to be junk storerooms, normally by flower ladies. First job is often to remove 27 old flower stands, 14 vacuum cleaners (usually dating from the early 1960s) and 4 jars of unidentifiable liquid! Two of my worst experiences were Liverpool Met and Coventry Cathedral. Both have ladders which start off in the basement so you have an extremely long way to climb before you get into the job. The Met has a long ladder in a very small concrete square 'tube' - so narrow that at two points you have to go up on the diagonal as there isn't enought space for your shoulders! not good! One time as I was coming down, I felt something sliding down my leg - after a moment of panic (or was that expectation?)I realised it was my mobile phone, which ended up on my shoe. Imagine the scene - stuck up a ladder, with a mobile phone siting on your shoe. What would you do next? Anyway, Coventry is slightly better in that there is plenty of space around you, but it results in a leap of faith from the ladder to each 'platform'. I believe Blackburn Cathedral was a nightmare to get into before the 'recent' work. On a more serious note I remember, many years ago, listening to a record of Westminster Cathedral. When I read the sleeve notes I saw that the recording was dedicated to 'XXX the organ tuner who fell to his death while tuning the organ for this recording' (Ashamed to say I can't remember who it was)

Interesting that the mixtures are there on the March 1922 contract. Presumably the alterations were made in the revision of February 1923 as Sidney Harvey's 'account' of the organ in, I believe, 1924 makes reference to revised mixture compositions? Certainly by 1926 the scheme seems pretty close to what is there now, at least with regards to mixtures.

Do you dispute 'sadly' or are you thinking of a firm which is still traiding? I was trying to be kind - they did loose their way somewhat during the last 'few' years!! Their pneumatic jobs of yesteryear were of the highest quality and even when they started to get bogged down in extension organs they still had some excellent bench hands and reed voicers.

Yes this trick went on quite often. A certain firm, sadly no longer with us, was fond of it - even doing it at an historic North West Cathedral. I don't think it was paint, rather a whitening mixture which didn't crack too much when the bellows rose.