Variations In Tracker Action.

[James Goldrick]

I've gathered that in most aspects of organ action and pipework, there are almost always several variations to choose from: ie. Backfall or suspended; Free-reed or beating; Compton buttons or Rothwell stopkeys.

 

Have there been any obscure alternatives to the rollerboard as a means of distributing tracker action laterally?

 

Thanks

James Goldrick

[Pierre Lauwers]

There are among the tracker organs built by Franz-Xaver Wetzel (a german who took over the belgian workshop of Link brothers) in Belgium, some that show trackers established fan-like, so without rollerboards.

 

Best wishes,

Pierre Lauwers.

[Guest Geoff McMahon]

In the 60s and 70s, a few organ builders in Germany at least (and maybe elsewhere to for all I know) experimented with what was called Seiltraktur. Very thin stranded wire was used for all the trackers and in place of the usual rollerboard, the wires ran round small pulleys in place of the rollerboard itself. It was, however, not very successful as the wire tended to stretch giving a spongy feel to the action. I think they were also difficult to keep in regulation because unlike a traditional key action where the trackers themselves are all essentially the same length, these were of different length because of the horizontal wires substituting the rollers.

 

John Pike Mander