About our Organbuilding

New Organs

The first step is to listen to our client's concerns in order to apply our experience and expertise for the most effective response to the client's needs. The organ, unlike other instruments, is not a fixed quantity, and neither are the client's expectations. Therefore it is vitally important to listen in every case, to make certain that we understand what is desired or required. Sometimes this requires that we interpret the client's wishes or desires; after all, if the client knew exactly what was necessary to accomplish wishes or desires, we probably wouldn't be needed at all! But in any case, it is vital that we listen first, whether it is a minor matter of repair, or designing a new organ of four manuals for a special requirement.

The second step is to form a partnership with the client to achieve their goals. Every client has special conditions which must be met - a certain budget, a given amount of space, a list of priorities, a time frame, etc. It is our job to inform the client how to achieve these goals, and even, in some cases, to tell the client whether or not all of the goals can be achieved within the conditions.

We must determine what the organ will be used for - accompanying hymns (almost always #1 duty in a church organ), accompanying the choir (one of the hardest jobs to do well), other service music such as preludes and postludes, recitals and concerts (if the organ does everything else well, this ability is pretty well automatic), teaching, and practice.

We have to determine where the organ will go. Placement is very important to the success of all organ. It must be where its sound carries to every listener without forcing. If it is to be used with a choir, it must be near the choir, and also the console should be oriented so that the organist can direct the choir. All of the pipes must be located in the same climate zone in the building so that they will stay in tune together. Careful consideration must be given to other architectural elements in the room, so that all fit together harmoniously, and each is given its due importance.

For a new organ we begin from the ground up, taking measurements of an existing building, or studying the plans of one yet to be built. We work closely with architects, designers, and consultants where appropriate, but often we can supply the visual, acoustical, and other creative expertise necessary to achieve a perfect solution. We use modern CAD software to produce detailed plans for the organ, working out every facet of its construction, appearance, and placement. This tool improves the accuracy of our work, and allows us to quickly reuse standard drawings of various components instead of tediously redrawing them each time. In making presentation drawings, we are careful to illustrate sightlines and relationships that may not be obvious to a layperson in an ordinary orthographic projection.

As the plans reach completion we begin ordering the myriad materials needed for the organ. Woods from around the world have to be selected. Mechanical parts, custom-made iron and steel work, blower, leather, and felts have to be ordered.

Based on careful assessment of the client's acoustical environment, we begin the laborious job of calculating pipe scales and choosing materials. When the pipes are made we execute the exacting process of pre-voicing the pipes in our shop, and fitting them into rackboards.

Eventually the organ reaches completion in our shop, and is tuned. Then we have a party, an old New England organbuilding tradition, inviting all our local friends, and, of course, our client to an Open House. Then the organ is carefully packed and shipped, usually by a moving van company, to its final home. On arrival the organ quickly takes form, and it may seem as if it is nearly finished. But then begins a slow and careful process of adjusting each and every mechanical part of the organ to perfection, and regulating every pipe to the optimum level of loudness and timbre. It is this final part of the process that makes or breaks an organ; no matter how well it may have worked in the factory, the unique acoustical environment it now inhabits must be accounted for. And it is not just a simple matter of making things smooth and even; each voice has to have its own unique shaping of the bass to treble contour, so that melodies will soar, harmonies will blend, and inner voices come through clearly.

Finally the new organ is ready for dedication and a festive opening recital for the general public usually follows. The real life of the organ now begins, and, with proper care, will continue for decades, even centuries, a monument to the wisdom and dedication of its purchasers, and to the care and expertise of its makers.

Historical Restorations

In restoring an organ there is a complete shift in our creative process. With a new organ, or when using old parts to create a newly functioning instrument, we employ our creative powers to find solutions to the artistic challenges involved. But when restoring an old organ, we instead use these same creative powers to get inside the original builder's mind, so that the instrument can be restored to the state originally intended.

There are several important considerations:

  1. The objective is to recapture the original state of the instrument.
  2. There are no components of an organ which do not affect its historical integrity. Therefore, one cannot make any alteration without affecting the integrity, even though such alteration may be absolutely necessary.
  3. A good restoration does as little as possible, not as much as possible. Stripping old paint off and refinishing everything so that it looks new will inevitably destroy historical evidence that a future investigator will want to see.
  4. We cannot go back in time. Thus any old organ will inevitably change as it ages regardless of how carefully it is restored. We can neither restore it to its 'new' state without destroying its present form, nor can we reliably know exactly what its original state was. Therefore any restoration must be governed by an intelligent assessment of what the full purpose of the restoration is to be (usually to make the organ play again, reliably, and as much like its original state as possible).
  5. Most old organ are not in museums, but rather in churches with present day requirements. Therefore absolute 'museum-quality' restoration may not always be in the best interests of the client. On the other hand, many old organs are far more adaptable for present-day needs than many suspect.

When we approach a restoration project, we take all of these factors into account. Our firm is an American pioneer in this field. Indeed, George Bozeman wrote the original draft for the Organ Historical Society's Guide lines for the Preservation and Restoration of Old Organs, a document which has become the standard for such work all across the country today.

New Organs Using Old Parts

It goes without saying that new organs are very expensive. For the client who demands a real pipe organ but is limited by a small budget, it is very worthwhile to consider using either a second-hand instrument, or parts from old organs. Organ pipes, for instance, do not wear out, so if pipes of appropriate scales and voicing are available there is no good reason not to use them. Almost any old organ has some parts which can be recycled.

The greatest economy is possible when an entire organ can be found that is in good condition and is appropriate for the client's requirements. The Organ Clearing House is a wonderful resource for this purpose. Such an instrument will usually have a relatively modest purchase price. It will need to be carefully disassembled. It usually should be delivered to an organbuilder so that bellows can be releathered and other repairs made, and then installed in its new home, tonally regulated, and tuned. Although occasionally gifted amateurs (and lucky, also, it should be added) have been able to accomplish a successful reinstallation of an old organ, most such endeavors end in disaster. It is vitally important that a trustworthy organbuilder be in charge of the project to insure success.

There are several requirements that must be met. First of all, there must be sufficient space to accommodate the old organ without modifications. Extensive reworking of the old instrument can easily eat up all of the savings inherent in a second-hand instrument. Secondly, the old organ must be close enough to the client's requirements to reasonably satisfy them. If, on the other hand, the only space available is cramped or curious in conformation, or if there are special stylistic tonal design requirements or other one-of-a-kind parameters, it is likely that only a custom-designed new organ will do.

We have done a great number of these projects (see our Current Opus List) with great success. We would be delighted to work with you on such a project.

Maintenance

Maintenance is necessary for any organ, but under ideal circumstances it can be very minimal. At the outset the organ must be well designed, made of proper materials, and carefully built to avoid maintenance problems. When these conditions are met maintenance merely means keeping the mechanical parts in good adjustment, maintaining the tuning of the pipes, and very occasional cleaning. The most common need for maintenance is tuning. To understand tuning, it should be understood that the tuning of normal organ flue pipes, the ones that work like whistles and are the most common kind, depend on the number of air molecules contained within each pipe. Unfortunately the density of air varies according to its temperature. Therefore a cold pipe (or one filled with cold air) will hold more air molecules than a warm one, and thus will sound a lower pitch. Fortunately this varies across the pitch spectrum in an even manner so that all of the flue pipes will go flatter or sharper together. If you don't have perfect pitch, or compare the tuning with something, such as chimes, which do not vary with temperature, you will probably notice no difference in tuning whether at 50 or 80° Fahrenheit. The rate of change is 1.5 cents per degree Fahrenheit (a cent is 1/1OOth of a semi-tone). The change is completely temporary, and is totally restored when the organ is returned to its tuning temperature.

However, for this to work properly, all of the pipes must change temperature together. This means that they must all be in the same general area, affected by temperature changes in the room the same way. For this reason it is a poor design which places some of the pipes on one side of the room, and some on the other side. It is unlikely that such widely separated areas of the room will be affected by temperature changes the same way.

Temperature changes rarely affect anything on the pipes except the air molecules contained within them, so there are no permanent changes in tuning (the possible exceptions are stopped wood pipes which may change dimension enough to loosen a stopper, and similar situations).

Reed pipes, on the other hand, react a bit differently to temperature changes. The pitch of a reed pipe depends on two things, the density of air in the resonator of the pipe, and the vibrating length of the tongue. The former is affected exactly like flue pipes; the latter is hardly affected at all by temperature. Some reeds have full-length resonators, in which case the resonator has a substantial effect on the tuning, and these reeds tend to stay in tune with the flue pipes within reasonable temperature changes. Other reeds, such as Vox Humanas and others with short-length resonators, tend to stay in tune regardless of the temperature, and thus seem out of tune with the flues when the temperature varies. Because an organ usually has far more flue pipes than Vox Humana pipes, for practical purposes we simply retune the Vox Humana even though it probably hasn't gone out of tune.

Reed pipes require more attention, simply because they are more complicated mechanically, and thus are more subject to derangement, and also because of the different way they react to temperature changes. However, simply tuning the reeds by their tuning wires can derange the regulation. The regulation depends, among other things, on the relationship between the tuning length of the resonator and the position of the tuning wire on the tongue. All other things equal, if the tongue is lengthened without shortening the resonator the tone will get louder and brighter, and vice-versa. Reeds are also quite sensitive to dirt or insects getting under the tongue. This often silences the pipe and requires that it be expertly cleaned to restore its speech.

The most common temperatures for rooms with people range from 68 to 72° Fahrenheit. A well-designed heating system can guarantee this temperature in winter, and most American churches have such a system. Many, however, particularly in cooler parts of the country, do not have air conditioning and thus temperatures may go higher than this in the summer. For these environments it is fairly easy to insure the tuning of the organ through the winter, but the reeds may become a problem in the hot summer months. If the church has a slack season in the summer it may be the best course to simply avoid use of the reeds on hot days, knowing that they will be in good shape when cool weather returns.

There are various methods of tuning flue pipes. The simplest, and in our opinion, the best for open metal pipes is to simply cut them accurately to length and slightly cone in the tops. Such a pipe, except for a long-term build-up of dust, or some disturbance, will remain in tune for years as long as the temperature is correct when it is played. Stopped metal pipes can either have their tops soldered on, and fine-tuning accomplished by soft lead tuning ears, or have carefully fitted caps. We have devised a method of very tightly fitted caps, and use tuning ears for fine tuning. These also stay in tune for years. If, however, the organ is subject to changing tuning frequently, perhaps because of poor location, then the open metal pipes should be provided with carefully fitted tuning slides, which can be moved considerably and often without damaging the pipes. Stopped woods pipes must be fitted with tightly fitting stoppers, and open wood pipes need metal flaps or slots with slides. Front pipes, and those too large to cone, should have slots with coils. In any case the organ should be tuned only by qualified technicians, because it is easy for the pipes to be damaged. Tuning requires judgment and experience; sometimes it is best not to tune the organ, such as when the temperature is improper.

The key action of a tracker organ will require periodical adjustment to keep the key tensions in trim, especially when the organ is new and getting settled. This gives the greatest insurance against ciphers due to action mis-adjustment. Ordinarily ciphers due to dirt and debris become a rarity once the organ is settled in.