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BILSTON TOWN HALL

Started by barniclecompton, June 23, 2010, 06:02:05 PM

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barniclecompton

N/A

David Pinnegar

Hi!

Thanks for posting this! Does this instrument have some of those Compton "synthetic stops" which are referred to on posts elsewhere? I seem to recall that Percy Vickery on one of the EOCS CDs talks about such stops on Wurlitzers in his introduction to registration and the cinema organ . . .

I hope people are supporting these tea-dances. . . .

Best wishes

David P

dragonser

Hi,
please to see a picture of the Compton console !
I just looked at the npor to see if there was any info listed ( as a beginner I'm curious about what names all the stops are ! ) but there doesn't seem to be anything mentioned about the Bilston town hall. ( npor = national pipe organ register ).
would be great if anyone had the time to email the npor with the updated details.

regards Peter B

revtonynewnham

Hi

The Theatre Organ World list (dating from the 1970's) shows the Lyric Wellingborough Compton as having 5 ranks plus Melotone, and an illuminated console.

Please do send the details to NPOR (along with the previous locations of the organ).  We're aware that there are not many Theatre organs listed on NPOR as yet.  At some point, I want to have a blitz on them - but it can be a very time consuming business trying to trace address details for closed cinemas, and trying to find where organs have been (and what ranks, etc have been changed) - the last couple that I dealt with took me about 4 hours each - and still don't have complete info on movements.

At present, NPOR has a backlog of around 6-7 months of routine updates, and pretty well all extra projects are on hold until we get this down to manageable proportions.

Every Blessing

Tony

organforumadmin

Quote from: revtonynewnham on July 01, 2010, 08:32:00 AM
The Theatre Organ World list (dating from the 1970's) shows the Lyric Wellingborough Compton as having 5 ranks plus Melotone, and an illuminated console.
Hi!

Clearly a "hybrid" organ built before the IOB got paranoid . . . and with only 5 ranks no doubt there are synthetic ranks using harmonic addivity to create sounds from pipes like those obtained from adding pitches together on a Hammond . . .

Best wishes

Forum Admin

revtonynewnham

Hi

I'm not sure about the use of pipe synthetic tones on Compton cinema organs - the 5 basic ranks were all extended - no "luxuries" like separate, true-tuned mutations or anything like that which John Compton knew very well were needed for synthetic tones - but the Melotone used synthetics built up from harmonics - and very effective they are on the examples that I've played.

I guess that Compton were the first builders of hybrid organs, back in the 1930's - and even produced at least one true hybrid with a complete electronic division.  Christie toyed with their "radiotone" - I'm not sure exactly what this was, or if any examples remain - they also used electronic basses at The Dome, Brighton, for a couple of 32ft stops.  I'm only aware of one other UK organ builder even attempting hybrid organs commercially prior to the digital era - IIRC that was in the 1950's.

Incidentally, Compton's melotone/electrone patents are earlier than Hammond's - often cited as the first commercial electronic organs.

Every Blessing

Tony

comptonplus

Hi,

I'm the organist at the Town Hall and there are no 'sythetic' stops on the organ, except for the Melotone, which we do not have. We have contemplated adding another Tibia on the Melotone stops.

Regards,

Cameron.

AnOrganCornucopia

Dome Brighton isn't a Compton but a Hill, Norman & Beard. God help you if you tell its custodians it's just a big Christie (which it is!)... the electronic 32ft basses date only to the most recent restoration anyway, previously they were real but hall renovations necessitated reduction in chamber depth and so they could no longer be accommodated. I understand they're going on David Houlgate's Willis house organ instead.