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New house organ in the North West

Started by Holditch, September 05, 2010, 12:52:46 AM

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Holditch

Hello everyone,

I would like to let you know about a small two manual + pedal house organ that I am currently building.

I have been an organists and pipe organ enthusiast for many years now, and needed a reasonable practice instrument for home. I did consider the rational route of buying an electronic instrument, but due to my inquisitive nature and not one to be scared of getting my hammer and saw out, I'd thought I would try and construct a pipe organ

I have almost finished the console and the great pipe work. I am just working on the electronics, which is quite time consuming, and once that is up an running,
I will start on the swell, which will included shutters!! (yes I am mad)

Here is a picture of some of the progress so far

http://thecavendishorgan.webs.com/apps/photos/photo?photoid=97604047


Best Regards

Marc
Dubois is driving me mad! must practice practice practice

revtonynewnham

Hi

Sounds interesting - good luck with it.  I've had to abandon my house organ project FTTB - the windchest that I had porved to need too much work, and I don't really have time, nor workshop facilities.

Could you send NPOR (or myself) some details - NPOR is trying to list all UK pipe organs.  We don't publish complete addresses for house organs unless we either have the owner's permission, or the information is in the public domain through other sources - otherwise it's just described as"Private Residence" and the Town name.

Maybe a possible venue for an Organ Matters "get together" for those of us in the North???

Every Blessing

Tony

dragonser

Hi,
that looks like a very nice project !
as I'm not any good with hammers and saws I'm hoping at some point to get my diy electronic instrument finished. ( but that is another story )  btw The people at  EOCS  have been most helpful with this.
regards Peter B

Holditch

Dear Tony

I will send you the details hopefully before the end of the year. I feel it shouldn't be listed yet until it is in some type of functional form, eventhough I have had single ranks working.

And yes a possible venue for a visit, however at the rate I am going then only one or two can fit in the room with the organ, hopefully my house will not collapse under the weight!
Many thanks

Marc
Dubois is driving me mad! must practice practice practice

Holditch

Just a little update on the progress of my house pipe organ

I have now got the 8ft flute (clarabella) and 4ft octave coupler working. The 8ft has all 61 notes, and the 4ft misses the top octave. I should also have within the next two days have the 8ft dulciana, 2 2/3 twelfth and 2ft fifteenth working, the later two being restricted to 37 notes.

I plan to try and add the remaining missng notes for the 2 2/3 and 2ft stops by adding an additional small windchest to the front of the organ (I think it would sound a bit daft only having half the keyboard operating with these stops)

I have scaled back my expectations of the swell, which will now be midified and use an electronic sound source. The two manuals will still be able to be coupled so could be interesting. If I had more space and wasn't so worried about the weight loading on my floor then this would be all pipe, but I dont want to end up in the basement pipes and all!

Once all the great stops are working I will hopefully record some music!

Best Regards

Marc
Dubois is driving me mad! must practice practice practice

revtonynewnham

Hi

Good news.  Are the 12th & 15th in the treble or bass?  If they're in the treble, then there's good precedent - especially on single manual organs, as it allows solo and accompaniment work.

What system are you considering for the electronics? Whatever you choose, it will need to have an accessible tuning control to adjust to the pipes, which will shift in pitch with changes of temperature - and no "automatic" system is 100% accurate.

There have been a few hybrid organs over the years - even Compton built one, and one organ builder offered hybrid organs as a standard range.  In recent years, the improvements in digital technology have made it an ever more feasible option where there isn't space for real pipes.

Every Blessing

Tony

David Pinnegar

Quote from: Holditch on October 08, 2010, 04:01:21 AMI plan to try and add the remaining missng notes for the 2 2/3 and 2ft stops by adding an additional small windchest to the front of the organ (I think it would sound a bit daft only having half the keyboard operating with these stops)

Hi!

Perhaps not daft at all. the French classical Recit operate only from middle C upwards. With a 4ft principal having a strong enough 2nd harmonic, you might get away with moving the 2ft up to Tierce to make a Jeu de Tierce or Cornet and the divided keyboard enables you to do much more on the same manual. Couperin lives!

Best wishes

David P

Holditch

Thanks all for the interest in this project

I must admit that I am a complete novice, however enthusiastic, when it comes to organ construction and I am learning along the way. I recently was advised to use Tallow within my wood pipes for correct sealing, thank you David Cooper

Here are some updates from the website

http://thecavendishorgan.webs.com/apps/blog/

I have uploaded a couple of recordings which you will find in the sounds section. I think the small space which the organ occupies may have caused a few problems with certain notes and harmonics, but interesting anyway. The room is approx 11ft x 13ft. Please note that my playing is as good as my organ construction, not up to much yet!

The full organ does sound quite good (recording yet to be uploaded), the 2 2/3 and 2 foot stops add vivacity!

Marc
Dubois is driving me mad! must practice practice practice

David Pinnegar

Hi!

It sounds really great - brilliant! Very pleasant and beautifully articulate playing too . . .

Best wishes

David P

revtonynewnham

Hi

Very nice sounds - look forward to hearing more.  One comment though, you need to be careful trimming the ends of the recordings - the hymn tune particularly cuts into the last note, and the Bach is also a little on the "tight" side.  A little bit of room ambiance on the end is no bad thing - especially to make sure that you don't cut the ambiance off (I know that there's not much in such a small room).

Look forward to hearing more - and maybe a visit before too long.

Every Blessing

Tony

Holditch

Hi Tony,

Yes I apologise for the cutting off of the end of the track, I was just getting to grips with my new recording software and unfortunately am still getting to grips with it. I have recently purchased a Marantz PMD661 portable SD card recorder, which is a great piece of kit and have decided now to record in a high bit rate MP3 format instead of trying to convert WAV to MP3, so hopefully some more professional tracks will appear.

I am currently, and understandably, having tuning issues with the organ now that the winter months are upon us. The room that it is located in is only quite small and therefore there can be quite a change in temperature when the central heating is on or off. Has anyone any advice as to what I should try and aim for with regards to tuning, do I leave the heating off in that room and have to wear many layers (a bit like our church!) or should I keep the room a constant temperature with the heating on all the time?

The Holdtich dulciana seems to be most affected, probably due to its high lead content, I may be facing an impossible battle?

I have heard recommended that the organ should be tuned when the temperature of the room is at its most ambient, and for church organs this is expected at the time of the service, however as this is a practice organ it is getting a lot more use and the organ can be used morning, noon and night

Many thanks
Marc
Dubois is driving me mad! must practice practice practice

David Pinnegar

Hi!

I hope others might comment about when to tune - but to be honest I have never had problems with flues - it's only the flue/reed differential that causes real headaches.

Organs are quite easy to tune by ear as the beats are constant and clear but
http://www.korg.co.uk/products/tuners/ot120/tu_ot120.asp
is extremely useful, especially if you'd like to experiment with unequal temperaments, which will give you a great deal of satisfaction. There is also a programme called Tune Lab 97 which runs nicely on laptops, but the Korg is pocketable and robust.

Best wishes

David P

Holditch

Hi David

The Korg tuner looks interesting, as we have a trade account with Korg UK, I will see if I can get one.

The major problem is not tuning the organ but keeping it in tune once done, I think I need to get a thermometer! I intend to have a comprehensive tuning session at the weekend with the aid of an assistant (my wife!) , we will see how things progress after that

Marc
Dubois is driving me mad! must practice practice practice

revtonynewnham

Hi

Ideally, you should tune the organ at the room temperature that is set for when you're playing.  That said, organs take a while to settle down - so I shouldn't worry too much about the tuning shifting yet.  Metal flue pipes will usually stand in tune well for years once they've settled down, and will move the same amount with changes of temperature.  Cone-tuned pipes will stand in tune for years on end without ever being touched - and if they do shift, the problem is often just dirt in the windway.  (One organ I used to play had cone-tuned pipes, and the tuner literally never had to touch any of them - just the reed and the occasional wooden flue pipe).  Wooden flues theoretically will follow the metal pipes, but I suspect that humidity and the movement of the wood will have an effect.  Reeds are actually more stable in pitch than flues, which sharpen with an increase in temperature due to the speed of sound being temperature dependent - a larger influence than the temperature induced expansion of the metal.  However, sine there are normally far fewer reeds, and they're easier to tune, it's the reeds that get altered.

In an ideal world, keep the organ room at a steady temperature and humidity.  In the heyday of the theatre organ, a few installations had thermostatically-controlled heaters in the chambers, and they rarely (I'm told) needed tuning, except for an odd note here and there.

Every Blessing

Tony

Holditch

#14
Some latest updates on my house organ construction

http://www.thecavendishorgan.com/apps/photos/album?albumid=11458753

The swell chest (no.1) has been installed. This contains the Voile and Vox ranks, with some unification to give 8,4 and 2'

Most of these pipes came from St Cyprians in Edge Hill, Liverpool. I am so glad I have managed to use some of this redundant organ so its beauty can be heard again. Here are some interesting links so you can see the very sad state of the church

http://www.google.co.uk/imgres?imgurl=http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v733/4737carlin/2009/stcrypians/6IMG_9696a-1aw.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.urbexforums.co.uk/showthread.php/12179-St-Cyprian-s-church-Edge-Hill-Liverpool-report-March-2011&usg=__SqzoFgK7_tjMfjVSoKQicWR5OvM=&h=640&w=427&sz=227&hl=en&start=5&zoom=1&tbnid=IH5TDl1ohAerHM:&tbnh=137&tbnw=91&ei=UJR-Td7KHs6ChQfJ4KGvBw&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dst%2Bcyprian%2Bedge%2Bhill%26hl%3Den%26gbv%3D2%26tbs%3Disch:1&itbs=1


A lot of these images make me feel very sad, but I am pleased to have rescued some of this organ's history

These images are from an urban exploration website which in the first instance looks like trespassing, however the rules of urban exploration is to not disturb or damage what you find, but to record for all to see (I think quite a useful past time!)
Dubois is driving me mad! must practice practice practice