Organ matters - Organs matter!

THIS ORGAN HAS NOW GONE TO A GOOD HOME!!!!!! :)

btw...  Chris.  Thanks for all those youtube clips about Comptons you've played.  As far as voicing and tonal design goes, J. Compton was a bloody genius!  I have a lot of respect for him.


Thank you Flared_Ophicleide.  Im nowt special really - just a hymn machine but im a big believer in archiving and preservation and since I was 15, Compton electrones and Compton organs in general be it pipes, cinema, melotone, electrone, miniatura etc etc I have found fascinating.  Digital organs are great but I find them 'functional' but not 'interesting' if that makes sense.

Im the proud owner of a 357 electrone at home and wouldnt swop it for any other electronic instrument.  With 2 spare belts, a complete set of spare generators and a complete set of spare valves plus a few other bits and bobs I have no doubt that the organ will outlive me!

Well folks - im pleased to say I have been given a list of just under TWENTY Compton electrone installations still working in churches of all denominations in various parts of the country that have been seen in the last six months!  Three of these I already knew about so thats another 17 potential ones to visit in hopefully the not to distant future. 

These instruments comprise of 357, 363 and CH2 models and 3 'Sonatina' models.

Proves there are still quite a few out there! 

How much of the pipework at St Martins in the Bullring is actually Compton? 

The console is clearly Compton and certainly the 2 'Cornet' compound stops on the pedal but I was comparing 2 specifications last night - the first dating back to the 1920s and the second after the 1955 rebuild by Compton.  The specifications look pretty much identical apart from splitting the choir into 2 and making a solo division and the 2 compound stops on the pedal. Is anymore of the pipework actually pure Compton or is it all Harrison reused does anyone know?  Also was the 32ft a Compton polyphone and has this been reused?

No need to apologise David.  I meant the title should be changed to 'Great Electrone and Rail Expeditions' or something like that!  LOL

High voltages that some find exciting....I have this image in my head of a mad professor in a science lab getting a thrill from blowing things up!  :D

I am now yearning for a train ride to London on a tilting Pendolino class 390 and a good ride around on the tube after reading the last few posts........and maybe visit a few Compton equipped churches en route!

Think the title of this thread now needs changing!  ;D

Well a lot of organ enthusiasts also have an interest in railways (myself included) so why not?

I guess you could say I have a love of all things vintage and unusual.  Railways which include everything from steam, diesel, electric, underground and metros to Virgin Pendolinos.  I did want a vintage car a few years ago but my partner Michelle put up a barrier on that one - she did let me have an electrone taking up half the lounge so felt not worth pushing my luck! Art-deco is another of my interests and sometimes when I visit London I get a thrill from just walking around such places as Northolt, Greenford and Perivale - and of course old cinemas where that interest and the organ go hand in hand.

One musnt think im anti-pipe - far from it.  I have an interest in the Compton company as a whole.  On a practical level, the sound is nothing on modern technology but spinning wheels and glowing valves fascinate me.  Looking at a few circuit boards just doesnt thrill me if you see what I mean.

However, interest in the old British Rail DMUs is started to slowly rise.  The East Lancashire Railway now has regular 'Diesel Days' (in addition to 1940s weekends, LMS weekends etc) and seems to get a good number to these.

I watched the Beatles Movie last night after reading your comment and at about 6 minutes into the film is the organ scene.  It is indeed a Compton electrone - the model 3ME to be exact.  The surround is a copy of the Odeon, Leicester Square.

I feel I should also point out that my comment regarding losing electronic organ companies business was nothing more than a joke and wasnt meant to cause any harm.  I dont think any church is going to take much notice of a guy who makes one visit to play their organ and as pointed out, a 50-60 year old electrone is nothing over a modern digital without any moving parts.  I guess many people in the 60s begged British Rail not to get rid of their 'rare' and 'wonderful' steam locomotives......

Compton Organs in Suffolk have been VERY helpful - I had an email from them yesterday.  I had emailed a few months ago and received no reply.  A pipe organ building friend of mine had told me not long after I approached Makin and Compton Organs 'not to expect much from an electronic organ company' which seemed to make sense at the time and having never approached organ companies before in this way this was completely new to me.  Obviously, if a church says no then there is nothing else that can be done.  Always think attitudes like that are destructive really when you get organists that see it as 'theirs' and 'theirs only'.  Is it any surprise why so many youngsters now have no interest in the organ?  Who can blame them really if they show an interest and their first encounter is with a 'terrotorial' organist.  However, that is an entire topic in itself.

I must say though, having wrote to 3 pipe organ builders I received info very quickly without any problems.  In fact, I know now the locations of pretty much every Compton pipe organ in Scotland!!!  Im not going visiting yet though for as much as I am a big Compton fan, im not driving a round trip of 600+ plus miles to play a Miniatura in a village in the Highlands 20 miles north of Fort Augustus for just one example!