Organ matters - Organs matter!

Like all these redundant organs we are happy to rescue pipework, but much else is often impossible due to lack of storage.  I am still working on a much better storage deal so we can rescue whole organs and store them until new homes can be found, whole, or in parts, if anyone knows of anything (very cheap) near Poole, please let me know.  In the meantime, we will continue to rescue pipework!
Jonathan (organbuilder@jonathan-lane.org.uk)

Well done Tony!  :)

The frame is now in and the winding system hoes in this week.  More details to follow and I am preparing an online photo gallery.

Jonathan

Quote from: Brigadeir998 on February 04, 2011, 10:40:15 PM
Hi - Richard's brother here, reporting Richard's comments. The Father Willis at Ewell uses the 'Gedact' spelling, no K. It has two of them. Hereford's Stopped Diapasons are probably from the Gray and Davison (the Willis is more of a comprehensive rebuild than a new organ).

Well what's in a name?  The Hereford Stopped Diapasons are believed to be Willis, but may well be earlier, they are unlikely to be Gray and Davison in that case, but more likely the earlier Bishop organ of 1832 or even a further litany of builders dating back to Harris in 1686 and including work by Schmidt (Bernard Smith?), Dallam, Byfield, Green, Avery, Lincoln and Elliot, so who knows.  However, the Hereford Cathedral website states a fact that I have always understood from people far more conversant with the organ than me (I've only played it a couple of dozen times), and that is the 1892 organ was not a rebuild but a completely new organ.  Short of going inside to look I cannot confirm this, however, I will check with colleagues at another firm who have more knowledge of the organ.

Quote from: NonPlayingAnorak on February 03, 2011, 03:18:09 PM
Hmm, I think the style of the front-pipes could be a clue. However, the "Stopped Diapason" and the fact that it's divided... just not FHW practice at all. He'd not have divided it and he'd have called it "Lieblich Gedact".

The organ which originally inspired my mother to become an organist - http://www.npor.org.uk/cgi-bin/Rsearch.cgi?Fn=Rsearch&rec_index=P00140 - is a tiny instrument of about twelve stops, but it sings with such sweet and pure tone, it's on low low wind pressures, there's a load of spotted metal in it too... we have no evidence, but we think it could be a Lewis.

Not wishing to be too pedantic, but he may have called it a Lieblich Gedackt, but certainly not Gedact, and there is more than one Stopped Diapason in this Willis: http://www.npor.org.uk/cgi-bin/Rsearch.cgi?Fn=Rsearch&rec_index=N09756

I would like to see how this course succeeds as there are very few such courses in the South West.  Perhaps someone on here will be going and report back in due course.

Jonathan

We would be happy to take it and store as much as possible, but, we are fully booked with work on site until the end of March.  However, if there was someone who could at least pack the pipework, and we might be able to arrange to come up on a Sunday afternoon before starting work in Redditch.  But that does require some help.  I don't want to see it scrapped, but am currently on an 80 hour week!

Jonathan

07836 299025

Dear Yann,

We are being offered organs all the time and if the right instrument becomes available we may be able to supply it to you.  Could you give me more idea of what size you need, specification, etc.  Our wbesite is at http://www.organ-builder.co.uk/

Best wishes,

Jonathan

Dear All,

I have been asked to post some details of the work we are doing at Astwood Bank in between the rather long hours currently on site.  We are progressing well with the installation.  There is still some material in the workshop, including the rebuilding of the console.  I will post more details as time goes by. 

The opening recital will be on Saturday 30 April, following the dedication on Easter Day.  This is to be given by Andrew Fletcher, Worcester Diocesan Organ Advisor, and a superb player.  Tickets available from me at organbuilder@jonathan-lane.org.uk

A full specification can be found at http://www.organ-builder.co.uk/.

More details to follow shortly.

Jonathan

Quote from: NonPlayingAnorak on December 23, 2010, 05:34:29 AM
Sorry, Jonathan, being ill and having not slept properly for four days, I'm being rather thick. What on earth are you on about?  :)

A few good stops, and there were a few in the old Worcester organ does not make an instrument.  The old organ was one of the hardest organs I ever had to play, and was almost impossible to get anything musical from it, the new one is a fine instrument and looks far better too!

Quote from: NonPlayingAnorak on December 22, 2010, 08:46:27 PM


Also, don't be rude about Hope-Jones or the old Worcester organ! It remains one of this country's great tragedies that such a brilliantly original organ-builder as RHJ is still so despised... his Clarinets and strings, particularly, are gorgeous. His organs were fantastically inventive.

Its a bit like having a line such as 'To be, or not to be, that is the question: Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer, The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune, Or to take arms against a sea of troubles and by opposing end them.' in a Catherine Cookson novel.

Quote from: NonPlayingAnorak on December 20, 2010, 12:29:04 AM

Quote from: barniclecompton on December 19, 2010, 03:55:32 AM
Word seems to be that the building is coming down, with only the bell tower and the front wall being retained. Nothing about the organ though!

Why so? Is it derelict? And how did Ayr end up with two Catholic cathedrals anyway? It's hardly the centre of the Universe... or even that part of Scotland.

Problem being, Scotland is short of decent organbuilders - Sandy Edmonstone's wrecking of the big Rothwell in Perth comes to mind, turning a glorious Orchestral Oboe into a horrid honky Krummhorn, amongst other things, plus the shoddiness and unreliability of Lammermuir... but we need to try and see if anyone could take it. It looks like a basically useful organ - a Trombone/Trumpet unit on the Pedal, a Mixture and a Trumpet on the Great, would add a lot of versatility too. It looks from the specification as though it could be a Lewis, or maybe a Binns or Forster & Andrews... just guesswork, I know, and the spec is pretty generic. Still, if the pipework is of sufficient quality, that at least could be really useful.

I really have to disagree about Perth, Sandy did a superb job with the organ and produced a very versatile instrument.  When I played it in 2001, when I interviewed and was offered the DofM post, he apologised for it being a little out of tune, it was damn near immaculate!

Doesn't appear to be due to headphones socket and I've checked through quite a bit more, time to hand over to the experts, I'm a mere pipe organ builder!

J

The headphone socket doesn't seem to have any effect, will go inside to have a look.  J

I'll try the headphones idea, will post more here when I find out more.   The main spare part we currently need is for the illuminated stopknobs, some of which no longer light.  Ghastly system, I think I prefer any other system than this because they are so hard to use.  Apart from conventional draw stops I believe my favourite is the system used by Compton on their luminous stop knobs! J

Hi All,

I'm hoping to pick the brains of someone who has had a similar issue.  We have a Viscount Grand Opera and the external speakers have somehow stopped working.  I have checked the usual things including checking on the amplifiers but there does not seem to be anything wrong.  Does anyone have any idea how this has happened and what the remedy might be?

Also, am looking for spare parts for said organ.

Thanks,

Jonathan

I don't know many organ stops however that have one pipe as in the pedal Bombarde, I assume it works on a similar principal to the Hope Jones Diaphone.  The only stop above 16' on the pedal is the Octave Tuba and the only reed on the Swell is at 16'!

J

This a seriously bizarre instrument even in its 'rebuilt' form!!

Reminds me of an organ H&H built to do the same thing, a touring organ, but if I remember correctly it was a bit bigger!  Unfortunately I never possessed the wonder Elvin book about Harrisons, it was only ever on loan from the library so I can't check.

Jonathan

Quote from: NonPlayingAnorak on November 02, 2010, 05:28:16 PM
What really pisses me off is the following:

QuoteThe removal of the organ was completed last week by Foley-Baker Inc., which will send the pipes to a hazard waste facility due to a lead issue

A seemingly reputable 42-year-old firm dealing in new pipe organs and restoration of old ones, giving such a negative assessment and seeing that the pipework is destroyed?

We agree about something!  Of course, it by far the worse to recycle the pipes than re-use them!