Mine has to be a big Walker I know - it's in a church in Wimbledon. There is a very fine big Walker in the Jesuit-run RC church of the Sacred Heart (now in need of restoration - an appeal is running and, luckily, the parish is extremely wealthy), but this one is less distinguished. It started out as IIP/19 or thereabouts in 1898, but it was moved to a very restrictive high chamber in the South Transept in 1952, rebuilt and enlarged to IIIP/42 or thereabouts, with much extension and borrowing, and a good deal of revoicing, then, in the 70s, Wood Wordsworth came along and did some more of the same. The end result was truly vile.
Quote from: NonPlayingAnorak on March 26, 2010, 11:03:27 PM
Mine has to be a big Walker I know - it's in a church in Wimbledon.
Hi
That's a difficult one - I've come across so many poorly maintained organs. One example would be the Morgan & Smith formerly in Rye Baptist Church - somewhat "Got at" in the 1960's with additional baroque stops that didn't really match anything else, and the most stupid swell combination settings imaginable.
More recently, I'd plump for a Brindley & Foster in an Anglican church here in Bradford, which I had the misfortune to play for a wedding a couple of years ago (weddings & funerals being about all it was used for). When playing, water could be heard bubbling in the pneumatic action, the swell had many missing notes from it's own manual (but strangely, played OK via the Swell to Choir coupler) - and half way through the first hymn, the bottom couple of octaves of both Gt 8ft diapasons stopped working, leaving a lone 8ft Flute as the sole 8ft.
Every Blessing
Tony
Tony, can we perhaps keep this to just truly bad organs, not merely instruments in poor repair? After all, even an untouched Cavaillé-Coll would be awful if it hadn't been maintained for decades...
Quote from: NonPlayingAnorak on April 06, 2010, 04:50:22 PM
Tony, can we perhaps keep this to just truly bad organs, not merely instruments in poor repair? After all, even an untouched Cavaillé-Coll would be awful if it hadn't been maintained for decades...
Um . . . I have to agree that badly maintained organs become bad organs . . . and I think exploring both "bad organs", whatever the definition of that might be, and badly maintained organs is likely to throw light on the physical and perceptual problems that the organ suffers.
Best wishes
Forum Admin
This has to be the worst a 2 manual Bevington in the Roman Catholic Church at Smethwick. It suffered some very bad water damage as a result all the Great and Pedal pipework has been removed, the Great keys disconnected leaving the Swell to try and do all the work. It will never be restored as this is a very poor parish, it is tuned on a hop and a skip basis. They expect miracles to be worked in 3 hours!!!!
Maybe this one...http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lxjoTpDZajc&feature=related (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lxjoTpDZajc&feature=related)
ROFL,
Eric
KB7DQH