Organ matters - Organs matter!

True enough, but if a church has no chance of affording to restore their pipes, then a good digital may be the only feasible option. And, to be honest, as far as our new organ is concerned, only the most discerning ear would recognise the difference, in return for which we have a much more versatile instrument which does not deserve the disparaging term of 'toaster'. At the same time all our pipework has been left in situ ready for reconnection at some time in the future, but I doubt whether that day will ever come.

Hi Peter. You could do what we have done at Blidworth and have a digital organ built into the pipework. We are not that far from Leek so you are welcome to come and see/hear/play our new Phoenix installation installed by Dukeries Electronics. Doing it this way saved thousands because a new console was not required. If you are interested I would be pleased to show you.

Thanks for that, Lucien, I will bear that in mind

Hi Mike

It is a bit on the big side for what is required but would still be better than the pub organ currently in the mission if affordable. A single manual without pedal but with a monophonic bass stop would be more appropriate to our needs though.
Mentioning Lang's Tuba Tune, that had an airing at a wedding this afternoon. There is no Tuba as such on the new Phoenix but Open Diapason, Trumpet and Clarinet together on Great provides a surprisingly close resemblance.

Quote from: Janner on September 29, 2012, 11:15:07 AM
One of the difficulties with organs on eBay is that the time available for decision making is impossibly short in many cases.

In the Anglican Church, this soon becomes apparent to anyone who embarks on a scheme to obtain and install an organ. The process of consultation, planning, further consultation, further planning and eventual faculty permission can take years, not to mention the fund raising. In many ways this is a good thing because it helps to prevent some of the unwise changes, and acts of vandalism, which would otherwise undoubtedly take place. But it does rather rule out bidding in an auction lasting just a few days.

I suppose eBay may, potentially anyway, be a more prominent medium than perhaps the IBO Redundant Organs list, but the latter would seem a more logical place to advertise, and anyone seriously looking for a church organ must surely know about it?

In this case it appears as though the owners are not looking to have it removed until early next year, so that at least may help someone, but they still have to decide whether to bid before tomorrow week. I see there are two bids so far, which hopefully may be a good sign.

Faculties can be a pain and I'm sure some churches don't bother. Within 10 miles of my home there is a group of five country parishes where two have replaced harmoniums with pub organs which would never have been allowed by the diocese.
As an aside I was once asked to play the harmonium at one of these churches for a funeral, when that was the instrument in use and situated in the tiny chancel. At the end of the service, as the bearers turned the coffin round to carry it out they almost knocked me off the stool with it.

Quote from: mikeb on September 13, 2012, 08:05:48 PM
It's in Bournemouth ... as am I !

Given the clues in your other posts on these forums and assuming you allude to Mansfield (Notts) and Rainworth in particular, St Mary's Blidworth is presumably the Parish church with (or about to have) a shiny new digital organ tucked away behind the pipes of the original somewhat temperamental organ.  Such shame that the pipe organ has had to be decommissioned of course but I'm pleased to read that the important parts are being retained for possible use again in the future. The news report I've just read is from the end of July so I hope the new digital organ is now installed, performing well and meets your expectations.  I also hope my 30 seconds of detective work has turned up the 'right' information as well or I'm about to look very silly indeed !!!

Which church is it that you're trying to find a more appropriate electronic organ for ?

I love Bournemouth but you are too far away to make it a practical proposition for Mr Shifter.

Yes, your detective work is not defective work, you are spot on. The new digital is up and running although there remain a couple of loose ends to tie up, and the vicar, the choir, the congregation and I love it. We launched it with a 'Songs of Praise' on the theme of music in worship, and after the dedication the first piece heard in public on it was C. S. Lang's Fanfare (from the book 'Fanfares and Processionals'). It is much more responsive than the old pipe instrument which was so sluggish that the repeated successions of four notes/chords at the start of Mendelssohn's Wedding March sounded as just one long one.
I have to say that it I have never heard a digital sound so pipe-like, the sound is crisp and clear, and because I am effectively playing the same console the illusion is complete. With no new console needed the saving on cost wsa immense.
The spec is: Great (enclosed): Open 8, Stopped 8, Principal 4, Harmonic 4, 12th, 15th, Tierce, Mix, Trumpet 8, Clarinet 8, Trem by piston. Swell (obviously enclosed separately) Lieb Bourdon 16, Geigen Diap 8, Lieb Gedact 8, Celeste II, Gems 4, Piccolo 2, Mix III, Contra Fag 16, Oboe 8, Trompette 8, Clarion 4, Trem by piston. Pedal: Open 16, Bourdon 16, Prin 8, Flute 8, 15th 4, Trombone 16. Usual three couplers but no octaves or subs. It also includes an auto pedal to Great to cater for a 'reluctant' deputy. Enclosing the Great was at the recommendation of Paul Hale of Southwell Minster, whose help and advice throughout the project was invaluable (once he had accepted that an effective rebuild of the pipe organ was financially beyond reach). It means I don't need what he called a 'boring' Dulciana because the Open with the pedal closed fulfils that function, and it allowed a Tierce to be included, giving much more versatility.
As to my search for a 'small and cheap', this is for a Mission Hall also in Blidworth, which is effectively a church hall with a small room off for a chapel, where any such new organ as I may acquire will take up residence. There is a Wednesday Communion service in there with scope for a couple of hymns, and a united benefice service (with Rainworth) in the hall when there is a fifth Sunday - one reason why a portable Cantorum would be the ideal, although an old analogue is probably more realistic financially.

Hi Mike

Where in the country is it/are you?

Yes, I did think about a harmonium (which took me right back to my roots of a village chapel when I was a lad some 60 years ago), but I doubt whether one of those would cope with some of the 'Kendricity' (I claim copyright on that!) that we sometimes use. I still think it's ideally a Cantorum but realistically an analogue. A pipe organ of any description would not be suitable for the building unfortunately as well as being far too costly to buy, transport and instal.

A Cantorum would be great but even on ebay they tend to sell for more than we would want to pay, bearing in mind the degree of use it would get.
I have only ever seen and heard one in action. My daughter and one or two others were installed as chaplains at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in King's Lynn a couple of years ago (incidentally she left last week to move to Scotland, and I hoped she might have smuggled it out for me ....). The service was in what is referred to there as the 'sacred space', which in reality was not very spacious, so no external amp was used although it would have been better with one. I had a play on it afterwards and, although the available tones were not in the same class as the fabulous Phoenix system just installed in the Parish Church, I was sufficiently impressed to bid for a couple on ebay but unsuccessfully. I'm probably looking at £200 maximum, given that we have just splashed out on the Phoenix, which is why I originally specified a small analogue organ, even a one manual and no pedal if necessary. But if anyone has a Cantorum for a couple of hundred I would gladly relieve them of it.
I do have Hauptwerk at home, played on a couple of cheap keyboards with auto pedal to both great and swell in the absence of a pedal board (or space for one or a wife who would let me have one ....), and it's impressive, but it's only the free version which is not authorised for a public installation. Again, the full licence would be uneconomic for the use it would get, and you have to think additionally of computers and amplifiers.
I will continue to look on good old ebay, but if anyone anywhere thinks they may have what I seek please keep me in mind.
Many thanks for the replies so far.

Would love that, but not practicable, I'm afraid.

Does anyone know where within fairly easy reach of Mansfield I can pickup a small electronic for occasional use in a mission church? A Sunday service is held there just once a quarter, and there is a weekly Wednesday morning Communion where there is possible scope for maybe a couple of hymns. Given the limited use it would have, anything from a single manual analogue without pedals upwards would be considered, but it has to be dirt cheap because we have just splashed out on a wonderful new digital organ in the parish church. In the mission there is currently one of those awful offset manuals and popstick pedals things, which is totally unsuitable. I believe it was given to (or dumped on) the church before my time - perhaps the donor thought 'organ ... church' and who ever accepted it didn't know any better, but I refuse to play it and have been given the go-ahead to try to replace it with something more suitable. There is no point in spending much because it would not be cost-effective for the use it would have. I do keep one eye on ebay, but have yet to find the one I want at a price I want to pay and within easy distance.