Hello all,
Hoping you can help me!
Our church in Leicestershire currently has a 50 year old Walker 'Positif' model C, which we're looking to replace. In all honesty the instrument has never been big enough for the building, but the acoustics are good and it was probably helped by the marble floor of the altar and wooden floor of the nave.
Over the years the church has been carpeted, however, which hasn't helped what was already a problem. At present the Organ struggles with large congregations at Christmas or Easter, owing largely to the lack of a bottom octave on the Diapason or Dulciana ranks and the single 16' Bourdon on the pedals.
Without getting into too much of a debate about the merits/demerits of the 'Positif' design, we're looking for an instrument with a little more variation tonally but mainly some extra support and 'oomph' across the manuals and pedals.
The building design and layout prevents us from using a tracker action instrument, so electric or pneumatic is needed so the pipes can be sited elsewhere. Bearing in mind the space we have available, two manuals would be ideal - one would be insufficient and I suspect that any 3 manual instrument would be much too large for us.
Following the sourcing of a replacement instrument, our Walker would be available for sale. It is maintained regularly and would require some basic cleaning and minor attention to the electric action on the Diapason and Dulciana ranks, but very little else. Depending on the siting of a new instrument we may need to keep the lower octave of the Bourdon rank to act as a facade - this is obviously all academic at present in the absence of a replacement instrument in any case!
If you are aware of an instrument you feel may be suitable or could keep your eyes open and let me know, I'd be very grateful.
Best,
Tom
Hoping you can help me!
Our church in Leicestershire currently has a 50 year old Walker 'Positif' model C, which we're looking to replace. In all honesty the instrument has never been big enough for the building, but the acoustics are good and it was probably helped by the marble floor of the altar and wooden floor of the nave.
Over the years the church has been carpeted, however, which hasn't helped what was already a problem. At present the Organ struggles with large congregations at Christmas or Easter, owing largely to the lack of a bottom octave on the Diapason or Dulciana ranks and the single 16' Bourdon on the pedals.
Without getting into too much of a debate about the merits/demerits of the 'Positif' design, we're looking for an instrument with a little more variation tonally but mainly some extra support and 'oomph' across the manuals and pedals.
The building design and layout prevents us from using a tracker action instrument, so electric or pneumatic is needed so the pipes can be sited elsewhere. Bearing in mind the space we have available, two manuals would be ideal - one would be insufficient and I suspect that any 3 manual instrument would be much too large for us.
Following the sourcing of a replacement instrument, our Walker would be available for sale. It is maintained regularly and would require some basic cleaning and minor attention to the electric action on the Diapason and Dulciana ranks, but very little else. Depending on the siting of a new instrument we may need to keep the lower octave of the Bourdon rank to act as a facade - this is obviously all academic at present in the absence of a replacement instrument in any case!
If you are aware of an instrument you feel may be suitable or could keep your eyes open and let me know, I'd be very grateful.
Best,
Tom