Console, Drilling, Blower

Console, Drilling, Blower

by Allison Andrews, Parish Historian 

Next up - the new console. Wallace will design and build this for us. The original console is long gone. The one we just removed was from the 1950s.

The console case holds the keyboards (and the array of puzzling knobs) and pedal board. On the inside is a complex set of relays that signal pipes to sound when notes are played.

Pictured here is a concept sketch by Nick Wallace for the new console. The design incorporates details from the casework of other Hook & Hastings instruments of the era to "add a bit of authenticity to the console design," as David Wallace explains.

Sketch for the new console by Nick Wallace, June 2015 (not to scale)

Meanwhile, drilling of holes for the placement of pipes proceeds.

And the new blower has arrived.  This is the apparatus that breathes the air into the organ. This one is smaller, cleaner, and quieter than the 1950s model it replaces. The old blower, now a relic, has been claimed by an engineering-inclined parishioner.

Mural, Kalamzou and Windchests

These posts are authored by Allison Andrews, Parish Historian 

MURAL

Two big changes when the organ was removed: a piano was moved into in the Madonna corner and large gap was left behind the choir. This space has been filled with a mural created by Rev. Maggie Arnold and Adele Travisano. Maggie describes the mural as "a very loose homage to Helen Frankenthaler's painting "Bay Side" from 1967." The decorated cardboard organ attached to it is a co-creation of parishioners at the "Goodbye Organ" dinner in April.

 "KALAMZOU CHAP"

"Kalamazou Chap"   These words with a carved leaf are found on a piece of wood that was removed from the organ chamber.  What could they mean? Are they part of a longer phrase? Maybe an inside joke?  Are they from 1875, or a later addition?

AT THE SHOP - WINDCHESTS

Meanwhile back at the workshop, the rebuilding has begun: They are building wind chests, the wooden boxes that  hold pressurized air. Our organ will have several.

Here is the top side of a wind chest, called the toe board, under construction. Holes will be drilled where pipes will set their "toes"  and stand ready to receive air from the chest below. The drawing shows the complicated plan for placement of the holes.

Dismantling