wheezing organ
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oopsorganist
- Posts: 788
- Joined: Mon May 16, 2005 9:55 pm
- Location: Leeds
wheezing organ
Any one know why our organ has got itself stuck open in /G/ for all stops on the Great Organ? I have found that if I open all four stops on the Great Organ including the Open Diapason which I do not usually use, that this stops the noise but it sounds silly when I start to open the stops. Is it damp do you think? I have found that occasionally notes stick which can be so interesting as I hunt for the key that is down while desperately reading the music in between looking. It also sounds different according to the weather. Ah well.
uh oh!
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gwyn
- Posts: 1148
- Joined: Wed Dec 24, 2003 3:42 pm
- Parish / Diocese: Archdiocese of Cardiff
- Location: Abertillery, South Wales UK
Hello oops.
Humidity most certainly affects the tonality of a pipe organ.
Is you organ a tracker action? Are there wooden rods between the keys and the mechanism that sits beneath the pipes?
Or is it pneumatic? Leadish looking tubes between the manuals and the mechanism beneath the pipes?
The cause of your sticky note might be different in either case.
A stuck note (cypher) is a pain in the butt whatever the cause but some are easier to diagnose and to fix.
Maybe it's the revenge of the odd-bods?
Gwyn
Darkest Abergavenny.
It also sounds different according to the weather.
Humidity most certainly affects the tonality of a pipe organ.
Is you organ a tracker action? Are there wooden rods between the keys and the mechanism that sits beneath the pipes?
Or is it pneumatic? Leadish looking tubes between the manuals and the mechanism beneath the pipes?
The cause of your sticky note might be different in either case.
A stuck note (cypher) is a pain in the butt whatever the cause but some are easier to diagnose and to fix.
Maybe it's the revenge of the odd-bods?
Gwyn
Darkest Abergavenny.
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oopsorganist
- Posts: 788
- Joined: Mon May 16, 2005 9:55 pm
- Location: Leeds
wheezy organ
I can't tell!
I have peered inside but there's just a lot of insides. The pipes are all around the manual you see and lots of casing. I can see a lot of wood so probably rods. I have a further peer around tomorrow morning.
Some days it blows the main fuse too. Only on special occasions like Easter Sunday or Midnight Mass. I dare not switch it off during services because it may not come back on again. So it wheezes away like a heavy smoker.
One of the pegs that hold the music down has come out too. It fell into the foot pedals. I searched in vain in the dark, then I searched hardware stores for a replacement but in the end had to get a coat hanger, torch and some blue tack and fish out the old peg. It is now held on with the blue tack as the wood is split around the hole where it lived. Big paper clips can be useful to hold down really bouncy books like the CFE volumes. You have to bend them into a good shape. Or you can use big bits of elastic. Did I mention that I have to sit on a biscuit tin to reach the manuals? I believe it is rather old and rather special although I may just be fond of it. (The organ, not the biscuit tin). It is older than the church and I wonder if I am making this up, but I think I heard someone say that it is the oldest organ in Leeds? It is painted a very fetching gold colour too, with a blue bit around the manual casing, including all the many screws that hold this all together.
Might need a service other then the Mass. Benediction maybe?
Anyone got a piano out there they don't have room for? I can play piano. A Knight upright would be my ideal, but a Steinway grand would be OK too. Or we could just go guitar.
I have peered inside but there's just a lot of insides. The pipes are all around the manual you see and lots of casing. I can see a lot of wood so probably rods. I have a further peer around tomorrow morning.
Some days it blows the main fuse too. Only on special occasions like Easter Sunday or Midnight Mass. I dare not switch it off during services because it may not come back on again. So it wheezes away like a heavy smoker.
One of the pegs that hold the music down has come out too. It fell into the foot pedals. I searched in vain in the dark, then I searched hardware stores for a replacement but in the end had to get a coat hanger, torch and some blue tack and fish out the old peg. It is now held on with the blue tack as the wood is split around the hole where it lived. Big paper clips can be useful to hold down really bouncy books like the CFE volumes. You have to bend them into a good shape. Or you can use big bits of elastic. Did I mention that I have to sit on a biscuit tin to reach the manuals? I believe it is rather old and rather special although I may just be fond of it. (The organ, not the biscuit tin). It is older than the church and I wonder if I am making this up, but I think I heard someone say that it is the oldest organ in Leeds? It is painted a very fetching gold colour too, with a blue bit around the manual casing, including all the many screws that hold this all together.
Might need a service other then the Mass. Benediction maybe?
Anyone got a piano out there they don't have room for? I can play piano. A Knight upright would be my ideal, but a Steinway grand would be OK too. Or we could just go guitar.
uh oh!
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oopsorganist
- Posts: 788
- Joined: Mon May 16, 2005 9:55 pm
- Location: Leeds
wheezy organ
OH NO!
It has got lots of shutters inside and some sad looking metal pipes just behind the big gold tubes above the manuals.... the gold pipes may be just for show? Above them is a roundel with psuedo pipes ornament. These metal pipes have holes in them and look like sounds makers. Then there are some leaden looking pipes which arise on either side from the base of the giant big big pipes on either side of the manual. These go under and inside. There are five each side. Probably not to do with the central heating. I read the organ repairers note book and it mentions several repairs to the motor/ bushes and also to the blower. Maybe it is connected to the central heating. I had a car like this once.
Does playing an organ like this make you deaf?
When the open diapason is out it is very heavy to play.
And a load of dust. Atchoo.
It has got lots of shutters inside and some sad looking metal pipes just behind the big gold tubes above the manuals.... the gold pipes may be just for show? Above them is a roundel with psuedo pipes ornament. These metal pipes have holes in them and look like sounds makers. Then there are some leaden looking pipes which arise on either side from the base of the giant big big pipes on either side of the manual. These go under and inside. There are five each side. Probably not to do with the central heating. I read the organ repairers note book and it mentions several repairs to the motor/ bushes and also to the blower. Maybe it is connected to the central heating. I had a car like this once.
Does playing an organ like this make you deaf?
When the open diapason is out it is very heavy to play.
And a load of dust. Atchoo.
uh oh!
Oops,
If there is no-one in the parish who knows (yes, really knows) how to fix this cipher, then this is a job for the organ repairer. Advise your PP to get him/her in without delay.
IMNSHO, there are some things - brain surgery, being infallible, fixing organs - that are best left to the experts.
If there is no-one in the parish who knows (yes, really knows) how to fix this cipher, then this is a job for the organ repairer. Advise your PP to get him/her in without delay.
IMNSHO, there are some things - brain surgery, being infallible, fixing organs - that are best left to the experts.
musicus - moderator, Liturgy Matters
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gwyn
- Posts: 1148
- Joined: Wed Dec 24, 2003 3:42 pm
- Parish / Diocese: Archdiocese of Cardiff
- Location: Abertillery, South Wales UK
Eh?Does playing an organ like this make you deaf?
A friend of mine is an organ tuner who has just done a Lazarus job on the old hissing, wheezing pipe organ in Tredegar parish church. I've sent him the details to see if there's anything you can be doing.
I read the organ repairers note book and it mentions several repairs to the motor/ bushes and also to the blower.
Ah! Then there's your first line of attack. Call the man in - his number will prob be on/in that tuner's record book. Book early to avoid an organless Triduum.
Soldier on!
Gwyn
Deepest, darkest Abergavenny.
organ
Hi oopsorganist 
I guess you need some proper professional help on this one. I think the organ is usually the most valuable bit of kit in the church (apart from you of course!), so best not to proceed without help. Have you got a Diocesan music/organ person who's job it is to advise on this kind of thing
NH
I guess you need some proper professional help on this one. I think the organ is usually the most valuable bit of kit in the church (apart from you of course!), so best not to proceed without help. Have you got a Diocesan music/organ person who's job it is to advise on this kind of thing
NH
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oopsorganist
- Posts: 788
- Joined: Mon May 16, 2005 9:55 pm
- Location: Leeds
wheezing organ
No!
It's all true. I am that ignorant of the workings of the organ. And it is wheezing, honestly. I am more scared that it will be condemned by the Organ Repair man than I am of carrying on with my fingers crossed.
It's all true. I am that ignorant of the workings of the organ. And it is wheezing, honestly. I am more scared that it will be condemned by the Organ Repair man than I am of carrying on with my fingers crossed.
uh oh!
Musicus said
I do so agree, and you may speculate as to what other things I would add to the list.
I have just "fixed" the school piano. Whilst I got the sticking note moving again, I caused the note next to it acquire a "knock" every time you press it.
CG Sec
IMNSHO, there are some things - brain surgery, being infallible, fixing organs - that are best left to the experts.
I do so agree, and you may speculate as to what other things I would add to the list.
I have just "fixed" the school piano. Whilst I got the sticking note moving again, I caused the note next to it acquire a "knock" every time you press it.
CG Sec
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oopsorganist
- Posts: 788
- Joined: Mon May 16, 2005 9:55 pm
- Location: Leeds
wheezy organ
A piano tuner once told me that you can use a bit of WD40 as a temporary measure on sticking piano keys and innards. I have not tried this myself.
uh oh!
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jonathanlane
- Posts: 2
- Joined: Sat Feb 03, 2007 11:02 am
- Location: Guildford