CONSOLE REPLACEMENT UPDATE
Work on the installation of the console of our beloved
and historic Hook & Hastings organ has been completed
under the auspices of the Odell Organ Company. Only minor
tuning "tweeks" remain.
If you haven't seen the work accomplished by the Odell
craftsmen, visit the chancel to take a look at the console—in
particular, how the wood and ornamentation matches the
choir pews. In lieu of a visit, click the pictures below
to see different aspects of the new console.
Thanks to the great generosity of many people and the
prayers of all, we achieved our main financial goal for
the organ project. As the work wraps up, please consider
a gift to the organ fund to fund any additional necessities.
CONTRIBUTORS TO THE ORGAN FUND
Thank You for the Generosity and Faith of . . .
S. John's Women's Guild in memory of Thomas Prezalar
Mrs. Elizabeth Cranston
Mr. & Mrs. Ted Spargo
Mr. & Mrs. James Robinson
Mr. Edward Carnes
Mrs. Edith Simmons
Mr. Robert Currier
Mrs. Samuel Rodman
Mr. and Mrs. Walter and Deborah Riddick
The Rev'd and Mrs. Edward Winsor
Mrs. Teddi Shaw
Mrs. Diana Wray
Mr. Stacy Swift
The Rev'd Henry Turnbull
Mr. James A Clements
Clements' Marketplace, Inc.
The Estate of The Rev'd Alan P. Maynard
The Chamber Singers of Swanhurst Chorus
Mr. David Jones
OUR HOOK & HASTINGS ORGAN
The Hook and Hastings Organ was originally installed
as part of the original construction of the church in
the 1890's. It was a tracker organ, so-called because
"trackers" created a direct mechanical connection between
the keys at the organist's fingers and the pipes in the
organ chests. Hook and Hastings was one of the preeminent
American organ builders of the 19th century, and S. John's
was certainly foresighted to have selected a builder of
such quality and integrity. The organ is significant also
because it is one of the last manufactured, installed,
and then updated by Hook and Hastings before the company
went out of business after the death of the founders.
The result is that we have a true gem, both historically
and musically.
In the 1930s, in response to technological advances (specifically
the development of low-voltage circuits), the Hook and
Hastings company returned to S. John's to electrify the
action of the organ and make some judicious tonal alterations
to the instrument. The electrification meant that the
keyboards, that had been attached directly to the front
of the organ chests on the north side of the chancel (and
directly facing the wall), could be moved and installed
in the console in their current location on the south
side of the chancel, near the Sacristy door. This position
made it possible for the organist to see and conduct the
choir in their pews.
Since the 1930s electrification, there has been very little
done to the organ beyond routine maintenance and tuning.
Seventy-plus years have, however, taken their toll on
the mechanisms of the instrument, and we are now evaluating
and restoring the operating systems. We have effected
a number of the most critical repairs to ensure that we
have the use of the instrument on Sunday mornings.
It is important to note that because of their design and
construction, these mechanisms have provided a remarkable
period of reliability almost three-quarters of a century
and that careful repair and maintenance will yield that
much time again in continued use. To date, we have repaired
the valves and bellows that control the stops and pipes
of the Swell and Great divisions and fixed numerous wind-leaks
caused by deteriorated leather and cork gaskets. Most
of these repairs are long-term, rather than stop-gap measures,
meaning that the funds spent so far are investments in
the future of music at S. John's. The largest repairs
remaining are the complete rebuilding of the console,
the main chests of the Great and Swell, and the stop action
of the Pedal division.
Not all the repair has been done by outside contractors.
To keep the price as low as possible, much of the labor
has been provided by members and friends of S. John's.
I am deeply grateful to them, and I wish to publicly acknowledge
the time and talent of Ann and Pel Boyer, Chris Scott
and Mary Naylor, Dave Jones, Peter Herne, Harry Gustafson
and Scott Blatt, who have together contributed more than
100 hours of work towards the completion of our current
project.
HOW DOES THE ORGAN WORK?
Let's start with the simple idea that you need to
get wind (from a blower) into the pipe - just like a person
blowing a penny-whistle. This is accomplished by means
of a wind-line (basically a pipe) that runs from the blower
in the basement to a sealed, wooden chest into which the
pipe (along with 757 other pipes) is stuck, up in the
organ chambers on the north side of the chancel.
Now we need some system to open and close the hole a the
foot of the pipe - otherwise it sounds continuously. Originally
(in 1894) the system for opening these valves was direct;
a stiff wire lead downward from the valve directly to
the back end of the key on the keyboard. When the key
was depressed, the wire pulled the valve open, and air
flowed into the pipe. When the key was released, a spring
attached to the valve pulled it shut against the top of
the wind chest, shutting off the air.
This direct system, called "tracker action," was limiting
in a number of ways. First, the keyboards had to be placed
against the front of the organ, facing the wall so that
the pull-down wires could make the connection. This meant
the that organist had his or her back to the chancel and
the choir, clearly not the best arrangement for leading
the music of the liturgy. The second difficulty with this
system was that the size of the organ was limited (given
the space available) by the need for the organ chests
to be mounted vertically above the line of the keyboards.
There were more cubic feet available in the organ chambers,
there just was no way to fill that space with pipework.
The 1934 rebuild took advantage of technological advances
to change from the "tracker action" to what has become
known as "electro-pneumatic action". As the name implies,
both electricity and wind power are now used to open the
same valve at the foot of the same pipe mounted on the
same chest as before. Here's how it works:
Remember - there is one entire system (electromagnet, primary valve, secondary valve and pull-down pouch) for each note on two keyboards and pedalboard; a total of 142. We should also note that the wind supply for the alves is independent of the wind supply that makes the pipes speak.
What is incredible about this seemingly Rube Goldberg affair is that it works, and that it works almost instantaneously. It also works more reliably than most of the mechanical creations with which we have surrounded ourselves over the last half century!
The final piece of the puzzle is how we select specific groups of pipes called ranks to create and blend different tone colors.
Our Hook and Hastings uses slider and note-channel windchests. This means that when a key is depressed at the console, the valve on the windchest opens beneath all the pipes tuned to that note, whether or not they are meant to sound. The pipes that speak are selected by thin boards, ten or more feet in length, placed laterally beneath each different rank of pipes. Drilled into the board (or slider) are holes that line up exactly with the bottom of the pipes mounted above. When the organist selects a given rank of pipes, the slider (by means of an electro-pneumatic system identical to the one described for the key action) moves lengthwise about 1", aligning the holes with the pipes above. When the organist turns off that rank of pipes, the slider moves back so that the holes no longer allow air up into the pipes.
Some statistics:
