In late June, when work was being done blending the sound of all the pipes in the swell division (in organ builder speak, “regulating”) we discovered that the bottom pipes of the 16′ Bassoon would not sound promptly or properly. These are the only new pipes on the organ, made specially to match the pipes that had come from St Mary’s Leak. In mid-July David Hall, of pipe-makers Booths, came down from Leeds and spent a day working on the pipes with the team from Thompsons.

It turned out that the pipes had been correctly voiced on the correct wind pressure in the factory, so David then had to try to work out what was wrong. Eventually, the conclusion was that the problem was caused by fluctuations in the wind as it moved through the trunking from the bellows. By a clever combination of making minute alterations inside the pipes and increasing the speed of the magnets by a small increase in the power voltage the pipes eventually made to “speak” perfectly as soon as a key was pressed. David then skilfully re-blended them with the other Bassoon pipes and work could then continue on the rest of the Swell.