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Yearly Archives: 2015
The ‘new’ organ has its first visitors
Over the weekend of 31 January/1 February Bishop William Kenney, whose area of pastoral oversight includes Coventry, carried out a formal ‘visitation’ of All Souls parish. An episcopal visitation is carried out about every five years and is an opportunity for the Bishop to get to know everything that is happening in the parishes in a diocese.
Bishop gets a close view of a Viola pipe, and hears it ‘speak’.
Keith showing Bishop William some of the swell pipework
Our new organ is now taking shape and many parts of it which will not be visible when the case is rebuilt can now be clearly seen, and the quality of the workmanship appreciated (not just that of Mike Thompson and the team, but also that of the original builders of the Nelson organ over 100 years ago in the middle of World War I).
Accordingly, the organ has received its own ‘visitation’ – Bishop William, Fr Michael and a number of parishioners went up on the gallery and were given a a bit of a ‘tour’ of the instrument and an explanation of where it originated and how it has been put together.
It’s taking shape
The second windchest for the Pedal 16′ Trombone and its pipes, all now fitted
The Swellbox, with pipe racks and pipes for the Swell 8′ Violin Diapason and 8′ Viol d’Orchestre all fitted
Today the Swellbox painting and lighting were completed, a further windchest and pipes for the Pedal 16′ Trombone were installed with half of the Swell pipe racks and the refurbished pipes of the 8″ Violin Diapason and 8′ Viol d’Orchestre. The Pedal division is now almost complete. Work will now continue in the workshop on the Great pipes, windchest and soundboard.
The bass pipes are all in!
The refurbished Pedal Trombone pipes
Pedal Trombone pipes (“bugled” to fit the organ case)
Part of the refurbished Trumpet soundboard from the old All Souls organ
The refurbished 16′ pedal trombone pipes arrived yesterday, together with their rebuilt windchest and the refurbished windchests for the rest of the pedal and the great trumpet pipes. Whilst Mat and I applied the first coat of gloss to the inside of the swellbox, Mike and Simon fitted the remaining pedal windchests, the rest of the wooden pedal pipes and the trombone bass pipes (which would all be around 20′ long if they weren’t bent around themselves – “bugled” – to fit in place), together with the extra supports needed to make sure they do not collapse under their own weight. The biggest and most difficult-to-handle pipes are now all in place.
Mike Thompson fitting pedal flute pipes on to the refurbished pedal soundboards
Pedal 16′ Trombone pipes now fitted
More hard labour!
I spent large parts of last weekend undercoating the inside of the swellbox – which needed three coats to ensure minimal sound absorption within the box and outward projection of the sound from the pipes. Once the inside has been glossed, the swell pipes (which are all ready to be fitted) can be installed.
First onsite work of the New Year
New magnets for the Bourdon Windchest
Pedal trombone 16′ pipe – it would be 20′ long if unmitred!
The four longest pipes of the Swell Violin Diapason 8′ Stop, at between 8′ and 9′ high, were too tall to fit in the refurbished All Souls swellbox (which we used because it was wider than the Nelson swellbox and fitted in the old organ case, which we are preserving), so, as part of their refurbishment, they have been ‘mitred’ (bent over at the top to fit in) in the M C Thompson workshop and yesterday they were fitted in the swellbox. In addition, the pedal principal pipes were completed and painted, the rest of the pedal bass pipes (for the soft 16′ Bourdon) were fitted into their new wind chest behind the swellbox, and the pipes of the Pedal 16′ Trombone were checked out for fit before they are refurbished.
The Nelson ‘Closed Horn’ pipes have been refurbished and altered to become the new Swell Cornopean 8′ stop (a sort of bright, but soft trumpet) and have been brought to church. The old All Souls wooden flute pipes have also been refurbished and are back ready to be installed as part of the new pedal pipework.
Soft 16′ Bourdon pipes behind the Swellbox
New magnets on the swell wind chest (you can see the pedal 16′ soft bourdon pipes underneath)
More work in Church
Over Christmas I finished painting the outside of the top sections of the Swellbox, and on 31 December Mike and his team arrived to finish building it. They also fitted the bottom Pipes of the Pedal Principal rank in front of the Subbass pipes and fitted a completely new windchest behind the Swellbox, which will take the bottom octave of the refurbished 16′ Bourdon stop. This will provide us with a soft bass sound for accompanying cantors and quiet choir items (our old bass was much too loud for this). Emily and I now have more painting to do whilst the next sections are being built in the workshop.
Refurbished pedal principal pipes installed and awaiting final painting
From a distance (you’ll never see this view once it’s finished!)
Problem solved!
Over Christmas 2014 Simon Tipping remembered seeing some wooden principal pipes in part of the “condemned” Bloxwich organ. Mike and Simon went over to have a look on 27th December. Simon was half right – there were some suitable pipes, but not where he thought they were. They were “liberated” and Mike tested them in his workshop. They were of the right age and almost matched the Nelson pipes, so work started on refurbishing the bottom 6 pipes to complete our Principal rank.
A new problem!
Upon being counted in the workshop it looked as if the bottom 6 wooden pipes of the old Nelson Principal rank were missing. There was no sign of them among the pipework back at church. Eventually we worked it out – they were never put in in the first place! Instead, the Principal rank “borrowed” the bottom 6 pipes of the Flute rank. This rank is a fundamental part of the new organ, so we now need to find 6 pipes from somewhere that will match the rest of the Principal rank and finally complete it – over 100 years after it was first made!
All Souls Organ 