Pedal Pipes Installed
Written by Jim Henry Sunday, 09 March 2008 13:28
Good progress was made on the Hegybeli Style 150 Wurlitzer starting with the installation of the pedal offset chests and pipes. These large pipes, some of which are over 8 feet long, provide the low bass notes that form the musical foundation.
Organ pipes rest on chests that provide the valve mechanism to control the flow of air to the pipe. When the organist plays a note at the console, valves are opened under the appropriate pipes to produce the musical sound. The largest pipes are placed on offset chests that accomodate a small number of the largest pipes in the organ. This allows these chests to be installed against the walls and possibly on the floor of the chamber to accomodate the height of these pipes and to provide support to keep the pipes upright.
Installing the large pedal pipes freed up the staging area around the chamber. This allowed the remaining parts of the organ to be brought on site. IETOS vice-president and professional organ builder Ryan Ballantyne had generously provided space at his shop to store the components that were not needed for the initial stages of the installation. With all parts of the organ now at the IETOS club house it is possible to finalize the chamber layout.
The once seemingly spacious chamber is rapidly being filled by the numerous parts of this "small" Wurlitzer pipe organ. The placement of all these parts has to be carefully planned so that there is space for everything in the chamber in a position that still allows access for tuning and service. Consideration also has to be given to routing the windlines that supply the pressurized air that makes the pipes play and powers the moving parts of the organ.
Winding of the organ begins with a large 10 inch diameter duct that connects the organ blower located at the rear of the chamber to the regulators that provide the carefully controlled pressure required to assure a steady, in tune sound from the organ pipes. The IETOS crew is contructing an all new main supply duct using sheet metal air conditioning duct. In years gone by, the seams of the duct would have been soldered to provide an air tight supply line from the organ blower that supplies air at much higher pressure than what is found in an air conditioning system. However, modern duct is manufactured in way that no longer accepts solder. It is now necessary to apply a metal foil tape to all the seams to make the duct air tight.
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