The Organ Forum

 

Problems arise with the chosen "lingo" of a visiting organist.

I have often seen notes that say things like (and these are actuall quotes) "low E flat  trembling"... or "8 vox bad overtones"...  "bottom octave of Erzahler Celeste dead" and the ever classic... "problem with A flat"

What on earth are they talking about?!?! Low D SHARP of what? Bad Overtones?? Its a TC rank. And which rank and which G SHARP?

All of these left by guest organists....

 If something is really out of wack... ask the organist if they know about it. Dont attempt to write it down.

soubasse32:

myorgan:

soubasse32:

I have helped to service & tune many dozens of instruments - some of the service notebooks have entries from lots of people.

WOW!!!  Are your organs so bad you have to have notebooks to keep track of the problems in them?  I don't have any need for a notebook because I never have any faults.   Of course, my wife might tell you otherwise!

Some pipe organs are indeed bad (not every church has a budget for a good pipe organ, or for needed overhauls); and some pipe organs are of the size that more things can go wrong.  When you have 90 or 125 ranks, things can crop up on a weekly basis.

Some of the organs that I've maintained are nearly 100 years old - that is a consideration as well.  I've performed on some pretty old Skinners; with limited rehearsal time I was very thankful for the nearby maintenance booklet with a list of current issues - I didn't have to waste time registering problem stops.

I'm familiar with certain other organs that absolutely positively must function at 100% at all times.  These high-profile instruments are often required for concert situations, and the maintenance book becomes an important necessity.

Here's another example: I might encounter an 8' Rohrflute that makes a buzzing sound on top "D" in a certain piece of music.  If the pipe is otherwise in tune, how is the organ technician going to discover that problem unless they are told about it?  In an organ with several thousands of pipes (not all of which get checked by an organ tuner, by the way) the organist must make a note of it for the technician, otherwise it doesn't get fixed.

There's nothing more frustrating than having the same problems after the technician leaves...

Thank goodness for visiting organists who DO write down issues - sometimes they are more than one organist can track.  I'd rather learn about the issues from a organ maintenance book than real-time on Sunday morning!

 

One must ALWAYS tune the capped flutes and reeds. If nothing else.

mpsnknox:

One must ALWAYS tune the capped flutes and reeds. If nothing else.

Hmm... On the organs I tune we rarely touch the capped flutes.  Why? 

• Several of the organs are new(ish) and the caps are rather tight.  They seem to hold tune pretty well.  
• If you are tuning every single pipe, you are sliding those caps unneccessarily - causing them to loosen over time.
• Capped flutes have a little bit more leeway in their tuning and will tend to draw into tune.
• There simply isn't time to tune all the flues on the biggest instruments.

Of course if there is a bad note it is tuned.

mpsnknox:

Problems arise with the chosen "lingo" of a visiting organist.

I have often seen notes that say things like (and these are actuall quotes) "low E flat  trembling"... or "8 vox bad overtones"...  "bottom octave of Erzahler Celeste dead" and the ever classic... "problem with A flat"

What on earth are they talking about?!?! Low D SHARP of what? Bad Overtones?? Its a TC rank. And which rank and which G SHARP?

All of these left by guest organists....

I have a pretty good idea what most of those comments mean (even though they are not technically accurate).  I don't expect everyone that plays to be a technical genius, but I always appreciate when they leave a note!

mpsnknox:

If something is really out of wack... ask the organist if they know about it. Dont attempt to write it down.

Well, I really don't expect all of the visiting organists to get in touch with me personally at all hours - nor would I want my phone ringing off the hook every time there is an odd buzz or a note out of tune!  But a short note is always appreciated.  And I'm sure other organists playing that particular instrument would be interested to see those notes too.  Why should the main organist be the only one who knows about the problems?

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Soubasse32

One comment I saw in a notebook on a Tracker was "Don't you just love tracker action?" the instrument:1844 George Stevens rebuilt a couple of times, most recently by Visscher. I don't remember everything I saw, but that particular comment was rather amusing.

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Once you can tie your arms into a pretzel and your legs into a knot, you've got it under control

 

Pardon my post I'm having issues with quotes.... 

"Hmm... On the organs I tune we rarely touch the capped flutes.  Why? 

• Several of the organs are new(ish) and the caps are rather tight.  They seem to hold tune pretty well.  
• If you are tuning every single pipe, you are sliding those caps unneccessarily - causing them to loosen over time.
• Capped flutes have a little bit more leeway in their tuning and will tend to draw into tune.
• There simply isn't time to tune all the flues on the biggest instruments."

Well some capped flutes are soderd into place. Especialy if your organ is cone tuned.

The problem with tight caps.... what happens when your room is 65 degrees in the summer and 72 degrees in the winter? The air density is so differnt the open flues could be 14 cents off on a given season. Do you tune all the open flues to the capped flutes? Caps need to be tight enough not to slip as gravity pulls on them but not so tight that you need a sledge hammer to move them.

Drawing into tune the pipe is not actually in tune. When used in chords this will become very evident.  Tho some organists like the effect.

Ive tuned 160 ranks in one day (of course not every rank!). But Every capped flute and reed was at least gone over.  And days with lots of ranks = very long days.

Overtime gravity and tuning will lossen caps.... I say whip out the masking take and tighten the problem pipes back up.

 

"I have a pretty good idea what most of those comments mean (even though they are not technically accurate).  I don't expect everyone that plays to be a technical genius, but I always appreciate when they leave a note!"

Well thats just it... its left up to speculation. you can fix what you think is the problem. But ussualy when you speak to the person who wrote the comment they ment something compleatly differnt. I mean common.... problems with overtones in your vox? Turn your head to the left... the issue will probably go away.

 I guess what I ment to say is leave a note for the organist asking them if they are aware of the problem. The main organist knows the organ the best and can most likely communicate the problem best.