The Organ Forum

I agree with Ed Odell's statement about the pointlessness of large numbers of ranks in order to make an instrument fill the room.

It is much better to scale the instrument appropriately, and to keep it moderately-sized.

Pipes can act as a barrier to prevent the organ's sound from getting out into the room - I know of a very large instrument that suffers from this effect.  When the builders realized the organ was ineffective, they added MORE ranks - another mistake.

More pipes means that the tuning must go on around the clock - this is a significant problem for a busy facility.

I might assume that there is a shortage of properly trained organ tuners and technicians in Korea - this can pose a problem.

Once the instrument gets to be very large, it is safe to assume that a dedicated technician might be required - another consideration for a country that may not have many technicians.

There is one more issue with a very large instrument - variety is almost always a good thing, but there can be too much of a good thing.  This can be true for some of the soft stops, which may come across rather underwhelming in such a gigantic space.

On a different topic - why should we be so fascinated about such a large instrument?  Size doesn't necessarily equate to quality.

Korea is very far away for most of us.  How many of us would have the opportunity to hear and/or play it?

There are probably a lot of large instruments in mega-churches, and probably quite a few instruments in Asia.  I have only a passing interest in the majority of these, only because I will probably never see or hear them.

I did hear a large pipe organ in China and it was interesting.  But it didn't impress me nearly as much as everything else on that trip.

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Soubasse32

 That is all I'm "saying" about this topic. 

In a not-friendly email from Korea I have been told that Sungrak is contracted for a tracker job in their new space. Anybody wanting to read the full body of the mail can contact me privately.

 Frankly, the latter would be more entertaining.-quote

At least now we know why you come onto organforum.com

On a more serious note i shared your ''logic'' with the old gent formerly from New England and now in the orient.

In his reply he disavows any connection with the ''ultima''

In the second paragraph he mentions Sungrak as being contracted for a tracker which is probabaly why Mr Thomas Hey from Deutschland bid on that.

Paragraph 3  I am scolded for things that are entirely falsehoods.

Finally he suggests I contact Sungrak which I have done days ago with no reply.

He wrongly alleges that I tried to change the spec of the ''ultima'' to my design

Finally I told him and sent him a copy of your latest post with your line of reasoning why the ''ultima'' as ficticional.

He contradicts everything he writes now and previously.

So I  have decided to adopt your view that I have been taken for a fool and perpetuated a myth.

End of discussion.

Email copy to anyone wishing.

 

 

If its ok for you to take liberties with my screen name then i see no harm doing likewise Odorg.

Sesq, until the day you can prove us all wrong with a formal announcement from wherever, you'll win few friends or defenders here by perpetuating discussion of this fictional organ.  We might as well be talking about Bicknell's famed Hackenback organ.  Frankly, the latter would be more entertaining.

Fictional ok but NOT MY fiction. See your inbox here and your email on your web for who really is part of this hoax.

sesquialtera16:

If its ok for you to take liberties with my screen name then i see no harm doing likewise Odorg.

Sesq, until the day you can prove us all wrong with a formal announcement from wherever, you'll win few friends or defenders here by perpetuating discussion of this fictional organ.  We might as well be talking about Bicknell's famed Hackenback organ.  Frankly, the latter would be more entertaining.

Fictional ok but NOT MY fiction. See your inbox here and your email on your web for who really is part of this hoax.

Afew years ago i had an email exchange with a Mr Jung from the orient; a 27=year old man who was taught the organ business by an American organ tech who relocated to Asia. This younger man indicated that they were then building a new organ with 720 ranks. i asked him to obtain permission to share that. he did on the grounds that i would only publish it on my own forum.

Later the organ spec grew to 801 rks. I tried hard to influence the design because iy seemed repetitive. Afterall how many portunal flutes can one organ have?

The other day i sent and received mail from the boss of that firm. he was civil but not nice. He still alludes to an ultima organ. i finally replied that there is no such thing. Somebody is delusional. And its NOT me.