Reply With QuoteVery nice! I heard the restored Appleton organ at the Metropolitan Museum of Art last fall in concert. Very nice-sounding smaller organ, and nice construction details. So cool that you're getting something this historic.
Purchased this organ for installation in my home, getting ready to re-install it.
These are dummy facade pipes, thoughts on how to make the pipes as realistic as possible? I'm specifically wanting to have the mouths in silver to be differentiated from the pipes which will be releafed in gold.
Very nice! I heard the restored Appleton organ at the Metropolitan Museum of Art last fall in concert. Very nice-sounding smaller organ, and nice construction details. So cool that you're getting something this historic.
thanks! there at at least 7 or 8 existing Appletons..and a good chance a few more tucked away or unused/forgotten about. This one came from a church in Leeds New York that just sorta died off...they were down to 5 members and just decided to finally close their doors. The building it was located in will require MAJOR investment to not fall apart..we were really shocked at how badly the building had deteriorated (really no maintenance since the 1950's..of the building itself!).
we are going to start reinstalling it in early May! But curious what thoughts are on colors for the facade dummy pipes?
One very early Appleton(?) I remember seeing years ago in Maine(?) had original facade pipes. These were of common metal, probably about 35% tin and were gold leafed, never over painted at the point which I saw it, though there was a fair amount of sag in the pipes as might be expected. Natural metal mouths would have been quite unlikely at that time, nor have I seen polished tin in early new England organs before fairly late in the 19th century and then only rarely. I rebuilt a Hook and Hastings originally a residence organ (80's?) that had a polished tin front, and a few of James Treat's organs had tin front pipes.Originally Posted by NYCFarmboy
You're very fortunate to have such an example of our early American organ building history. It looks from your pictures that the casework was originally faux-grained? Some of the Appletons had mahogany casework (MMA and the old portions of the Fisk casework at Old West Church, Boston, and I believe some others)
thanks for the info on the pipes..I have a month or so before getting to that stage....
yes the original case was faux-grained walnut. There are several areas on the case that were never painted.
I intend to leave at least one of those areas untouched so future generations can see the original colors and what the colors were in intervening years.
I'm pretty sure I'll be going with just a white finish... it will be the least intrusive..just a light sanding and a fresh coat of paint.
The details of the pipes will be alot more work.... I intend to re-leaf the pipes rather than just painting them gold. they were originall leafed in real gold, but got "slobbered" with gold paint in the intervening years that is very very dull and flat.
The pipes themselves are solid wood dummies...and just half-diamater..the backs are perfectly flat... I believe, but am not sure that the pipes on the Metropolitan Museum of Arts Appleton are speaking pipes.
Interestingly this Appleton is on its original 1843 bellows leather.. and the leather is in good enough condition that we are planning on using it as is.
In the 1980's a FEW of the pipes were replaced, but I have the originals and intend to get those reconditioned at some point.. many pipes had new "feet" soldered on to replace old ones that were sagged to badly to repair.
It is 7 ranks:
Diapason 8'
Stopped Diapason 8'
Gedeckt 4'
Principal 4'
Nazard 2 2/4'
Octave 2'
Flautino 2'
GG compass..one manual...the pedals are pulldowns from whatever is drawn on the manual.. Not a huge bass sound, but with the GG compass you can get enough bass but it is VERY tricky for "AGO" trained organists to play with the oddball pedalboard. (No GG# on bottom octave or pedalbaord which really throws you off!)
oh... the paint schemes:
1843 to 1870's: faux grain walnut
1870's to ?? : tan with dark blue/green trim
?? to present, white with gold trim.
The lack of the low G#'s tells us that the organ was originally in quarter comma meantone temperament. The earliest New England built organ I've seen that I believe to have been tuned equal temperament was a 1845 Hook. In this organ one or the other of the manuals and pedals had the G#, the other not. I took this to mean that the keyboards or pedalboard without the G# were remaining inventory from the meantone period. IIRC there are extant tuning directions from Appleton describing classic quarter comma tuning - 3 sharps, two flats.
here it is, set up and working now....
Nicely done! very handsome. Did you do the gold leaf yourself?
John,
That's where you've been the past few months! I had been missing you on the Forum. You are certainly a fortunate fellow to have found and saved such an historic instrument! Your post today led my wife and I through your website--as always, I'm envious and inspired for when I retire, and she's worried about more "stuff" in the house!
You have been a credit to the organ community for so many years. Thank you for sharing your acquisition with us.
Michael
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