one of the last Aeolian-Skinnerchurch organs

[solotibiaclausa]

One of the last Aeolian Skinners organs, built in 1983, resides at the
Uniterian Universalist Church of Greater Lynn in Swampscott, MA. The
Great, Swell and Pedal are at the front and the Antiphonal is in the
back balcony. The Pedal principals are enclosed with the Swell at the
very back of the chamber. The pedal unit Flute is on either side of the
great and swell. The Great 8' Principal and low 12 of the Pedal 16'
Subbass make up the facade.



GREAT

8' Principal

8' Gedeckt (1-12 wood)

8' Gemshorn (Sw.)

4' Octave

4' Gemshorn (ext. Sw.)

2' Block Flute

II-III Mixture

Chimes (located w/ Antiphonal organ)

Blank Tab

Swell to Great

Antiphonal to Great



SWELL (enclosed behind Great)

8' Gemshorn

8' Gemshorn Celeste (GG)

4' SpillFlote

2 2/3' Nazard

2' Principal

1 3/5' Tierce

Tremolo (affects Swell and Great)

Chimes (Gt.)

Blank Tab

Antiphonal to Swell

Swell Unison Off



ANTIPHONAL (enclosed on rear balcony)

16' Flauto Dolce (1-12 unenclosed, ext. Silver Flute)

8' Spitz Principal

8' Silver Flute

8' Silver Flute Celeste (ext.)

4' Spitz Principal

4' ZauberFlote

2' Nachthorn

8' Oboe (sounds like a small Trumpet)

4' Oboe (ext.)

Tremolo

Blank Tab



PEDAL

16' Subbass

16' Flauto Dolce (Ant.)

8' Principal

8' Flute (ext.)

8' Gemshorn (Sw.)

4' Choral Bass (ext.)

4' Gemshorn (Sw.)

2' Choral Basser (ext.)

Great to Pedal

Swell to Pedal

Antiphonal to Pedal



The Pedal ranks have their own reservoir and the Great and Swell share
a big reservoir winded by a small Laukhuff blower. The Antiphonal has
its own Laukhuff blower and reservoir. All the non-unit chests are
pitman action. All of the unit ranks for the front organ are wired to
Reisner switches in the console, along with the couplers, and wired
directly to the key contacts. The Antiphonal is thru a reisner
electro-mechanical relay located in the balcony so it can be coupled to
any manual and the pedal



This organ has such a warm sound and is not at the least overpowering.
It has no problem accompaning the entire small congregation or pushing
out a Widor Tocatta.

[soubasse32]

The Silver Flute / Silver Flute Celeste are very rare and wonderful stops. If I am not mistaken, these are harmonicand tapered flutes, which provide a very ethereal, haunting sound.

The Zauberflöte is another interesting stop, of the same sort of construction. Theseare also rather rare, appearingalmost exclusively in Aeolian-Skinner organs.

Interesting that there is only one reed on this organ, and it is an oboe...

[solotibiaclausa]

The oboe is voiced as a a soft trumpet. It is useless in a small
ensemble. It shines about the WHOLE organ. When you have the gemshorn
and celeste on the swell, silver flute and celeste on the antiphonal,
and the gemshorn 4' all coupled to the great and have everything
coupled to the pedal with the 16' flauto dolce and both shutters closed
it sounds BEAUTIFUL!!!!



I forget who made the pipes and voiced them. One of the lead guys from
Aeolian-Skinner, The rest of the organ I believe is from Organ Supply.
When they unpacked the original ALL Aeolianskinner organ they put it in
the basement where it got flooded (except the console). So it was
cheaper to buy everything else from OSI. This is when they decided to
add the Antiphonal to it which creates sore of a "wrap-around sound".
It is very warm.



I would like to add some stuff to it to fill in the blank tabs. The
Antiphonal needs 8' stop to fill the gap between the Spitz Principal
and
the Silver Flutes, to the Great an 8' Gamba for a nice solo/ensemble
stop or some type of reed and
a 8' Chimney Flute to the Swell since there is no 8' flute tone there.
On the Pedal I would take out the 2' Choralbasset and add a small 16'
reed extention to the Antiphonal reed. Would work much better I think.

[Tromba]

Are you sure that Aeolian-Skinner built the organ? A-S went out of business in the early 1970's. According to the Aeolian-Skinner archives, this is not one of the last organs built by them. First Pres., Grand Forks, ND is the last organ with a true A-S nameplate (Opus 1533) and First Pres., Bowling Green, KY (Opus 1535) was completed in conjunction with Robert Sipe and has two nameplates. Opus 1536 is located in Zion Lutheran Church, Defiance, OH, and was completed by the Bozeman-Gibson Company. Opus 1534, is in the First UMC of Auburn, NY and was completed by American Organ Supply. Prior to these instruments, there were five or six that went to Texas that Robert Sipe had a hand in and several were mechanical action. Only one went to MA and it was a small mechanical action organ, not anything like you mentioned. Do you happen to have an opus number for this organ?

[solotibiaclausa]

I know it was built in 1983. As far as I know, many ex-aeolian-skinner employees made and voiced all of the pipes for this organ. I believe the remainder of the organ to be Organ Supply (chests, relays, reservoirs, etc.).

It is still one of the most warm and inviting organs I have ever played and heard.

Sorry for not having all of the info.

[sesquialtera16]

In the summer of 1983 the Aeolian-Skinner Organ Company was reorganized by the former head flue voicer of the original firm. He legally obtained the name and rights and appointed a Roman Catholic Cleric -concert organist as the Vice President.

The Swampscott organ was ultimately given a nameplate with Aeolian-Skinner on it and an opus number; skipping a few numbers from the list back in the 70's. The new venture was vehemently opposed by the organ industry and so it quietly faded into history.

The president of the new venture now age 74 still voices pipes for Quimby and did approximately 115 ranks of the 5-manual for 1st Baptist in Jackson, Miss .

The only people to work on the Swampscott organ were a former A-S pipe-maker and the former head flue voicer. The Washington Cathedral organ due to be replaced was entirely voiced by the ex-head flue voicer of Aeolian-Skinner during the 1973-76 rebuild; voicing 7000 new pipes and revoicing 2000 old pipes.The only exceptions were 3 Moller hooded reeds in the Great and later 2 rebuilt baroque reeds in the Choir that Moller re-worked and possibly some other reeds in the Sowerby swell.

[solotibiaclausa]

Awesome! Thanks so much for the info. So at least the pipes are Skinner. The rest? Well who knows?

[sesquialtera16]

Dear Solo-Tib:

The rest are as you indicated...

OSI

There was some damage before installation that required repair but it all got taken care of.

If you want to contact the former head voicer and tell him how you liked the Swampscot organ his name is John and he is at jhendriksen@juno.com

he will be pleased to hear from you....

sesqui-16

[solotibiaclausa]

I e-mailed him with no reply....

[sesquialtera16]

He may be out on a long voicing job of his own or maybe for Quimby.