Wicks 3 rank, ready for expansion

[saudade]

I just installed a 3 rank Wicks in my music studio. A Sonatina. Gedakt/Dulciana/Salicional. Dulciana and Salicional are TC. Still working out the kinks, but love it. Going to expand the tc ranks to the bottom I think. Looking for bottom octave of salicional and dulciana and bottom octave for the gedakt so I can bypass the free reeds that cover the bottom 16' notes now.. And a chest for them.. I'm new to pipe organ ownership, can I do a customchest with those 3 things? 3 rows of 12 pipes? I'm also wondering what to expandthat organ with after that. It needs a reed.I like celeste ranks too. Maybe after I'm able to add a few more interesting ranks I could make the original salicional and dulciana into a celeste. The gedact rank is so beautiful, I'm thinking I could add a 4' principal rank and still get a good principal chorus mixing the flute. Oh well, friday night pipe dreaming I suppose.

[Violoncello]

However beautiful, a celeste should not be considered first priority. First priority would be completing the ranks/adding sufficient basses to pipes so literature can be performed without hinderance. Depending on its voicing, that Dulciana could make a nice 8' Voix Celeste TC for your Salicional. A moderately bright 4' Principal would do a lot of good. If a reed is necessary, (which it often isn't due to space and money) an 8' Fagotto of good voicing fills the space for both chorus and color reeds. A mellow, open Hohl Flute would contrast well with that Gedeckt and a perky 2-2/3'+1-1/3' mutation rank of reserved character would add brightness and color to the ensemble. These voices can be unitized, but unitized in moderation. because too much unification is overkill. If space and funds do permit, a 12 pipe 16' Contra Fagotto extension would be a welcoming addition to a modest-sized pedal division.

New custom chests are expensive, so keep an eye out for an offset base chest. Some old chests can be retrofitted to perform different tasks than what they were intended with great success.

Hope this was helpful,

Violoncello

[saudade]

Thanks for that, it was very helpful. Is a 16' Contrafaggoto full length? Would that blend nicely with the 16' gedakt that stops at tc? Would the 4' principal be a good alternative to an 8' principal? That's what I was hoping. And just one more question, if you don't mind, is a Hohl flute double length with a hole in the pipe?

I do appreciate your input, I'm checking out everything I can. It's a fun project.

Jesse

[NYCFarmboy]

Congrats!!!!!!!!! warning: additions are addictive.!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I started out adding a celeste and a vox and a tibia to my 5 rank unit organ and it is up to 21 ranks now! lol Hope you have lots of space!!!


Very seriously though I think a celeste would be a wonderful rank to add, and for the space reasons alone something to consider.

Keep in mind that real reeds sound pretty horrid in home installations. My reeds ONLY sound good after I add reverberation to the recordings AFTER I record them. In person they are quite ugly sounding except use during "full organ" moments when the reed sound blends in better with the full chorus.

For a home organ I'd recommend a Oboe or a Clarinet...Trumpets would be way overpowering.

[Menschenstimme]

My residence trumpet works very nicely in my300 square foot room (with 8-foot ceiling). It is French style on 2-1/2-inches of wind.It was custom-built for this organ in this room.

CLASSICAL ORGAN -- Nine Registers - Eleven Ranksfficeffice" />>>

>>

SWELL (unenclosed) GREAT PEDAL>>

>>

Flute 8 Principal 8 Flute 16>>

Principal 4 Gedackt 8 Principal 8>>

Flute 4 Prestant 4 Flute 8>>

Octave 2 Flute 4 Octave 4>>

Quint 1 1/[/B]3 Super Octave 2 Trumpet 16>>

Mixture II Wald Flute 2 Trumpet 8>>

Trumpet 8 Mixture III Trumpet 4>>

Trumpet 8>>

>>

Tremulant Swell to Great 16 Great to Pedal 8>>

Swell to Great 8 Great to Pedal 4>>

Swell to Swell 16 Swell to Great 4 Swell to Pedal 8>>

Swell to Swell 4 Great to Great 16 Swell to Pedal 4>>

Great on Swell 8 Great to Great 4>>

>>

Unified Ranks:>>

>>

Principal 8 (GT) Principal 4 (SW) Principal 8 (P) Octave 4 (P)>>

Flute 8&4 (SW) Flute 4 (GT) Flute 16 (P) Flute 8 (P)>>

Super Octave 2 (GT) Octave 2 (SW) Mixture II (SW—Octave 1 + Quint 1-1/3)>>

Trumpet 16-8-4 (all divisions)>>

>>

Combinations: Sixteen general pistons, twelve thumb pistons and four toe studs>>

Eight Memory Levels Crescendo Pedal

[Violoncello]

[quote user="saudade"]

Thanks for that, it was very helpful. Is a 16' Contrafaggoto full length? Would that blend nicely with the 16' gedakt that stops at tc? Would the 4' principal be a good alternative to an 8' principal? That's what I was hoping. And just one more question, if you don't mind, is a Hohl flute double length with a hole in the pipe?

I do appreciate your input, I'm checking out everything I can. It's a fun project.

Jesse

[/quote]

A 16' Contra Fagotto should be full length. (It will sound much better than a half-length.) Fagottos tend to run small in scale, so mitering it to fit in a small space won't be very hard. It also will take up much less space than a 16' Trumpet or 16' Trombone, which often are a bit de trop in the context of a residence organ. For the most part, a well-voiced Fagotto would provide a suitable bass to underpin the ensemble in forte combinations. It also should help the 16' Gedeckt provide sufficient 16' tone for the organ. Some full length 8' basses would fill out and broaden the pedal nicely, aiding the 16' Contra Fagotto in providing a sufficient bass.

An 8' Principal is a good choice in a residence organ (In which they are often left out because of space and cost.) If you have an 8' Principal, you would need an independent 4' Octave also. Just an 8' Principal alone would seem a bit out of place in any organ, that is why I first and foremost suggest a 4' Principal first, because it can play an octave lower as an 8' Principal and an octave higher as a 2' Fifteenth when needed. I do not recommend unifying Principals because they are called upon in so much organ literature and they also provide the backbone of the organ's ensemble. If space and funds provide, an independent 8' Principal and 4' Octave would be the perfect addition to any residence organ. If the 8' Principal and 4' Octave were duplexed to the Pedal, they would meld the 16' Gedeckt and the 16' Contra Fagotto together with great success. Consider adding a small III Mixture (2' pitch.) This will further the organ's ability to play organ literature.

The Hohl Flute is a broad term describing any open flute of moderate scale (almost invariably of wood) with generally mellow tone. Sometimes it has normal lips which give it a foundational, almost Diapason like tone, and other times it has inverted lips, which make it a good solo stop. I do not know of any examples that are double-length and harmonic. If a single rank of 4' Hohl Flutes 73 Pipes is to unified 8'+4'+2' (borrowing the bass from the 8' Gedeckt) and placed accordingly (the 4' on one division and the 8' and 2' on the other) this stop can be incredibly useful to blend with other stops, provide a foil to contrast with the Gedeckt, and would provide a sufficient solo stop for a residence organ. For further information on any of these stops, I suggest checking out: The Online Encyclopedia of Organ Stops. (http://organstops.org/) This can be your best friend when building and voicing any organ.

Good luck with the organ! I'm sure we all hope to see pictures of its progress soon. [Y]

[saudade]

Thanks for your advice. And I am already addicted! For a reed, I agree a clarinet or oboe or even a corno di bassetto would be so great. I like oboe and corno the best. Buzzzzy reeds. I don't know if I'll get to 21 ranks but I'd like to. Where do you get your windchests? How are they connected? Are they daisychained? I have to get a book on small organ building. I have Bond organs here in Portland, they are Great, they helped me put the Wicks together, are fixing a pipe and have earmarked the low octave gedackt for me from a de-install they are doing this summer. How do you decide your overall scheme, from 5 to 21 ranks? Is the spec on this forum somwhere, I'd love to see where you started and where you are now. I'm scouring ebay etc for pipes. There's a guy in Texas with all these windchests http://cgi.ebay.com/Pipe-Organ-Offse...QQcmdZViewItemtoo bad the forum doesn't have a system of a local picking stuff up and distributing to members.

Jesse

[saudade]

Again, more great information, thanks a lot. I like the idea of a 4' first because of the reason you state. I have Bond organs here in Portland, and I have them on the lookout for stuff to expand my organ. They've come up with the bottom octave of gedackt for the pedals to replace the free reeds and now I'll have them on the lookout for the things you're mentioning. The prinzipal and Contra Fagotto, and the Hohl.As I asked in another message on this thread, where do you get your stuff? Chests and pipes? I see this now: http://cgi.ebay.com/Pipe-Organ-Offse...QQcmdZViewItemlooks intersting if a member was close and could manage a "divvy them up" planamongst the rest of us . I have to get a book on organ building; I have been mostly a digital organist for the last 10 years and this is really a new world. I like the Ency. of Stops and use it frequently, I'll be back there as an organ expander now.

Thanks,

Jess

[NYCFarmboy]

My chests are still in the stages of being connected but they are somewhat.

You can see a diagram of what I'm doing here:

link:
http://www.reuter822.com/reuter822layout412.html

Basically I"m packing as MUCH organ as possible by the laws of physics and tuning stability and still having a livable 1,500 square foot house.

I found them on ebay..just keep your eyes peeled for local stuff...LOTS of stuff becomes available so you'll never know what comes along.

Another rank to watch out for is a French Horn.

I use PVC piping for almost all my wind lines. Expensive, but quiet.


Too bad you are so far away....at the end of this summer I'm going to have LOTS of extra ranks that I will be getting rid of. I am pretty sure I'll have two 8' Oboes, one very complete and in great shape, one that is very ratty with some broken resonators.....and, an extra Diapason 8' rank for sure...but they are all located in Southern Indiana.

[saudade]

over 2000 miles away. Too bad, the oboe and the diapason for sure. I guess shipping would be as much as driving. I'll keep my eyes open for sure now. If there is any way to ship those ranks, keep them in mind for me.