I BOUGHT A WHOLE CHURCH ORGAN - Part 1 The Organs Removal
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 22 พ.ค. 2022
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• I BOUGHT A CHURCH ORGA...
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Reading the video title "I bought a church organ" and thinking "yeah, that sounds like a logical next step" is not something you can say about a lot of people
"I bought a Church Organ" "Yeah that tracks"
Same thoughts
Yep, less surprising than it should be
I DO think he's insane though. Thank God he's a little insane.
laughed out loud with this one 😀
How wonderful! We really hoped this organ wouldn’t end up in a skip … our lovely friend Joan used to play it for us til she got scared of the electrics (understandably!) She’d be so pleased it’s being reassembled again - I think she said it took her and her husband Ron three years when they installed it in the house. It’s certainly ended up with the right person. Thankyou!
that's amazing to hear thanks for the comment
Thanks Judith, I had wondered how long it took. I guess Ron had various tradesmen friends to help, as well.
Great to know! Thanks a lot for the info Judith. Also when do you think it might have been last played?? Dick mentioned not hearing it since he moved in 17 years ago. Do you remember the last time you heard it?
@@LOOKMUMNOCOMPUTER hello! Joan would very occasionally play it for various of us but probably not since about 2005 … when I get home at the weekend I’ll look through my photos to see the last time I took one of Joan ‘in action’, and I’ll be contacting Joan’s daughter to see if she’s willing to give more information 🎹🎶
@@judithmurray9524 It's amazing that you've seen it played, I would want to bet that a couple of those photographs would be an incredible accompaniment for it when it's on display!
Nice find. That's a bit crazy. One of my friends was an organ builder and had a mini theatre built onto his house with a really excessive theatre organ with lots of systems lashed into one ludicrous console.
Sadly he's gone now and was not into the idea of immortalising himself on TH-cam playing four keyboards at once while also using the knee controls and foot pedals. Watching him play it was incredible.
Hey there, I kinda end up where you are all the time don´t I?? ha ha
Wouldn’t like to do the schematics on all them wires
@@Stevie-J Organists are still mad. Too much is never enough for them. I used to work for an organ building company and still do some work for them. Some of their customers are... a little eccentric to say the least.
He sounded absolutely damn amazing!
th-cam.com/video/kWVFEVWJMz8/w-d-xo.html
If TH-cam existed 50 years ago: Parallel video of some crazy guy going "I bought a church organ and I'm installing it in this house!"
Shhh... that's the next video in this series
my body feels itchy all over..
More like “my wife is making me install a church organ into our house”
If you just look through old 1950s-1980s back issues of “Theatre Organ” magazine (journal of the ATOS) and/or “the Console” magazine (an unaffiliated periodical), you’ll see how many hundreds of theatre pipe organs were saved and installed into houses (residences), as well as into lodge halls, recreation centers, school auditoriums, pizza parlors etc as well as back into some vintage theaters (although not always the same ones they came from). That is not even covering classical/church organs like this which outnumber theatre pipe organs probably something like 100 to 1 or at least 50 to 1 in terms of numbers actually built (in the USA, approx 28,000 pipe organs were built from 1910 to 1929 by all makers combined; of that number, roughly 1/4 or 7,000 were theatre pipe organs); very few theatre pipe organs were built after 1929. The instrument as a type was not really invented until just before 1910).
Should have strapped some pipes to the van roof, so they play from the wind as you drive!
When I brought my organ home we had the pipes in sonotubes on top of a truck. They did in fact sound at different speeds. it was pretty cool....and very creepy.
We meet in the strangest places Mike
@@Stevie-J Same here. Installed it yesterday for kayaks.
It would sound like The Singing, Ringing Tree. Located on Crown Point, on the moorland overlooking Burnley. Commisioned by Burnley Council & designed by Tonkin Liu Architects
🤣🤣🤣 yes
Hell yes. That artifact found the exact person it needed to.
Couldn't have said it better myself.
Yes it did
Yeah. I don't need an organ to my house. At least not after seeing this video.
Was it sold by a death merchant?
Now he can have tulips on his organ!
I've heard of organ harvesting, just never thought I'd see it happen.
Welcome to my working life for the past 14 years. Looks like you've got quite a task ahead of you. You made the right decision of cutting the cables and deciding to get rid of the old electro-pneumatic mechanical switching system (often called ladder switches). Although reliable when working, the old switching can be a pain to work on and maintain.
Your blower looks like a discus, made by Watkins and Watson (company still in existence in Poole) and those things go on forever, with 5 drops of oil on the bearings once a year.
Pipework looks in good condition, except the dodgy soldering of the mitred diapason pipes, soldering zinc isn't as hard as you might think with a 400 watt soldering iron! Be careful with the brass reed tongues on that trumpet rank, the slightest bend on those and they'll never speak properly again. If you want any further advice, feel free to get in touch!
cheers ashley thats the kind of advice i need! practical cheers.
Having installed organs in my home, those pneumatic/mechanical relays were pretty common for most of the 1900s, before computers automated the process with solid state relays. Those chests are direct-electric, so once you set up modern relays, the wires from the console (one for each key, and each stop) will feed into the relays, then all the wires will go to each pipe solenoid. The good thing is you can do things one rank at a time. Organs are infinitely scalable. Set up just one of the chests, enough to play and make music. Then worry about the others later
Id imagine wirering up the pipes/reeds air solenoids to a midi interface would be a smart move. Would minimize the amount of needed wiring and allow the organ to be played via midi.
If the keyboard/footpedals should be used is another question. These could potentially be converted to a midi keyboard.
@@Gin-toki You will still have the same number of wires. 2 manuals, plus pedal = 156 wires going into controller/relays. Coming out, 1 wire for each pipe. Maybe 280 wires coming out of controller to high-power solenoids. With couplers, duplexing, mutations, etc, any single 'key' might play 30 different pipes. People have used Arduinos succesfully to do the logic.
@@nicholas_scott This has got nothing to do with your comment, but when I see your profile pic I somehow imagine you being completely oblivious to the whole rickrolling thing and just liking Rick Astley.
@@nicholas_scott That's true, however these wont have to be as long when just going to a PCB that sits locally. And it will make the overall setup much more flexible and easier to deal with due to not having to make long cable runs of a bunch of wires.
And give the abillity to controll it via midi, something I know Sam likes to play with.
How man organs have you installed in your home?
OMG.....I've researched extensively that organ and I was heartbroken when I heard the house was for sale as I knew the organ would be destroyed......but I was overjoyed to find that you rescued it.....it couldn't of gone to a better home.....you do realise pipe organs were the original additive synthesisers......I used to work as a piano and organ tuner but ill health has got in the way however if you need help voicing and or tuning I'd happily volunteer for free......the only condition is I wanna play some of those fantastic synths you got
If my wife ever complains about me having too much gear, I'll just show her this video.
when that was installed it was a literal labour of love by him, for her. So happy to see that it's going to continue making music
I feel like nobody better could've bought it to keep its legacy (and the madness/love of the person that built it into the house) alive.
Happy to offer assistance with the rebuild on this, knew it would only be a matter of time before a pipe organ appeared ! We are busy building our own museum in Melton Mowbray with three pipe organs, and around 50 Harmoniums at the moment so feel your pain !
Awesome!!! Cheers Carl. What’s the name???? If I reach a stump I’ll be in touch :D. But I am looking forward to the challenge!
What is the name of your museum?
@@frazermountford The East Midlands Organ Museum - operating under the East Midlands Cinema Organ Association :)
I expect you to install this on a Uboot and use that to travel to Sonar.
that is only logical
lets get a kickstarter happening to see that 😂
Wired to the phone exchange and installed into Sam's Nautilus sub. Deep oceanic drifting, Star Trek theme plays...
i mention you on the bespoke/airwindows stream :)
As an organist, I can tell you I would do literally anything to have a pipe organ in my home! You have been REALLY lucky to have found such a good bargain
thanks! it has been for sale on ebay for 2months and no one has bought it! so its not really luck :D
This Museum Is Not Obsolete Is Open This Weekend. however it probably wont be up and running by then :D
Do you have room somewhere to set them up?
That is a problem yes?
So now he has 3 useless organs!
How about setting it up inside of the van?
Setting it up in a van isn't such a daft idea........there used to be a famous organist who had his own travelling wurlitzer in a articulated lorry.....trouble is it needed tuning at every destination
So is this an Organ Donation? No strings attached?
Surprisingly this is the first time I've thought "Sam, this is a bit much..."
But for real I would love it if someday you could let us send our MIDI files to the organ to be recorded. I've been dying for that ever since Rob Scallon did MIDI on a pipe organ.
I doubt that organ will bring him to his knees. He just needs a few weeks...
@@G00G00L Oh, I have absolutely no doubt that he will make it work. It's just the first time I've ever thought that something he got into was a little overboard. And that's saying a lot when he has a whole telephone system in his museum.
I'm excited to see this, though. I assume that the pipes will have to be spread out around the building instead of in one room so it will probably be such an amazing surrounding sound throughout the museum. I live in the US and I'm really hoping I get to go there someday.
Duuuuuuuuuuuude same.
@@BeTheAeroplane ...dial-a-organ. Each pipe has its own number.
@@JessicaKStark 3-Way calling to make chords! 😁
looking forward for part 2! That looks like a real pain in the arse to assemble.
Well, yeah. As much of a pain as taking it out was, putting it back together is going to be worse... by a lot.
@@thesquarerootofnegativei6225 20 hrs to take it down. Easily triple to put it back together.
When you take them apart you put the pipes in crates and keep them together. The smallest pipes of the rank should be bundled together and labelled. Label each crate. Keep everything logical and labelled/tagged that way it becomes much easier to put back together, there's no guessing what goes where, it's there on the label.
Nice things you can do when you have the time, but at least they were already labeled. It's going to need re-engineering to replace that old pneumatic "computer" anyhow.
@@8bitwiz_ It saves time to keep things together in pipe crates, it also saves money because without crates and careful removal, pipes will get damaged.
This is remarkable. Imagine the love that man had to have rebuilt this whole thing at home for his wife
Fair play to the husband, he did an amazing installation job.
would of liked to have seen play, what would it of sounded like, so many questions was it a semi house, if bit of the organ where in different parts of the house, does the playing still come to gather as one sound?
@@dh2032 the husband was apparently a musician as well. I read somewhere they used to do duets with him on trumpet.
A lot of that has to do with where the pipes are installed and where the sound is directed via the walls of the pipe chamber (the path of the sound is officially called “tonal egress” by organbuilders, and it can make or break an instrument. Acoustics are all-important with pipe organs). Most pipe organs installed in one building, even if in multiple chambers, have the sound all directed into the same room, so one can get a “stereo” or “echo” (or “quadraphonic”) effect, depending on the setup. It can be really cool if done well. But the ideal is to have the sound directed so that in the “sweet spot” in the middle of the room (and/or at the organ console), the sounds from the various chambers blend into a harmonious whole. The best pipe organ acoustical setups / design make as much of the room as possible the “sweet spot”, so ideally the audience get nearly the same nice balance that (hopefully) the organist gets to hear while playing.
Why am I so happy that you were the one person in the world who obtained this thing? I am absolutely delighted.
I don't know, but same here. Seeing this makes me extremely happy for some reason. Can't wait to see the rest of it. This is perfect, they found the one person who will make the absolute best out of this organ.
There are also several Facebook groups (such as “Redundant Pipe Organs” in the UK for starters) where pipe organs in need of rescuing can be found.
So pleased it's you that nabbed this. I actually had that house come up on rightmove when we were househunting a while back. I was briefly tempted as it's in a nice area and probably 20% bigger after the organectomy too, but it was scary to think what horrors the panelled-in organ cupboards were hiding. Turns out the owner made quite a few "mods" to the brickwork, so possibly a lucky swerve.
I remember seeing it and thinking it looked amazing. If they hadn't wanted half a million for it and it wasn't the other end of the country from me I'd have been very tempted! I would have restored the organ in situ though!
Whereabouts in Bristol was this?
@@the1tedunderhill Clifton Wood, aka a posh part!
"organectomy" is hilarious.
Imagine walking the streets in 1980 and hearing the ominous tones of a pneumatic church organ from "somewhere in the neighborhood". I can imagine that was a humorous conversation for the locals.
There must be a causal relationship between the organ ownership and neighbors going mad, since there is almost always an organ playing in the background in the documentaries of the mad villains I’ve seen (Silence of the Lambs, The Omen, Frankenstein…)
If you’re playing pop music in a major key on it, is it still “ominous”??? 🤔
@@andrewbarrett1537 only baby elephant walk. 😏😎
i've seen that organ before! Glad it's going to a good home. I hope it has MIDI over telephone over IP so I can plug my midi controller into USB and email some notes to it :)
This is quickly becoming the Museum Of Large Machines With Insane Amounts Of Wiring In Them.
Absolute props to the husband who did that setup for his wife. That's incredible! It's almost sad to see it undone, but I'm sure you'll do it justice and keep the music going!
You can literally feel the love that guy had to install all that in the house. It's almost a shame it's coming out but i think they'd be happy it's going to be used...idk what true love is but i gotta believe that's what it looks like.
Somehow you manage to do every outlandish musical project I've ever dreamed of. You're an absolute legend mate
I'm amazed by the scale of projects that you take on! This looks like it's going to be a big one.
Oh Cool. I'm interested to see what you do with it. A local church gave me their 600 pipe organ complete with 1920's console, wind chests, fans and a whole lot of wires. I want to install it in the attic of my house and tie it into my MIDI synth rig. Just need the time.
So here’s a thought. Synchronized Holiday lights with the pipe organ blasting from the gable.
That would go viral.
@@envisionelectronics That's one of the plans. My wife's request is that we tie it in to a doorbell at the front of the house. She also wants it rigged up to play Tacotta and Fugue for Halloween.
I think this calls for a race.
The problem with attics is temperature stability. A few degrees change from the temp where the organ was tuned renders it unlistenable. It doesn’t take much change.
The attic would be a mistake- the temperature and humidity varies so wildly day to night you'll never have it in tune and excess heat found in typical attics is bad for pipe organs' wood pipes, animal hyde glue used to glue everything, leather etc
Nice to see this poor instrument has been saved. The lack of interest arises from the many other instruments available in the UK, and the fact that it has been messed with by non-organ builders when installed in the house. And it lost it's wooden structure, too. However, the pipework and soundboards look OK, so you will probably manage to get something out of it. The soundboars all seem to be electric type (Roosevelt), which are easy to manage. For the minor repairs on the pipework, I would get it done by a proper pipe maker. This won't be too expensive, and really worth it. People as Kevin Rutterford or Terry Shires would make a great job. You can also contact people such as the EMCOA, they might have good advices for you. Good luck!
I’m speechless just thinking of the amount of work he did to adapt it and fit it to their house and of course live with it 😂 There’s a man who loved his wife!
This is going to be a great series.
The scale of your projects is incredible! Maximum respect and admiration
That's awesome. It is fortunate you found it otherwise I guess it would have gone to scrap which would have been such a terrible loss. Looking forward to watching the rebuild.
The blower is meant to swing “loose” it’s how the noise from the blower motor is insulated from the rest of the organ , my dad has a similar blower connected to his home built fairground organ , it’s also midi controlled and can duet with another one he’s also built , have fun , it will be worth it in the end , the solenoids run best between 12 and 15 volts from memory
I love how you keep finding new stuff, learning about it, and finding a way to use/preserve it. Pipe organs are amazing when handled and set up properly, and there are lots of modern control systems with full MIDI support available nowadays. Most mechanical parts are also still available from organ supply houses, so they are almost always fully repairable. It takes a lot of labor, but it's usually plenty worth it.
If you want to see a really epic restoration of a pipe organ, check out the Boardwalk Hall organ in Atlantic City, New Jersey. It's the largest one in the world, and is being restored by a relatively small team!
Dude, if you restore it, you'll probably become a saint right away. There is an incredible job ahead. I wish you strength for this.💪 I believe you can do it!
So glad you rescued this pipe organ. I used to play the pipe organ and felt really sentimental when I heard your gameboy playing through its relay, so I had to come back and start with part 1. I really love what you play and build with synthesizers, and +1 to whomever first pointed out that the pipe organ was the first additive synthesizer! I feel very much that they go together!
The work someone put into this is amazing. Can’t wait to see it up and running.
I get a very Howard Jones vibe off this fella. That's a compliment :)👍
He even does look alike
Seriously? You are incredible
Just imagine how much the husband cherished his wife to install this! I'm envisioning the couple from "UP". Also I bet this thing is full of lead dust and asbestos, I'd wear a respirator!!
I will be amazed if you get that entire thing put back together and playable again. So many wires.
Sam your bonkers I love you hehe
Sam, I'm following your channel for many years, and this is by far the most crazy thing you've ever done! Good feckin' luck putting that together...
(11:46) selenium rectifiers! lots of fun, when they give off toxic smoke!
I am loving the chaos of this find, doesn't look too bad to redo the wiring for another kind of installation, but I am hyped to see what comes of this
Would be wonderful if there was a TV report on this from 1975 when this was installed, something like Nationwide or Tomorrow World or Blue Peter, or whatever the equivalent of Grand Designs was.
Mate, you are insane in the best possible way! Seriously wow what a project. I thought the phone stuff was crazy enough!
The wannamaker organ group have done some great organ restoration videos that might help put this back together/explain why the pipe valves are done like they are!
Looks like an awesome project and good luck, can't wait to see you get it going again.
I step away from this channel for a month to focus on a work assignment and this is what you get up to. This will be a fun project to watch.
WOW! That’s funny as last time I was in Cambridge I think it was Kings College - they were tuning up the organ and it was an amazing thing to experience. Actually thought of it as a massive synth!! The low notes were crazy and go right through you! I almost felt part of the sine wave 😂It’s incredible. Hope you have nice neighbours 😂
This is what I think the Aphex Twin's house/studio looks like.
You've gone down a VERY BIG rabbit hole with this project... see you in 20 years on Songs of Praise.
As an organist I was really looking forward to this video!
This is going to be your version of Furze's tunnel. So glad to be along for the ride on this one.
Hell yes, glad to find everyone from organist friends to fellow Furze fans in the comments here!
IT ALREADY WORKS CHECK PART 2 HERE :- th-cam.com/video/mWACB04iKT8/w-d-xo.html
I know several people who have done this, I have been involved in classical and theatre organs for 14 years. Pipe organs can take up lots of space, especially once you start taking them apart, you find that rooms are completely taken over. One thing I will say is that I hope you have someone involved in a professional capacity to help you with this project, you have well and truly jumped in at the deep end. From the way the pipes have been stacked in the van and moved, I would expect some damage straight off, particularly on the metal pipes. However, congratulations on becoming an organ nut! It's like owning an antique car from the 1920s.
I mean, it was an unwanted instrument. That it's not in a tip is good enough.
@@tams805 Oh it's certainly better than it being in tip, theres no doubt about that. It just helps to pack things correctly as it helps prevent damage that you then need to sort out at the other end. It saves time, money and effort to be safe.
This is seriously the maddest thing I've seen on the internet for weeks!
It's absolutely amazing to see how much energy you have.
Wow, that house was bonkers, I'm surprised it wasn't shaken to bits! Crazy project, but a great salvage and if anyone can make it work, then its you. This Museum is not Obsolete is really becoming an incredible eclectic collection, love it!
Just found this channel, this looks insane! I can't wait for part 2
Instant subscribe!
Considering how intensive removing and in some cases there, CUTTING the damn thing out was... I can't even begin to imagine how crazy that will be to reassemble! Wishing you the best of luck, looking forward to seeing it up and running.
Crikey, you don't do things by half, do you? Love how you find this and with barely a second thought or a clue how big it is, you go and pick it up! Proper sense of adventure, that! I wonder is there a way of letting people control the organ remotely like the telephone exchange, but a musical version! Could be dangerous for one's lugs! 👂😱😂 That organ couldn't have found a better new home! You're living my dream!
Of coures you have. Keep being you mate you are the best.
As a “techie” (I’m currently restoring a Viscount Grand Opera digital church organ - 1990s Italian electronics!!!) and an active church organist; thank you for saving this amazing instrument from becoming scrap metal. I fully agree that it should be MIDI enabled at some point, with a dial up modem to allow people to send music files to it (9600,8,n,1) via dial up.
Oh that would be awesome. I'll have to find a MIDI transcription of Rick Wakeman's solo from Close to the Edge. haha And the interlude up to the boss fight in Parasite Eve.
This has been one of my childhood dream. Building a large organ into a living room. But that would only become an option if you have a large house and can play the instrument... It's such a beautiful artwork and really showcases how powerful synthesizers are.
I though the next crazy addition to your museum would have been a Scanimate - but this tops it.
The husband who put that in must have been a right mad genius bastard wizard of his time.
This is such a cool purchase. For fixing it, as you will certainly need to while building it, i'd like to recommend this book I got a while ago, and it's mostly for building a new one, but it also has very good tips for fixing organs.
Book: "Organ Building for Amateurs" by Mark Wicks.
Are you an organ technician?
@@allowisousblind6801 Do you need any help with anything organ related?
I'm interested in learning, both to aid in completing my organ build project (I have the pipes so far), to explain my understanding of how they work, and to widen my skills a little as an instrument technician.
Where do you start, is tooling mentioned in the book? Are there special needed? Is dent work a thing, I know pipes can get dented really easily and I don't know how it affects tone.
@@allowisousblind6801 Yes, that book talks about tools needed, about how to fix pipes and dents (put something like soft-pitch or plasticine to receive the hammer blows, and go very slow), tuning, and general work on the instrument. It should be a good place to keep you working on your instrument.
As a controls electrician I can honestly say I have had nightmares about people cutting wires the way you did. I am really glad I am not the one that has to figure out that mess.
I'm WELL impressed you got that into the van.
I got exhausted just watching you guys move that thing!
Now you can start the Church of No Computer where you worship Mum.
Well... being an organist myself with some experience in organ building (not practical, only theoretical, except tuning of the reed pipes) I was interested, when I read the title. I wouldn't say that I kept shaking my head throughout the video, but I kept shaking my head throughout the video... you have maybe some luck, the organ isn't that large, maybe 10-12 ranks. The way you packed the pipes, hm, was not.... the best, so to say. I hope that nothing broke while transporting.
Anyways, I'm interested in the way you will work with this thing. Especially, like you mentioned, the implimentation of MIDI via Arduinos. This could open up a whole new world to this organ. With this type of windchests (the chests the pipes are placed on) you are able to trigger every pipe individually. A combination of the old console wirh the new technology would be a really hilarious thing. You would make a great contribution to the organ world.
An organ itself is not to different to a synthesizer, in a way. In an organ, just like in a synth, you are able to mix the sounds in the way you like. You have different sets of sounds which are more or less different from another, but mix in very beautiful ways. So the combination synth + pipe organs makes more sense than you might think at first
For tuning and overall service I would ask an organ builder for help. I think they would have a ton of fun with you, just like you, organ builders are always a bid crazy. In the best way, of course!
Perfection is the enemy of good enough.
@@1pcfred yeah, but organ pipes are hideously fragile, just shoving them all in a van, it'll be a miracle if they're undamaged at the end.
@@richardharrold9736 it is a miracle anyone is even trying to save the instrument. If it wasn't for this bloke it'd have all gone into a skip. So at least he's trying. From the looks of it just removing it was a hard day's work. There are practical limits that constrain what can realistically be done.
@@1pcfred oh, sure, the fact that none of the UK's organ-builders nor even any of the Europeans known for salvaging old organs could be bothered to bid on or do anything with it tells me it really would be scrap otherwise... but I fear that scrap is where it's headed anyway, if he cocks it up (which he will, he's clueless), it'll either not play at all or will sound utterly horrendous. Could at least have used proper pipe trays and stuff to carry it without damaging it.
@@richardharrold9736 everyone has to start somewhere and that somewhere usually isn't at the top either. If that collection of scrap does anything I'd call it a win. This guy does a lot of large projects. He has that figured out at least. So I don't think that organ could have went to a better chap.
What a find! Bravo! Can’t wait to see it assembled and in use!
This is exciting! Looking forward to seeing this mother come back to life!
That is crazy, and I love it, and you're a natural to give it a good home. I salute that crazy organist who wanted to adopt the organ when the church got repurposed, and her crazy husband who said "ok, sure, I'll remodel the house around it", and the crazy guy who came along 50 years later to adopt it again! How was it even played there? It looks like she would have had to strap on a climbing harness and hang in the stairwell.
I don't know anything about organ building. My first impulse seeing all of that telephone wire would be to terminate things like the keyboard at punchdown blocks, then make the bulk interconnects with 25-pair phone cables, so it could come apart and go back together more easily if you ever have to move it again. It looked like it was just wired in place at the house, so hacking out the cables was your only viable option.
Some of the chests I got from a friend of mine do indeed have 1980s or so era multi pin connectors retrofitted on the chests, for easier connection/disconnection when servicing. I also got a surplus of these cables as well. I think he used multicolor stranded wire when rewiring the chests, to better trace any possible problems (either dead notes or “ciphers”, which are notes that play all the time). I have seen many other people use the multicolor wire like this.
I'm captivated. I'm imagining a kind old lady hiring a organ builder to move this into her home. And in so curious how you guys will get it working again!
They'll spend time and effort. An incredible amount of it.
This is just mind blowing!!!!! Amazing project!!!
Thanks!
There’s a term for what that organ is right now, and I’ll rearrange a few letters to make it family-friendly.
Fustercluck
This here is a WHOLE LOT of mess that I know you’ll make amazing, it just is a big tangled dirty fustercluck.
14:50 actually it's Tin or pewter!!!
That's traditionally what mostly organ pipes are made of! I really doubt it's zinc because zinc is more white and blue in color! 😉
Second 'that guy' :) Almost certainly zinc, with the 'mouth parts' set in, in pipe metal. Pipe metal varies a lot, from almost pure tin for small bright pipes to something more like solder for medium sized pipes. Most really big pipes (and these are surprisingly not all that big) would be liable to collapse under their own weight if made of lead/tin alloy. Tin was and is more expensive, so most ordinary English church organs used as little as possible. You will find a lot more tin in German organs in general. Sorry to be a nerd! Worked for an organ builder/restorer for 10 years...
Most pipes are tin and lead, some larger pipes are zinc.
Okay maybe it's zinc!? You can do a vinegar test to find out! 😉👍
Metal organ pipes are typically made up from an alloy of tin/lead/zinc depending on the sound quality etc that is expected from that particular rank of pipes. Some are made from brass and copper, but those are typically "luxury" ranks only found on theatre pipe organs (Wurlitzers etc)
@@phildxyz ironically, the European builders mostly sourced their tin from England (Devon/Cornwall). Not all German organ-builders used a lot of tin though, Schnitger tended to use a lot of dark grey pipe metal (mostly lead, 5-10% tin).
This is beyond awesome, and heavily coincidental. A month ago I bought a set of pipes myself, not the complete set, yet (haven't the space and money yet). Absolutely awesome to see this and thank you for breaking down rough logistics of how things work, go pipes!
Mate...this brilliant. Thank you.
hahahahaha you legend! I saw this and thought they were going to destroy it or something. The pipe organ discord server would love to get in contact and help in any way we can
What a great project you have here! - my teenage son (who plays church organ too) and I watched the full video and, honestly, initially doubted you would manage to remove the organ from that house in any useful way. Pretty cool trick to abandon the nasty wiring and skip the archaic electronics altogether and bring MIDI in instead. Hope you get the MIDI-fied organ up and running soon!
I used to do some consulting with a guy that travelled across the US doing church organ repair and maintenance. I don't know if he would be glad that you're trying to preserve this bit of history or mortified at the chop job you've done. 😁 As far as I'm concerned, it's always fun to see how this old technology worked and was put together, long before we even knew what "solid state" was. Look forward to seeing how you put it all back together. I'm sure it will be a fun adventure no matter what. Thanks for sharing!
All that cabling is an absolute nightmare. Totally worth serializing the data and having a local controller in each air box to drive the individual valves. That cuts the bundle down to ground, power, data, and air. :-)
Sam! you are an amazing human being! thank you for saving such a treasure from the garbage!! incredible!
You made my day when buying the old mainframe, but the organ is something else ! I wish i could be in your area, i would definitely come over and try to help you in this adventure :)
Man, that's crazy. May I have a suggestion for the next project : what about buying a second-hand nuclear submarine with control voltage and those pipes so you can imitate whales sounds with it ? You know, just going a little bit over the normality of your usual ideas.
Im so excited that you got this, youre just the kinda of person that can save this machine. organs are sooo expensive to build. Its absolutly wonderful that this one is being saved from destruction. there's old how its made video that showed someone tuning this kind of organ, I'm like 99 percent certain You could pick up how to tune those lead pipes from seeing it done.
I run one of only three organ control system trade manufacturers in the UK. I'm also an organ enthusiast though not an organ craftsperson. I'm not trying to flog you a control system but do let me know if you want a bit of advice on that side of things. Your instrument basically has four 'ranks' of pipes. These are played in different octaves by the various stops. The 'action' on your instrument is mostly direct electric but some of the bass sections use electro-pnuematic action whereby electromagnets let air into (or out of) a small bellows which in turn operates the valves (or pallets to use the correct name). All the best with your project.
When you think that touring with DIY non standard modular synth was too easy so you have to start touring with actual church sized organ :D
At first I was thinking that maybe this was too big of a chunk for you to chew, but afterall, you're such a madlad that you will rebuild this into something uber cool, I'm sure of it!
Best video of the century! Look mum no constructeur :)
11:55 Oh wow a Selenium Rectifier! As fun as it may be to get them going again, there's two big reasons not to, efficiency, and the smell when they fail. Apparently they have a huge voltage drop, and some other weird properties, so it's not just a straight forward replacement with silicon diodes. That stuff was before my grand dads time.
Best plan today is to ditch the old supply and use a switching supply. A little MeanWell will run it all.
Fun fact , pipe organs were the first ever analog electromechanical , air powered synthesizers .
You should buy Sennheiser Vocoder VSM 201 next! After all it's the vocoder that Herbie Hancock and Daft Punk used!!
Thank you for all your hard work you rock and are an inspiration to us all!.
Forget the removal, think about the installation back in the day, WOW!
I believe those "computers" that you were discussing are the organs "couplers". If you look at the stops on the console there will be some labeled "Great to Swell" "Swell to Pedal" and similar. They couple the pipes coming from the different keyboards and pedals together.
Known in the trade as ladder switches.