Very neat explanation and comparisition. On my Hinkel reed organ the Vox Humana is at the rear side of the instrument and it affects only those sets of reeds (stops) who are at the rear side. The louder stops are at the front and the softer at the rear side, so only the latter are influenced by it and only those at the diskant (German for treble) side.
I may be wrong....but isn't one of the distinctions between the two types of organs is that the "pump" organ produces sound by suction, whereas the harmonium by blowing? I have recently acquired an Estey (circa 1900) reed organ and am thrilled with the sound....Thanks...
Yes, the suction instruments in the US were just pump organs, and the pressure organs were harmoniums. Estey made really nice organs for the most part and they are easy to work on. Mason & Hamlin organs are nice, but can be a real challenge to restore. Often they have a lot of warped keys on them too yet.
Many thanks for a very clear exposition. Now I'm going back to watch your Liszt Organ video. Only one disappointment: I was dying to hear that treble 16' Clarionet!
Automatic Swell! That explains the fact that there are 16 stops! I added Pedal Point and Clarionet to the standard 13-stop spec and still only got 15. Interesting that that 1870s Auto Swell should have been revived on such a late instrument. Many thanks for the clarification. Artis Wodehouse
+keyboardwizards *Thanks for this vid with useful considerations for organs.* The Allen Organ console and pipe interface system can adapt to organ builds with 73 pipes per rank on manuals, F1 through F7, and 44 on pedals, F1 through C5; the Transposer control can go seven halftones flat to five sharp. On such a build, a Principal 16 would actually be a 24' rank to account for the additional notes a transpose calls for. The 73-key Mason and Hamlin harmonium here became precedent for electric pianos of a later age; Rhodes and Wurlitzer also used F1 through F7 for 73-key models.
I'm looking at an old victorian one of these , said to be in working condition but I'm thinking of removing the keys and inards and using it to house an electric piano. Is that sacrilege. Am I destroying a priceless antique? Have you seen that done succesfuly before? The cabinet making looks good on this one and I think it would get used more as an electric piano. Any advice or suggestions welcome.
Very neat explanation and comparisition. On my Hinkel reed organ the Vox Humana is at the rear side of the instrument and it affects only those sets of reeds (stops) who are at the rear side. The louder stops are at the front and the softer at the rear side, so only the latter are influenced by it and only those at the diskant (German for treble) side.
Marco Roepers All these different capabilities and design concepts show why its difficult to know what organ to choose to own or to play on!
Most informative. Thank you.
I may be wrong....but isn't one of the distinctions between the two types of organs is that the "pump" organ produces sound by suction, whereas the harmonium by blowing? I have recently acquired an Estey (circa 1900) reed organ and am thrilled with the sound....Thanks...
Yes, the suction instruments in the US were just pump organs, and the pressure organs were harmoniums. Estey made really nice organs for the most part and they are easy to work on. Mason & Hamlin organs are nice, but can be a real challenge to restore. Often they have a lot of warped keys on them too yet.
Many thanks for a very clear exposition. Now I'm going back to watch your Liszt Organ video. Only one disappointment: I was dying to hear that treble 16' Clarionet!
Ian Thompson My husband said I should have demo'd the Clarionet and the Automatic Swell, too. Ah well, next video!
Automatic Swell! That explains the fact that there are 16 stops! I added Pedal Point and Clarionet to the standard 13-stop spec and still only got 15. Interesting that that 1870s Auto Swell should have been revived on such a late instrument. Many thanks for the clarification. Artis Wodehouse
Ian Thompson I assume this was a special order instrument. It also has ivory keys, which is somewhat unusual, I think.
+keyboardwizards *Thanks for this vid with useful considerations for organs.* The Allen Organ console and pipe interface system can adapt to organ builds with 73 pipes per rank on manuals, F1 through F7, and 44 on pedals, F1 through C5; the Transposer control can go seven halftones flat to five sharp. On such a build, a Principal 16 would actually be a 24' rank to account for the additional notes a transpose calls for.
The 73-key Mason and Hamlin harmonium here became precedent for electric pianos of a later age; Rhodes and Wurlitzer also used F1 through F7 for 73-key models.
I'm looking at an old victorian one of these , said to be in working condition but I'm thinking of removing the keys and inards and using it to house an electric piano. Is that sacrilege. Am I destroying a priceless antique? Have you seen that done succesfuly before? The cabinet making looks good on this one and I think it would get used more as an electric piano. Any advice or suggestions welcome.
Priceless, no. Can't give you advice on repurposing it, but good luck.
The Manson & Hamlin's range is the same as a Harpsichord so you can actually play Harpsichord pieces on it when you pull out all the stops.