ORGANISTS- What kind of organs do you play?

[abcomatic]

I play a 1946 Wicks 2 manual, 5 rank unit organ for church.
Home, 1906 Estey, Hinners, Moller

 

[midmer455]

Choice of two ...

As soon as they are up an running, a choice of the 4/55 Kimball in the Ballroom or the 7/455 Midmer Losh in the Hall.
Boardwalk Hall Atlantic City. Hall and organ tours (free) should be starting withing a month depending on the Hall's schedule. Check the link for more info.
Harry

http://www.acchos.org

 

[vinvac]

Gary,

What a great looking organ... tell us more.

I have a 37 rank digital Johaunus at home. Our church has a 37 rank pipe organ that was installed in 1897. Wish I knew what brand. The organ at church is on its third console and still sounds great. It was totally redone in 1997. We are lucky to have three AGO organists on staff. There are also two nice grand pianos in the sanctuary. Two weeks ago we had forty finger piano... along with the organ. It was wonderful.

Morgan

 

[jasonl]

HOLY COW!

I wouldn't know where to begin on one of those.

So do all those switches alter the sound some kind of way?

 

[petek]

I'm still on the lookout for something decent and priced right..ie low. It'll turn up eventually.

 

[maggie~hamilton]

HEY MIDMER

Are you a member of ACCHOS? I am!!

 

[maggie~hamilton]

I play

a 1957 Casavant, 3 manuals, 24 ranks, in a Lutheran (LCMS) Church in Inglewood, California. It was designed and voiced by Stephen Stoot, and has a lovely rich sound. Very warm and romantic. The 8-ft. Great Diapason is very full and grand.

Had the organ been purchased a year later, and Thank God it was not, it would have been a Phelps Casavant and a different organ entirely...

http://www.137.com/faith/page3.html

 

[countryguy]

I don't consider myself an organist but I do have 3 organs, all Lowreys - an MX-1, Parade and a Majesty

Gary

 

[abcomatic]

HI guys, Great, Swell (ok, that's bad) lol to hear from you all so far.
Midmer, I have the cd of the Atlantic organ, blower, etc. I would love to see what that is like and play it too.
Vinvac, sounds like you have great organs at home and at church. I am the sub-dean of the Peoria Chapter of AGO.
Jason, Yes all of the stop rockers do alter the sound. You just have to sort of know by looking what is enscribed on the stop to tell you what you are going to hear.
Maggie, I know what you mean about Casavant and I agree with you too. Phelps did do different things in voicing and stop lists.
Petek, I am sure you will get what you want when it is there, just keep the faith and it will appear.
Countryguy, I am sure you have a great time with those organs too, get in there and play for church sometime.
Thanks for all of you who have responded so far. This is a great group and it is fun to see whatelse we are interested in besides washing. Gary

 

[red_october]

*Sighs*

I used to play, it was years ago, though. I had a lovely little Hammond L-112. There is just nothing like the old tone generator organs. I had the great misfortune of attending catholic school as a child and I did get to play the organ in the chappel on occasion; it was a Wurlitzer (I forget the model) with an Orbit-II synth and a tape recorder. Unfortunately I had a bad teacher who put me off learning (she was the only game in town), and I've since sold the organ (It went to a good home). Some day, though, I'd like to have another Hammond; perhaps I'm dreaming big but I'd love an X-66; they're just so beautiful; and of course they have the wonderful Hammond tone generator sound!

 

[athanasius80]

Two manual and pedal 10.5 rank Estey reed organ. After undoing the damage from a "restoration" its been a good deal of fun. (And the closest to a Cavaille-Coll I'm going to find in southern California.)

 

[midmer455]

Boardwalk Hall

If you have never been Atlantic City Boardwalk Hall here is a picture from the back of the hall. Organ console is on the right side of the stage. Two main chambers are the huge grills on each side of the stage. There are four gallery chambers and two ceiling chambers. The Midmer Losh has 33,112 pipes, the longest being 64 feet. Total HP for the blowers is 600.

 

[polkanut]

I'm not an organist, but we have quite a beautiful Casavant organ at church, Trinity Lutheran, Wausau, WI (LCMS). It was designed by the late Dr. Paul Bunjes. Here are the specs:
Great
8 Principal 8 Gedackt
4 Octave 2 Octave
IV Mixture 16 Chalumeau
8 Trompete Chimes

Swell
8 Gedackt 8 Viola Da Gamba
4 Principal 4 Spitzfloete
2 Waldfloete III Scharf
8 Schalmey Tremulant

Positif
8 Rohr Gedackt 4 Spillfloete
2-2/3- Nasat 2 Principal
1-3/4 Terz III Zimbel
8 Krummhorn Tremulant

Pedal
16 Subbass 16 Gemshorn
8 Principal 8 Gemshorn
4 Choralbass IV Mixture
II Auzug 16 Fagott
8 Kornett 4 Fagott
Chimes

The composition of the organ is 28 registers, 39 ranks, 35 stops, 2114 pipes. It cost $110,000 in 1976, it was appraised last year for approx. $750,000. The old 1950 Casavant had 17 registers, 20 ranks, 23 stops, 1248 pipes.

 

[bobbyderegis]

I play a Catastrovant, 1996. Some say it's best sound is the "clunk" of the general cancel.
Bobby in Boston

 

[bobbyderegis]

Abcomatic,
Casavant stop tabs? Who rebuilt the organ pictured last?
Bobby in Boston

 

[selectomatic]

I posted pix of our Hammonds in a different thread.

My roommate has spent quite a bit of time as a silent movie accompanist. The theater organ he's spent the most time with is the Grand Barton Theater Organ in the Capitol Theater here in Madison. He likes to refer to it as "The Fartin' Barton."

-kevin

http://www.ci.madison.wi.us/overture/grand_barton/organ.htm

 

[abcomatic]

Bobby, The picture of the organ that I posted is mine from home. I have been responsible for most of the re-build. I bought the rocker tabs, relay, combination action all from Peterson of Alsip, Il.

 

[bobbyderegis]

Nice job, Abcomatic!
Bobby in Boston

 

[cvillewasherbo]

I play sometimes, and used to play every sunday a Woodberry and Harris tracker action organ built in Boston in 1891. It was built fot a Catholic Church in Providence RI. In the 1950's it was basically a piece of junk not have been properly taken care of for a long time. It was then removed, thankfully by someone who put the whole thing in storage where it remained for many years.

The 1972 Crashovant (I love that term) at First Presbyterian Church in Waynesboro VA melted along with the rest of the building in 1975. The Woodbury and Harris was bought for 10,000.00 and restored for about 160,000.00 more and the architect made a perfect place for it in the front middle of the new sanctuary.

It has 3 manuals and 42 ranks plus Zimbelstern which I raised money for in 1990. I'm subbing there this month.

In the middle of September I will be the interim organist at 1st Baptist in W'bor which has a 1966 3 manual 32 rank Austin organ with a Guilanti electronic add one in the classic style. It is one great organ!!!

I'm not technically advance enough to post a link for the W&H but if you search on 1st Presby in W'bor you'll fine a great picture of it.

Courtney in W'boro. PS I studied music at the age of 5-30 and have 35 years of church playing. It's a lovely thing to have but also a curse at times. Church people can be really mean sometimes.

 

[abcomatic]

C'ville, yes, church people can be mean at times. One lady told me that I play the organ too loudly, (5 ranks and that is loud)? She always bitches about something so I told her this; (if you don't like the way I play for Sunday, then you get up here and do it)! That shut her up big time. Sometimes my favorite coupler is: organ bench to parking lot. lol

 

[vinvac]

another great line to use when they complain the organ is to loud...

"why, can't you hear the gossip...." shuts them up everytime.

Morgan

 

[bobbyderegis]

HAHAHAHA! Love it, Morgan! I have to remember that one. My revenge is to play a very soft postlude. They are too scared to chatter and leave, so they sit and listen. C'ville, I remember reading about the Woodbury and Harris from Providence. We have W&H's magnum opus in Boston, 50+ ranks with pneumatic stop action and barker lever from 1898. It is glorious. Sure beats our Catastrovant.
Bobby in Boston

 

[djmjlcst]

Barton Grand Theatre Pipe Organ

I'm not an organ player but do love the sound of some vintage organs. I took piano lessons as a kid for a few years. I haven't practiced in years so I'm really bad now. Selectomatic has posted a URL for the Grand Barton Theatre Pipe Organ and the Rialto Theatre in my hometown (Joliet, Ill.) has one as well with four keyboards. Click on the link and it will take you there.

Cheers! - Mike

http://www.rialtosquare.com/gallery3_main.htm

 

[hooverboy1]

I play...

a Hammond, an Allen, and a Conn. Personally I prefer the Allen and Conn.

 

[abcomatic]

HI all, Great to hear from so many of you about the organs that we play. I have met the grandson of Mr. Barton and he did tell me an interesting thing about his grandfather.
Mike,One of the best organs in Bloomington, IMO is the rebuilt organ from the organ clearing house in the new Lutheran church on the east side of town there. Our AGO chapter did an organ crawl there last spring and it sounded wonderful. Bye for now guys, Gary

 

[djmjlcst]

Thanks Gary!

I'll have to check out that rebuilt organ at the Lutheran Church on the east side of town! Mike

 

[historyman]

midmer455

Midmer455 is not only a member (as am I) of the Atlantic City Convention Hall Organ Society (ACCHOS,) he is a board member. I'm pleasantly surprised to find him on here.

 

[Maytagluver]

Rodgers & Hammond here

I have a Rodgers Alexandria 800 and a Hammond RT-3 w/ 145 Leslie. Like the Hammond for gospel, show tunes, that sort of thing. When preparing for the Lutheran service, I go to the Rodgers.
I sub. in a few Lutheran churches in my area, most just have Allens , one does have a pipe aug. Rodgers, it's a fun instrument.
A friend in Ft. Wayne has a 3 man Barton theatre organ in his home. It's a BLAST, Byron is quite the engineer, he rigged up a device from a player piano, hooked it to the Barton, put on a roll, choose your stops, set back and listen. He even connected a player piano to the organ, so if you choose the piano, it plays right along !!
Not the best organist there has ever been here, but sure can tell the difference between an 'organ-player' and 'organist'
So along with enjoying my washers, vacuums, mixers and fans, I love to set at the console of the organ, pass a few hours
Best Regards all
Al

 

[norgeman]

Re: Organs that we have.

Hi guys it's been awhile but I to play the organ and my favorite is and always has been a Hammond. Right now I have a small Hammond spinet but the bass pedals wont play. I have owned a Hammond before which had alot more on it but had to give it up. Then I had a Conn which was a nice organ but limited on stops but it did serve me pretty well until lighting hit near the house and then it wouldn't play after that. The Hammond that I have now was given to me by a friend of mine as he didn't have room for it anymore. I too have played for church in my time and grew up on a Hammond c3 church organ, loved that organ. Also, have played on a Rogers organ at Broadway Baptist Church in Lexington Ky. At the Berean Bible Church in Lexington, Ne. they have a Wurlitzer which the former organist and myself don't like very much. I would like to put a Hammond c3 in that church with a Leslie of course. I also, played for a small Baptist church Crosswoads Baptist church, where they had a small Wurlitzer which was a piece of junk and should have been replaced along time ago. But I did put my Hammond in the church for awhile and everybody said that it had such better sound and when I put the Wurlitzer back in they couldn't believe the difference. Some friends of mine that I worked with While I was in Ky. went to a Baptist church on the other side of Lexington and had a Yamaha organ which they liked but then they purchased a Hammond and they said that what a difference between the Yamaha and the Hammond was like night and day. Well guess I've rattled on long enough so will close for now. Danf.

 

[maggie~hamilton]

AACHOS

(No, no need to say Gesundheit - I was not sneezing!)

Chris, I too am a charter member of AACHOS. I met Stephen Smith when he first began doing research on the Midmer-Losh organ at Atlantic City. We've been chums ever since, and of course when the AACHOS was founded I became a member. What a dream come true it would be for that organ to be restored to its full glory!

For those who don't know, the world's largest pipe organ, indeed the world's largest musical instrument, is located at the huge Atlantic City Convention Hall in Atlantic City, New Jersey.

As Midmer455 noted, the organ is comprised of approximately 33,000 pipes -- the largest pipe, made of wood, is 64 feet tall and 3 ft. square at the top! It has 455 "ranks" or "sets" of pipes, which makes it easily ten times larger than a good-sized church organ of 45 ranks!

The attached photo is of one of the huge sets of metal pipes -- but bear in mind, as enormous as these are, they are only half as large as the largest ones! (For size reference, note the man standing at the lower-left corner of the photo!!)