Tuning

[Bach>Meer]

Hi all

How often would you recommend that an Organ is tuned and what do they do to carry it out?

Thanks!

[dll927]

This one may be tricky to answer. How often probably depends on the age of the organ and what kind of temperature conditions it exists in. Some churches, etc., aren't smart enough to understand that pipes go out of tune just with changes in temperature, so they heat (or cool) the place only when people are around.

As to what they do, well, they go up in the pipe chambers and tune the individual pipes, which can be a time-consuming job. And given differences in construction, some pipes don't seem to need tuning as often as others. Reeds tend to be the ones that need it more often.

Churches with large or 'important' organs often have their own 'curators' who look after the organ and keep it tuned and functioning correctly. But it is also true that some organs in out-of-the-way places don't get the attention they probably should. And budgets and costs also get in the way.

So how much attention an organ gets is probably a varied endeavor.

[Krummhorn]

I have my church organ tuned twice each year. Once in the fall after the heaters are first turned on, and then in the spring when the air conditioning kicks in.

At my insistence, the church maintains a constant temperature of 76°(F) at the pipes themselves, which means the sanctuary must be heated/cooled during the week, too. The organ is situated in an upstairs side gallery (where the choir sits as well) which also has its own remote controlled A/C unit.

The only items, besides tunings, that have required maintenance have been a couple swell motors (leaking bladders) that were replaced about 10 year ago, and more recently, the air switch.

[dll927]

Hopefully, those leaking bladders didn't get the pipes wet. (I couldn 't resist that.)

Some time back, I was in correspondence with a fellow at the First-Plymouth Church in Lincoln, NE. They have a pretty decent Schoenstein. Given Nebraska weather, he was saying that it finally occurred to the powers that be that they had to keep the sanctuary at an even temperature. A bit like asking, what else is new?

BTW, that church has a pretty complete run-down on their website about the organ(s) in the church and what has taken place before.

[Contratrombone64]

In North America and Europe where most churchs are kept at a constant temperature by air conditioning, it's not such an issue.

But, in Australia and New Zealand where churches most definitely are NOT air conditioned, tuning is a real issue, especially for those pesky reed pipes.

[Krummhorn]

Hopefully, those leaking bladders didn't get the pipes wet. (I couldn 't resist that.)

Good one - I didn't see that coming

[Contratrombone64]

I have my church organ

Lars - more photos please, including ones of you scampering about inside the monster, if possible

:-)

David

[Resultant64]

I have my church organ tuned twice each year. Once in the fall after the heaters are first turned on, and then in the spring when the air conditioning kicks in.

At my insistence, the church maintains a constant temperature of 76°(F) at the pipes themselves, which means the sanctuary must be heated/cooled during the week, too. The organ is situated in an upstairs side gallery (where the choir sits as well) which also has its own remote controlled A/C unit.

The only items, besides tunings, that have required maintenance have been a couple swell motors (leaking bladders) that were replaced about 10 year ago, and more recently, the air switch.

I was going to comment that artificial heating of churches continually at 'room temp' is very bad for organ leathers causing them to dry-out and fail-usually the swell motors are the first to go as they're usually subject to wind at the highest pressure-BUT- I noticed you were writing of an organ in Arizona.
76 F for a church in the US N.E. would have disastrous effect on the leather and also some wood components in the organ, including wood pipes which could crack slightly and lose their fundamental, or have their stoppers shrink and fall into the pipe.

[Krummhorn]

Good point, Resultant64 ... but here in the desert, we don't have to do that much heating ... maybe the heaters run for about a month, if that. I failed to mention too that besides being upstairs, the Swell division is right against an uninsulated Western wall ... well, there is the usual formica covering the concrete blocks, but that doesn't afford much relief from the afternoon sun beating on that wall.

The other problem we face (which is why we cool the church during the week) is that when the air temperature inside the chest gets too warm, it expands ... expansion causes the wind pressure to rise slightly, thus overblowing the pipes and making them sound sharp. We use piano and organ in our contemporary service, and today, being unusually hot in the sanctuary, the organ went way sharp, and the piano went flat ... it got so bad, I had to stop playing.

[AllanP]

The pipe work for my organ is contained in an insulated chamber which is heated in the winter and cooled in the summer. Tuning is usually done twice a year once when heating season starts and once when the cooling season starts. The flues are the ones whose pitch changes the most with temperature, the reeds are more stable with temperature variations. Keeping the temperature constant keeps the flues in tune with the reeds. This is crucial in my instrument as 1/3 of the pipes are reeds.

Letting the temperature fluctuate makes some tuning slides slip and tends to make short resonator reeds slip an occasional tuning wire. Last winter the power failed and when the temperature returned to normal, there were a few pipes out of tune enough to make some rather unpleasant sounds. A touch up was required.

Excessive handling of the pipe work tends to make the tuning unstable. My organ has been moved three times. After each move, it takes about 1 to 2 years for the tuning to become stable again.

Allan