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Christ Church’s Historic Walker Organ
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Part 5: The extent of the work
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After the final ‘old’ organ concert was held, the organ was systematically stripped down to base level, cleaned and rebuilt.
This included completely new leather-work; replacement of all the 1930 electric cables; installing new ‘motors’ – the electro-magnets that
actuate the opening and closing of pipes when a key is depressed or released;
pipe work cleaning; a new modular integrated circuit system; a new console to replace the rapidly failing 1930 model; a new piston capture
system enabling the organist to set up all the stops for a recital or service well in advance; re-scaling (changing the specification) of the
Choir organ and also opening it out to sound down the side aisle, as well as into the chancel; and much more besides.
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Despite this, we were still obliged to exclude two major items which had been included in the original budget – repainting the pipes in their
original colours and pattern, and installing a second smaller console in the nave of the church for concert work and to achieve a better
balance between organ, choir and congregation. These items await the generosity of future donors.
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However, the total did include some rationalisation of the chests, and improvements to the Choir organ. This had seven stops, some
of a solo nature and others designed to accompany soft choir passages. Some of these stops were rather ineffective and, frankly, dull sounding.
The Dulciana 8′ was replaced by a Stopped Diapason 8′; the Lieblich Gedact 8′ by a Principal 4′; the Piccolo 2′ by a Fifteenth 2′; and the
Nazard 2⅔′ by a Sesquialtera 12.17. The overall result is to give a much brighter sound.
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