This is the organ which serves as my soundcloud logo. It dates from 1885, was built by William Telford (Dublin) and was in the Redemptoristine Convent, North Dublin for most of its life. It was dismantled and transported and placed into storage by general builders and endured much damage to the pipes:
Despite the unwelcome handling, the move did the organ a favour, for the church has since burnt. There were many hours needed on the bench effecting repairs to the pipes. The procedure here is to fill a hole which was left after straightening the pipe. (Many pipes had been completely flattened and folded. It was at the fold where the material is missing.
And the finished product; a nice little neat patch.
So we rebuilt the organ. It was in a dreadful state, with the Great soundboard requiring complete overhaul. There's no denying we changed the specification - the original spec. was unforgivably conservative; Gt 8,8,8,4 and Swell 8,8,8,4,2,8. A late decision was to opt for a nice ringing Sesquialtera which sounds like this:
It was based on the Edo Evers stop in Norden for reasons of better blend when used in a chorus context. We followed a slightly historic theme by giving the organ unequal temperament. I sometimes wonder is it a bit strong and might calm it a bit when next tuning. You can read about the Norden organ at www.arpschnitger.nl/snorden.html
It was originally built by Edo Evers in 1613, and was rebuilt by Arp Schnitger in 1686, with further additions in 1692. The most recent rebuild was by the world renowned builder, Jurgen Ahrend.
I think, between the pair of us, we did rather well; this is an organ of just 11 stops (which includes the Ped Bourdon 16). It is a very versatile little organ, considering. Here are a few tracks from other schools:
For more serious repairs or supply of new pipes we use Terry Shires in Leeds;