The quality of the console equipment, the workmanship of installation, and the modifications to the woodwork of the console are all excellent.
—William J. Gatens, Organist-Choirmaster
Church of the Good Shepherd, Rosemont, PA
Consoles: Replace or Rebuild?
By Peter Walker
Of all the components in a pipe organ, nothing takes a beating more than the console. Be it heavy-handed organists or simply Father Time, they all wear out sooner or later. If your console has any pneumatic parts, this process gets accelerated. The combination action usually starts to fail first followed by the draw knobs or stop tablets. Often times the instrument itself is in good condition but the console looks (and feels) like it had been through the last war. Since this is the part of the organ that everyone sees, it is often assumed that since the console is in bad shape the entire instrument is on its last legs. Many an instrument has been sent to a premature death simply because the console is shot. What can be done in such a situation? The worst-case scenario would be a completely new console. In many cases this is the best and most practical solution. But if the wooden shell is in good shape (or could be stripped down and re-finished) and the keyboards and pedal board are likewise in salvageable condition you might be able to get away with simply rebuilding the console. Unless a console’s physical condition or design prohibits retaining, rebuilding an existing console is often more expedient than constructing a totally new one. New keyboards and pedalboards can be a part of either a new or reconditioned console. This can be especially true if the original console was of good quality to begin with such as a Moller or Casavant. The cost of replacing fine cabinetry can be substantial.
Just what happens when a console gets rebuilt? Essentially all internal components are replaced with solid-state control systems. If your old console had any kind of pneumatic controls, these will be removed as well as the separate wind line that provided the power to move the controls. A new slender cable using either a CAT 5 or Ethernet or fiber optic technology will be installed instead of the massive bundle of individual copper wires commonly used before solid state technology. If your console is on a dolly than this will make movement much easier. Everything is usually replaced. Keyboards and pedal board are evaluated along with the wooden shell. New contacts are installed under the keyboards and pedal board as well as on the expression and crescendo shoes. New solid-state draw knobs or stop keys are installed along with new thumb pistons and toe studs. (If you’ ve ever wanted more pistons then this is the time to add them.) We install a new solid-state relay including multi-memory combination action. You also have the opportunity of getting such options as a transposer (for those organists who have trouble transposing in their heads!) and MIDI capability that allows synthesizers and other electronic keyboard instruments to be played through the console. You can also get record/playback capability that allows you to play something on the organ and then go out into the nave and listen while the organ “plays” it back to you exactly as you performed it. (Mistakes and all!) Are you thinking of adding stops at some point in the future? If there is physically room, the future additions can be incorporated into the rebuilt console. Providing at this time in the new relay for wiring and stop controls is usually a fraction of the cost of adding them later on.
So for a fraction of the cost of a new console you get all the same benefits including reliable state-of-the-art controls plus a warranty to cover them. And with the money you save you can start looking into the future additions that were prepared for! But that’ s for another article!