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Subject:
From:
"David L. Molvik" <[log in to unmask]>
Reply To:
David L. Molvik
Date:
Fri, 20 May 2005 13:17:07 -0500
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5/20/05 11:15:46 AM, John Seboldt <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

>I don't know if the voicing varies much between individual units... my
>fondest memory is the sheer power and edge of that 8' Diapason,
>super-coupled for the 8-4' effect, in leading singing - well nicked, no
>chiff, but very prompt and bright. I was less impressed with the softer
>stops - charming, but with less color and interest to my ear, a rather
>thin Gamba, 8' stopped diapason, and 4' open flute. The difference
>between that grand diapason and the 3 other stops ( in a swell box) made
>it behave like a one-stop Grand Great and a three-stop Echo or something
>- the soft stops made practically no contribution when drawn behind the
>"Big Bertha" Open Diapason.
>
>But perhaps that was a logical concept for the time and purpose - soft
>stops for quiet "churchy" things beforehand, and one nice loud stop to
>lead singing.
>
>It would be interesting to hear others' experiences of these old standbys.
>
I first learned organ-playing and organ servicing on an 11-rank 2M Hinners dating from
1913.  It was much as you describe, though larger.  Fortunately, it also had a 4' Principal on
the Great which did balance with the 8' Open Diapason.  Other Great stops were 8 Melodia,
Dulciana, and 4' Flute d'Amour.  These weren't terribly useful; they were too soft to be
detectable when the Open Diapason was on, and for softer registrations the Swell flutes
simply sounded better.  The Dulciana was too soft and colorless to be even audible unless
played by itself, and then the sound was so uninteresting that nobody used it.

The Pedal was the ubiquitous, and in this case quite effective, 16' Bourdon.  The Swell
consisted of 8 Violin Diapason, Stopped Diapason, Salicional, 4' Harmonic Flute, and and 8'
Labial Oboe t.c.  There was also a Swell to Great 4' coupler, in addition to unison couplers,
which saved the chorus of the instrument from being hopelessly dull (the room had
tremendous high-frequency absorption, to compound the problem.)  The Harmonic Flute
was bright enough to make an effective 2' in the coupled ensemble, and the Oboe,
essentially a scratchy string, added a lot of brightness at 4' while still managing to blend.
The octave coupler did make the touch very heavy, however.  Uncoupled, the touch was
excellent.  I also used a little trick of pushing the stop knob for the Oboe in enough to flat it
slightly, to make a celeste with the Salicional.  It wasn't uniform, but still worked fairly well.

This organ was replaced with a new one in 1963.  The building had been doubled in size and
treated with Acousta-Soak in the years since the Hinners was installed, so it was simply not
adequate.  It also had a few mechanical problems, which were all readily repairable, except
that they provided a convenient excuse for replacing the organ, so were not repaired.  I
suggested the idea of rebuilding the organ, retaining the tracker action, with some tonal
revisions to make it more satisfactory for the room (mostly replacing useless soft stuff with
more chorus work) and to reduce the need for coupling, but there didn't seem to be any
builders around at that time who were interested in such a project.  The Hinners ended up
being parted out, except for some casework that was remodeled and used with the new
organ.  I also tried to persuade them to remove the Acousta-Soak, but was no more
successful at that.  ('Course I was only 14 years old at the time; who pays attention to the
opinions of a 14-year-old?)  At least they didn't buy the Baldwin or Allen that the committee
had seriously considered.  And they did paint the Acousta-Soak, which helped a little.

The large dynamic grading between stops was typical of the time; in fact I have
encountered other builders' work that was more extreme than Hinners in that regard.  Hall, in
particular, built 8' Diapasons that I dubbed "Roar Diapasons"

David Molvik
Minneapolis

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