I feel it necessary to correct some of the errors that have been posted about this organ. The Riverside Baptist organ is madeup of parts from two Skinner organs. The church's original 1925 Skinner and about half of the 1924 Skinner from the Florida State College for Women (now Florida State University) in Tallahassee. The church bought the whole organ from FSU in 1973 and used the Pedal Trombone unit, Solo, parts of the Choir and Swell organs, and positiv organ added to the Skinner in the 1960's. The rest of the organ was sold. The organ also has the harp from Skinner opus 766.

It is true that the mechanism of the organ has been drastically altered and that is regrettable. However, tonally the organ still speaks with the Skinner accent. There has been bunch of poorly voice pipes added to it. When I've played it I only used the Skinner pipes and haven't missed the other stops at all.

The church continues to report that they also used the echo organ that was added to the FSCW Skinner in 1931; this is not true. The echo organ (which had its own console) had long since been removed from the main organ and was sold separately in 1975.

The Riverside Baptist organ isn't the ideal organ if we're looking for a true Skinner. But it does still have some Skinner elements and this should not be ignored. If you're look for a Skinner that is more original, one only need to travel a block or two more down Stockton Street to the Episcopal Church of the Good Shepherd. There you will find a much better example of what a Skinner organ is.

Sincerely,

Will Scarboro


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