Recent posts imply that for some builders, scaling is mathematical: pipe
diameter is half at the 17th (or 19th or whatever) pipe. No doubt that's
true, especially where general rules of thumb apply and pipes are made
in factories without specific destinations in mind.
 
But I've read literature from Klais and others indicating that for them,
scaling is a much more complex issue. Variable scaling is employed where
the rate at which pipe diameter changes is adjusted depending on the
acoustics of the building, the function of a particular rank in the
scheme of the organ, and the inter-relatedness of the whole.
 
Thus the scaling rate is not a straight line, but a curve, and I've seen
such curves plotted. Some of them are straight lines, or nearly so.
Others bend in bass and treble, and some of the curves are complicated
indeed.
 
My question is this: How does a builder decide on variable scaling? Is
this an art rather than a science, so that experience is the chief
teacher (as with Klais, where the fourth generation of the Klais family
is currently involved with the firm)? How does a builder measure the
ambient acoustics of a building, and how do the measurements affect the
planning of an instrument? Does a builder experiment with test ranks
before deciding what will work?
 
Obviously where "cheap" and "quick" are high priorities, there will not
be a lot of attention to such detail. But where there is time and money,
and a builder wishes to create a work of art as well as a salable
product, how does the process go? What are the factors to consider?
 
No doubt these would include:
  (a) what kind of music is to be played;
  (b) what is the function of the instrument, e.g. choir accompaniment,
hymnsinging and liturgy, or is it to be a concert instrument, and if so,
in German, English, French, Spanish, or American style, or is it to be
used with orchestra, as in a symphony hall or opera house, or is it a
theater organ used primarily for pop and other light music;
  (c) what is the size of the building, and how much and what kind of
reverberation does it have;
  (d) what is the size of the instrument;
  (e) what is the purpose of this rank in relation to the others?
 
An ideal too rarely achieved is when each rank makes a musically useful
and interesting sound throughout its compass, and at the same time
combines well with others in delightful ensemble, and contributes its
essential part to a cohesive full organ chorus.
 
The Klais I've heard at St. Peter's Lutheran in Manhattan has its
critics, not without reason, but it has many fine qualities, one of
which is the variable scaling. The flutes do not become muddy and
indistinct in the bass, or screechy in the treble. Any of them can be
used as a solo voice, and yet they combine together to create an amazing
variety of sounds. The 1' Sifflet sings, but is not too shrill, even at
the top, and works as a solo on its own. The Principal is gentle,
perhaps too much so, but it avoids the roar and honk one sometimes hears
when Principals are pushed too hard. It goes for finesse rather than
thunder.
 
I've asked too big a question to be answered in a brief paragraph, but
I'd like to be pointed in some direction where a comprehensive answer
might be found. I'd also like to hear what builders really do when they
wish to go beyond the simple rules of thumb.
 
Jim Lokken
San Francisco
 
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