Hello everyone!
 
Just to give in my two cents worth on Larry Chase's discussion about
residence or house organs.
 
Problem with these kinds of projects are usually that they will grow, and
grow, and never get finished.  I have seen numerous examples of this in
real life.  So its best to start with a conservative approach, given
that one does not have to much $$$, and not too much time.
 
Design criteria would be, coming from a 'tracker ' background as follows
 
- Keep it as small as possible
- Design it so that it fits under an 8' ceiling.
- Make it 2 Manuals + Ped, possibly pull-down
- Make a nice, self-enclosed case to contain the pipework
- Possibly attach doors, like in some of the renaissance instruments.
- Use no gadgets (combination actions, drawers that hide a private bar
etc...)
- Keep the scale of the pipework small.
- Make the windsupply such, that the instrument can breathe with the help
  of a friend (hand pumped)  (of course it should have a blower)
- Limit yourself to a maximum of 10-15 stops.
- That's enough for now.
 
Some reasoning for these criteria follows:
 
Keeping it small makes the instrument nicer to look at, and it does not
use up your precious living room.  I have seen people build a MONSTER out
of old pipe organ parts: chests, a console pipework etc.  It may be fun,
but it can be messy.
 
Making it fit under an 8' ceiling is an insurance policy in case you have
to move, or in the unfortunate case that you have to sell the instrument.
 
2Man+Ped is big enough!  Lets face it, you're not likely going to play
music that requires a 32' Praestant & lots of reeds in your living room.
Besides, with 2Man+Ped you can play almost any litterature.
 
Having doors to cover the pipework is a neat idea: If you have some
friends coming over for a party you close the doors.  That way they don't
mangle your nice tin pipes, and your living room looks less 'churchy' if
you know what I mean. :-)
 
Gadgets tend to break and are expensive.  I have seen organs in churches
that  have a closed circuit TV instead of a mirror, to be able to see the
Pastor! Neat eh!
 
A Combination action for 10-15 stops is a nuisance!  Just pull those
stops, its much more fun.
 
Keeping the pipe scale small will insure that  the instrument does not
become a MONSTER.  It will also make sure that you will not die
prematurely at the hands of your neighbours, because of all the noise
coming from your house!
 
I'm a firm believer that hand pumped organs sound better.  Especially if
the  player and Calcant are somehow in 'sync' with each other.  The music
can become ALIVE! this way.
 
Limiting yourself to 10-15 stops again helps your wallet.  You are also
not getting younger!
 
Specification is a matter of taste, but large, romantic style stops
won't work very well because of size considerations.  Consider
 
Man1
Principal 4'  facade, tin or hammered lead
Oktave 2'         tin
Gedackt 8'        wooden
Quinte 1 1/3  tin
Regal 8'          reed (a nice one)
 
Man2
Rohrfloete 4' metal
Floete 2'     wide scale, metal
 
Ped.
Sordun 16'    reed
 
II/I  II/PED  tremulant
 
as a modest proposal with which it is possible to make some very nice
music.
 
To answer your question about a Holzprinzipal:  Its not really difficult
to make wooden pipes, as long as one has access to a woodworking shop.
Its nice to have lots of clamps!!  Making and fitting stoppers is
precision work, if its not professionally done, they will sag and your
pipes will go out of tune.  Also don't neglect seating the pipes properly
with racks within the instrument, so that they can be tuned without going
all over the place. Anyone know the Dom Bedos book (Dom Bedos de celles,
French Monk that explained 'secret' organ building techniques around
1780.  The book has lots of  illustrations.
 
 
Anyways, enough rambling -- talk to you later.
 
 
Friedrich B.