Things got so busy with the organ project during week 1 that I didn't even find time to update the blog. I can report that a lot of progress was made during the week of the 17th and the organ builders were quite pleased with the progress made and the volunteers who showed up to help.
Most of the chests were put up on the loft after stands were made to raise them off the floor and make them more accessible to work at and service in the future. It turned out there was some damage to the bellows (rodents had gotten at some of the leather) so we decided they needed to be redone. Henry Vandelden was kind enough to offer to do that job and they were removed to his shop. By next week they should be ready to put back up on the loft and start connecting the various pieces of pipes to supply the wind to the instrument.
At first it was thought we might not have enough wiring to reach all the way to the console but that turned out not to be the case. They were able to untangle all of the wires and feed them through the floor and conduit to the organ console. The plan is to build a bit of a platform that the organ can sit on and the wiring will then be out of the way underneath that.
The swell box was also built last week and is almost complete. I painted the outside of it black this week so that won't hold anything up.
Work was also begun on the facade and just this afternoon the show pipes were hung temporarily so we can check out to see what they look like and make some decisions about what color to paint them and what trim to use around them to make for a pleasing whole. All in all, some good progress was made in the past two weeks. We thank Mike and John (the organ builders) for coming out and getting us started on this first phase of the project. Now it's up to volunteers to continue the work that needs doing (mostly wind supply and electrical) before they return for their next (and maybe last) visit.
I'll add some pictures shortly to show some of the work in progress.
hjl
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