The installation of the new organ.

04/03/19 – The first load of parts for the new Austin organ delivered to South Church!  The pictures show the Great and Swell wind chests and Walker system speaker and electronic panel on the truck and the speaker being carried into the church through the front doors.  The wind chests are seen resting on the floor of the choir loft, with both top and bottom views of the chests shown.  The Walker speaker is located in the left side of the organ chamber behind the door.  At the end of the day, the foundation of the organ is shown on the floor of the organ chamber with LED lights installed which will enable the organ tuners to see the undersides and tops of the wind chests when the interior of the organ needs to be accessed.  The Great and Swell chests have not yet been installed.

04/04/19 – Both the Great and Swell wind chests have been mounted on the foundation of the organ in the organ chamber, with the Great chest to the left and the Swell chest to the right.  A wall has been inserted separating the Great and Swell chests.  Each chest has an opening which will enable access to the underside of the chest by the organ tuner, if necessary.  Doors will cover these openings to ensure that the wind chests are air-tight.  The Walker system speaker has been located at the left side of the organ chamber in its final position, with the speakers facing out through the door versus sideways as on the previous day.  An extension of the Swell chest may be seen at the extreme right of the organ chamber behind the bell tower door.  This extension will house the 12 new Bassoon pipes of the Swell Division.  The circuit boards controlling the Walker system speakers may be seen mounted on the wall above the Great chest.  A black frame has been installed over the Swell chest which will contain horizontal shades which may be opened or closed using a pedal on the organ console, increasing or decreasing the volume of the pipes in the Swell Division, respectively.  At the extreme left entering the Great chest, an air intake may be seen.  Connected to the air intake will be an air supply coming from the sanctuary attic where the blower generating the air for the organ and the regulator determining how much air is admitted to the wind chests are located.

04/05/19 – The organ façade which was pre-constructed at the Austin Organs factory in Hartford has been delivered to the church and carried up to the choir loft in pieces.  It is made out of oak and has been stained to match the organ console.  Twelve of the largest wooden pipes have been returned to the choir loft, with 6 of them shown installed on the Great chest bordering the Swell Division.  Four of the other pipes may be seen on the floor of the choir loft.  By the end of the day, the organ façade has been reassembled and put in place in front of the organ chamber.  The remaining 6 large wood pipes have been installed in the façade—3 at each end.  Pictures of the organ façade were taken in the choir loft and from the pulpit to provide alternate views.

04/10/19 – The third and final load from the Austin Organs factory is delivered to South Church.  This delivery includes all the remaining pipes of the organ and the organ console.  The console may be seen on the truck.  The pipes are contained in 11 large wooden trays and labeled according to the ranks of pipes they contain.  These trays are seen on the back end of the truck and being carried through the front doors of the church and then stacked in the narthex.  A picture of the organ façade now shows all 37 pipes installed.  Workers from the South Church’s building contractor are shown removing the top 2 sashes of the sanctuary’s northeast window which extends upward through the choir loft.  The sashes are placed in the loft.  The rigging company hired by Austin Organs to install the organ console in the choir loft arrives with a forklift truck on a flatbed.  The Austin folks prepare the console to be moved off their truck, and the console is off-loaded onto the forklift.  Four videos show the forklift moving the console across the parking lot and into position under the northeast window, raising the console up to the level of the choir loft floor, moving the console across the choir loft floor to its appointed location, and lifting the console down one step to the bottom level of the choir loft into its final location.  Two photos show the air supply from the regulator and blower in the sanctuary attic installed.  The air intake is connected to the wind chest under the Great Division on the left side of the organ chamber.

04/13/19 – These pictures show the organ console.  Note the stop knobs to the right (Great Division) and to the left (Swell and Pedal Divisions) of the organ keyboards.  These knobs, when pulled, put ranks of pipes into readiness for playing.  The Great Division is controlled by the bottom keyboard, and the Swell Division is controlled by the top keyboard.  Note the presets below the Great and Swell keyboards which permit combinations of organ stops to be set in advance and then called upon by the organist as needed during the playing of musical selections.  Toe studs above the pedalboard allow for similar selections and are somewhat redundant (i.e., General 1-5 on the Swell and General 6-10 on the Great are duplicated in the toe studs).  These redundant presets allow, for example, the organist to use presets on the pedalboard to make combination selections if hands are not free.  There are two expression pedals on the pedalboard.  The one on the left, labeled Swell, operates the shades in the Swell Division, either opening or closing the shades to allow for more or less volume from the pipes (and digital sounds) in that division, respectively.  The pedal on the right, labeled Crescendo, allows for an increase in volume in the organ by gradually placing additional ranks of pipes into readiness for playing.