This is what 2000 feet of multi-conductor cable looks like when formed into one 100' long cable. There is a junction board on one end which will be installed in place of the old relay in the Great chamber. The other end of the cable is being fed down through an unused 10" metal wind line to the basement where the new relay system will be installed. The decision was made to remote all 4 relays (Great, Swell, Solo, & Choir) to improve access to the relays for service and in the chambers for tuning. The Great and Swell relays will be in the basement and the Choir and Solo relays will be installed in the old combination action cabinets beneath the choir stalls.

This is the new IV Scharff mixture which is installed on the top of the central organ case. It plays on 8" of windpressure!

Here's another view of the console being disassembled. That other organ in the back ground is the digital organ that is being used as a stand in for the pipe organ during the restoration project.

Here is the console in the process of being disemboweled. We have now also removed all of the old electrical system in preparation for the new equipment which is set to arrive next week.

The shiny pipes on the light colored rack board in this picture are the new 4' Octave in the choir. These pipes and their new topboard occupy the space where the Unda Maris used to be.

This is the Choir chamber. The new III mixture is on the right. The Unda Maris is on a new chest at the rear.

Where's Waldo?

Somewhere in the picture is dad. See if you can find him. Today we finished lifting and installing all the new windchests into the Swell, Choir, and to the top of central organ case. Now we will begin connecting wind lines to these chests and gutting the old relay cabinets in preparation for the new equipment.

Here is an overhead shot of the swell chamber main chests with the mixture chest elevated in the background. We cut out the end of the walkway and moved the ladder to make it easier to access these pipes for tuning. The wooden wall behind the mixture chest is the swell shades in the closed position.

Here I am assembling the pipe racks which will hold up the pipes of the 16' Contra Trumpet in the Swell chamber.

Here is an overhead view of the chest for the lowest notes of the new 16' Contra Trumpet which is being installed in the swell. The 3 largest pipes are on the chest at the left. The large gray pipes in the background are the largest pipes of the 16' Flute Conique. The chest between the flute pipes and the trumpet pipes is for the bottom of the diapason and the top of the pedal bourdon. These chests have been relocated from elsewhere in the chamber to improve access.

This is the new junction board for the Great division. The board on the floor is where the old wiring from the windchests will connect. All the rolls of cable (1,900 feet in all) will be formed into a large cable which will run down to the basement of the church where the new relays will be located. The existing relays, which are located in the chamber, make it impossible to access several ranks of the pedal division for tuning and service. The relays of the other 3 divisions are also being remoted to the basement to improve access.

The truck from Wicks arrived yesterday morning with all the new windchests and pipes. Here is all the stuff laid out in the walkway behind the main altar.

Here's a picture of the 32' Contra Bombarde located in the Great chamber. These gigantic pipes stand 32' tall and are 16" or so in diameter at the top. Believe it or not, there were installed, as an addition, after the main part of the Great was installed. There were threaded into the chamber through a 16" x 24" opening located in the plaster casework near the floor of the chamber.

We are now finished with all we can do until the next shipment arrives from Wicks. This is going to be tomorrow (Feb 13) and will contain all the new pipes and chests as well as a few parts of the new electrical system. The console is not yet complete at Wicks and we are hoping that it will be delivered the last week of February in order for us to make our March 14th completion date.

Here is Arden cleaning up plaster debris near the pedal 16' Principal in the Great chamber. See the previous post for a before picture of the pipes in this area.

Remember that MAMMOTH dust bunny picture below? Here is the same area after cleaning! The Great chamber is clean which wraps up the cleaning process accept for the chamber floors which will be cleaned once all the upgrades have been installed.

This is the bottom of the 16' Principal in the Great chamber. The plaster ceiling above these pipes has fallen in and made a HUGE mess. The pipes themselves have a large amount of plaster piled up inside them as well.

We have begun cleaning in the Great. This is, by far, the worst chamber as far as filth and damaged pipes goes. Here you can see the amount of debris lying between the rows of pipes on the windchests. No, that's not a dead mouse in the foreground. Just a mammoth dust bunny!

Today we finished cleaning the swell chamber. I don't have any pictures as everything went pretty much the same as the Solo and Choir. On to the Great!