Pipe Organ Maintenance & Restoration Services
Proudly serving customers throughout New England since 2010
Digital Concept Rendering
Kevin Posing with left facade during installation in the church
During installation
During installation showing temporary banner covering the tone opening on the right and new pipe facade left
During installation
In the Fall of 2011, Saint Joseph Church, Charlton approached us about recreating the pipe facades covering the tone openings containing the speakers for their electronic organ. The original “facades” provided with the electronic organ contained one recycled partial pipe rank each, arranged Chromatically. This arrangement left over half of the tone opening visible, although covered in white grill clothe, the openings were a bit of an eyesore in the sanctuary.
Our proposal was to rearrange the existing pipes with the largest in the back, forming an “A” and the remaining pipes in front forming a “W”. New dummy ‘wind chests’ were constructed of red oak and stained to match the other woodwork in the church. These ‘wind chests’ replaced the original flat toe boards that had left the original facade layout looking as though it were floating on the wall.
The spacing of the pipes in the facade is great enough to allow full tonal egress from behind, while doing a significant job covering the opening visually. The original grill clothe had grayed over the years, and a proposal to replace it with new white cloth was submitted, but not yet acted upon.
Work commenced on this project in mid January of 2012, with the removal of the original facades. The completed new facades and ‘wind chests’ were installed in the church just three months later in mid March.
Original Facades (metal pipes)in the shop. They are standing one set in front of the other
New Pipe Facades
Saint Joseph Church, Charlton, MA