Mathieu Pipe Organs - Saint Patrick

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Pipe Organ Maintenance & Restoration Services

Proudly serving customers throughout New England since 2010

Summary of work -

Full rebuild and expansion of 1930 Tellers-Kent pipe organ including tonal revisions to return some stops to their original locations and pitches, as well as several new additions to increase the organs versatility and usefulness in the current Liturgy of the Church.

The result of this work will be our Opus R-1

Organ History -

The organ was installed in December, 1930 and completed in time for Christmas. A dedication recital was given by Professor on . The organ saw its first major repairs in the 70’s and was later tonally altered in the 1980’s. The Swell Salicional was cut down to a 2 2/3’ and put into the chest spot for the Violin Diapason giving it a compass of G1 to c6. The 4’ Harmonic Flute was moved to the great at 2’ replacing the Melodia. The Melodia from C3 co c6 was put into the stopped diapason replacing the middle octaves, the harmonic flute was replaced with the Stopped Diapason from c2-c6, with the bass octave being from the tenor of the Melodia. The Dulciana from the Great replaced the Salicional in the swell aside from the mitered basses. The Violin Diapason replaced all of the 8’ Open Diapason on the main chest (16-73), and those pipes of the Open Diapason became the 4’ Octave with some of the Violin Diapason mixed in at the bass end.

Rebuild Details -

The previously mentioned changes left the organ with a distinct lack of balance in tone across both divisions and very week bass and fundamental tones. So in 2013 after both Swell and Great chests were releathered, as many pipes as possible were restored to their original places. The Salicional, having been cut down to 2 2/3’, became the new 2’ Super Octave, the 8’ Open Diapason was fully restored to original placement, and the Violin Diapason, missing it’s lowest 12 notes was made the 4’ Octave. The scaling of these three stops in this arrangement, match much more appropriately than previously. The swell flutes were restored fully with a new low octave for the 4’ Harmonic Flute, and the same was done with the great Melodia, also missing it’s original bass octave.

The new Hautbois (oboe) replaces the Nazard on the swell with all new note actions. The Hautbois is unified to three pitches there, and is borrowed at 8’ and 4’ in all other divisions. A new 2’ Block Flute was installed on a new chest mounted in the previous location of the swell blind octave chests which were removed as most no longer had pipes and the new specification made them un necessary.

The pedal, originally one rank of 32 notes on a dual pressure mechanism, was extended by two octaves and set at a fixed pressure. Now playing at 16’ 8’ and 4’ for more versatility.

The great was expanded by two ranks, the 2’ Super Octave and a 4’ Gedeckt both on new unit chests.

The entire electrical system of the organ was redone. A solid state control system by Classic Organ Works was designed and built based on our specifications to handle all coupler and stop switching, replacing the pneumatic switches in the console. The new system provides a 250 memory level combination action with new general pistons and toe pistons. The system also handles MIDI processing and has a built in sequencer for performance recording and playback.

A new compact and quiet blower was installed in 2012 after the original Spencer blower was severely damaged by water in its location in the bell tower. The old set up had the organ drawing air from out doors through the bell room and caused great tuning instability and problems with dirt. The new blower is installed in an enclosure right next to the Swell side organ case drawing filtered, room tempered air from within.

A new video monitor system was installed and enables views of the sanctuary and main doors from the narthex to better follow movements during weddings, funerals and regular Masses. The monitor is switched between the two cameras by use of a lighted reversible piston to the left of the keyboards. Additionally, a three station remote signaling system was installed using lighted reversible pistons at the console and three remote wall plates in the sacristy vestibule, on the ambo, and a two button station in the narthex. The narthex station utilizes the same wall plates as the other two stations, but has a second alternate button in the jam of the double doors. This button is exclusively for use for funerals when the funeral director is already past the doors when the signal needs to be given but a full wall plate would harm the aesthetics of the church proper. Each wall plate includes a key lock to disable the station button, but will not effect the indicator lamp. That way, even if the station is locked, the console button can still be used to signal the remote station.

1930

GREAT

Open Diapason 8’

Melodia 8’

Dulciana 8’

SWELL

Violin Diapson 8’

Stopped Diapason 8’

Salicional 8’

Harmonic Flute 4’

PEDAL

Bourdon 16’