how high(low) do you go?

[David M. Porritt]

Actually, at that church the keep the air/heat on all the time "for the sake of the organ."

Oh well!

dave

*********** REPLY SEPARATOR  ***********

On 11/29/00 at 10:40 AM Conrad Hoffsommer wrote:

>Don, Dave,
>
>Don, At 08:47 11/29/2000 +0000, you wrote:
>>Unlike pianos organs are affect by the barometric pressure. It is not
>>uncommon for a "great" flute stop to change 30 cents in pitch overnight,
>>atleast where I live.
>
>Right.
>The reeds, as well as the flues, change constantly with changes in 
>temperature and humidity as  both affect the density of the fluid passing 
>through them.  There is a great chart in Audsley's "Art of Organ Building" 
>which shows the pitch of flue pipes as the temperature changes.
>
>>Dave, At 06:47 AM 11/29/00 -0600, you wrote:
>> >I regularly tune the piano in a church here that has a pipe organ.  Organ
>>tuners seem to have a different concept of "tuning".  I've measured several
>>different "A"s from different ranks and found they range from +18.0 to
>>-4.0.  This is not counting "celeste" stops.  This was measured 2 days
>>after the organ "tuners" had finished their work.  I just tuned the piano
>>at 440, and explained that this was the best we could hope for under the
>>circumstances.
>
>You can feel like a one-armed paperhanger when you try to tune different 
>divisions of the organ together.  The organs here at school are not so much 
>a problem since the heat/cooling is on constantly.  I have one church organ 
>job, however, where I insist that the church be at the Sunday morning 
>temperature and the swell shutters open at least three, if not twelve, 
>hours before I tune it.   -BTW, I still have to touch up the reed stops at 
>school every week - they float faster and farther than the flues.
>
>It is a waste of everybody's time and money to be chasing pitch as the 
>temperature changes.  What was the church like when you were there?  Heat 
>blasting because they just cranked it up when you walked in the door?  You 
>may have had difficulty tuning the piano for the same reason.
>
>Tune the piano to 440 and like that olde stopped clock, it will match twice 
>a day.
>
>
>
>
>Conrad Hoffsommer - Music Technician -mailto:hoffsoco@luther.edu
>Luther College, 700 College Drive, Decorah, Iowa 52101-1045
>Voice-(319)-387-1204  //  Fax (319)-387-1076(Dept.office)
>
>Education is the best defense against the media.




David M. Porritt
dporritt@swbell.net
Meadows School of the Arts
Southern Methodist University
Dallas, TX 75275