Sharp organ

[David Ilvedson]

I'll take your word for it...

David I.

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

On 5/14/01 at 3:51 PM Glenn Grafton wrote:

>Glenn Grafton wrote:
>
>>  >Here's the situation we've encountered with pipe organs. Often times
>>>the church has a maintenance contract on the p.o. which includes
>>>tuning. Unlike a piano the pipe organ guys often times do not go
>>  >through and tune the whole organ.
>>snip
>>  >I explained the tuning issue to the music director. He contacted the
>>>pipe organ people to ask why the organ wasn't really tuned. The
>>>answer was that the rates would be much higher if they had to tune
>>>the whole organ to pitch.
>>>
>>>The church now has a new Allen Digital Computer organ
>>>(http://www.allenorgan.com/) and a Yamaha C6 6'11" grand. The only
>>  >tuning needed is on the grand : )
>
>David I. wrote:
>
>>Well, they should get rid of the grand also and then no tuning will be
>>needed.  I really hope the church didn't sell its pipe organ to replace
it
>>with a digital organ...if so, it is very short-sighted and sounds like
the
>>salesman struck again.
>>
>
>Yes the church got rid of the pipe organ and replaced it with a new 
>Allen digital organ. The organist is thrilled with the sound (and the 
>tuning problem is not an issue.)
>
>You must remember that just because an organ is a pipe organ does not 
>automatically relegate it to being a wonderful work of art. There are 
>many, many dog pipe organs that are in need of major rebuilding at a 
>cost beyond many churches budgets will allow. Yes there are also some 
>very fine pipe organs that should not be replaced but maintained and 
>rebuilt.
>
>If you have not heard an Allen organ in recent years you should 
>really take the time to listen to one. We're long passed the issue of 
>whether or not they sound like pipes. We've done a number of 
>additions to pipe organs using a new Allen console and digital tone 
>generation, yet keeping the pipes. On a stop by stop comparison the 
>tone IS indistinguishable.
>
>The real issue at heart often times is an emotional issue with the 
>organist, not a tonal issue. When the evaluation is tone, playability 
>and stewardship, the Allen is a wise decision...oh but you may be 
>thinking pipe organs last for hundreds of years but a digital organ 
>will only last for 20 or 30 years. Dig a little deeper and you'll 
>find that pipe organs need major rebuilding at some substantial 
>dollars, often times in the 6 figures. On the other hand we have 
>older Allens that we service that are 50 years old and working fine.
>
>One final note; why is that when a church buys a digital organ for 
>$15-60,000 they are "sold" it by a salesman, but if they spend 
>$180,000 to rebuild a pipe organ they magically are led through the 
>buying decision process with no sales tactics on the part of the pipe 
>organ person.
>-- 
>Glenn Grafton
>Grafton Piano & Organ Co.
>1081 County Line Rd.
>Souderton PA 18964
>http://www.graftonpiano.com/
>glenn@graftonpiano.com
>800-272-5980
>
>The box said "Requires Windows 95, or better." So I bought a Macintosh.