Greetings OHS and AGO Visitors:
The specifications of Austin Opus 271
are accurately called out in the current OHS bulletin #78 and previously
in the Autumn, 2001 issue of Stopt Diapason #73. What is not commonly
known is what it has taken to make the organ playable to the extent
we hear today.
In early August, 2000 I was asked by
real estate agent Arnie Blitenthal if I would visit the church with
him to advise the new owners, Fraternite Notre Dame, what if anything
could be done to restore the organ to playability.
Arnie was involved in the sale of the property to Fraternite and knew
I had a lifelong involvement with pipe and electronic organs.
He explained on our trip that day how
the building had gone at least one Chicago Winter without heat and
had serious infrastructure problems to deal with. Flooded basement,
broken pipes, leaking roof, falling plaster, antiquated electric system,
resident Pigeon colony and the list did not end there.
I expected the worse for the organ before arriving. I wasn't disappointed,
the console was covered in crumbled plaster ceiling, Pigeon excrement
and most of the stop tabs were missing.
When started it sounded a great chorus
of ciphers but I noted they were largely due to the keys being held
on by crumbled plaster and stop key debris. After an hour of cleaning
enough to get the keys to an off condition it was apparent the old
Austin still held some promise.
Subsequent visits to completely open,
vacuum the console and examine the key action resulted in being able
to play it for the first time in years and appreciate just what a
treasure it is tonally. Top
A major fault to deal with immediately
was the Korean war plastic used in the stop tabs and piston buttons.
They had deteriorated such that just touching the tabs caused them
to crumble not unlike broken glass. Every pigmented plastic part had
to be replaced, the Black non-speaking coupler tabs survived quite
well.
This where my involvement started to get serious, the 27 stop tabs
had to be obtained from Austin because of the proprietary combination
system link configuration. They cost $15 ea. Fortunately I located
adequate substitutes for the 40 missing piston buttons from an early
"Chord Organ" donor. They would have cost another $400.
The new tabs were installed Nov 15, 2000. For the first time we could
select voices and play the organ again.
The lack of a heating system at this
time was causing severe tuning problems but a donor provided boiler
repairs by December and after 2 weeks to stabilize the organ it was
tuned for Christmas use.
On the initial tuning job it discovered
broken cording had allowed 8 or 9 Chimes to fall into the Choir division
pipe work, several dozen pipes were destroyed by direct hits.
Priorities continue to change; the Chimes
and broken pipes shrank in significance when the blower motor seized
a bearing at Easter 2001. The Brothers and I disassembled it (It weighs
A LOT!) into small enough pieces to load into my van to take home
for repair. A week later I had it running in my garage again.
Getting it back into the basement was
a sight with 2 Nuns holding ropes, 2 Brothers and myself sliding it
down the stairs.
It has many faults of advanced age and
I posted pleas for help on "Organ Trader.COM". I received
overwhelming response with offers from many helpful enthusiasts and
we were blessed with the donation of a Spencer with "Modern 1954"
motor from SS Peter & Paul Church in Naperville, IL.
Again Brother Maurice, Fr Benedict &
myself spent a few very warm days in August tearing it down to move.
With directions in French from "Mapquest.COM" Sister Isabelle
drove the truck to pick it up and bring it "Home".
It is all reassembled downstairs, awaiting completion of a single
to 3-phase converter and starter relay system. Our long-term wind
supply is insured.
A number of friendships evolved from
this effort and one of the most significant is Mary Gifford, she kindly
accepted the request to play the organ for ABC-TV when reporter Harry
Porterfield did a "Someone You Should Know" feature about
restoring the organ that was broadcast April 3, 2001. Top
