Construction Photos
![](pipes.jpg)
Pipes: the first things to be made. These are the bodies and feet of the Choir Gedeckt 8'.
![](pipes2.jpg)
![](pipeshop.jpg)
![](pipeshop1.jpg)
John planes languid stock to the proper thickness.
![](pipemaking.jpg)
Beveling the edge of a pipe body, which defines the width of the solder seam.
![](pipes1.jpg)
![](gemshorn.jpg)
Choir Gemshorn 4'.
![](gemshorn2.jpg)
Choir Gemshorn 4'.
![](openflute.jpg)
The Choir has a Flute stop of 4' pitch that is made of American black cherry.
![](grid1.jpg)
Assembling the grids for slider windchests.
![](grid.jpg)
![](windchest.jpg)
![](kent.jpg)
![](toeboards.jpg)
Some of the many toeboards for the organ. Each one of the dark circles is a hole on which a pipe stands.
![](toeboards1.jpg)
![](toeboards2.jpg)
![](pallets.jpg)
Stacks of pallets, which are the valves that admit air into the windchest channels.
![](concussions.jpg)
Concussion schwimmers, which steady the wind. These are disabled when the tremulants are used.
![](ribs.jpg)
Stacks of bellows ribs.
![](curtainvalve1.jpg)
Bob makes components for the curtain valves inside the bellows.
![](skiving.jpg)
Skiving the rib leather.
![](reservoir2.jpg)
Some of the rib leather has been applied.
![](reservoir1.jpg)
Now with leather gussets.
![](reservoirs.jpg)
The static reservoir, lined with fiberglass panels for sound absorption, is on top.
![](rollerboards.jpg)
One of the rollerboards, here shown upside down.
![](swellchests.jpg)
The three Swell slider windchests, placed upside-down on rolling carts, are lined up so that the rollerboard can be fitted to them.
![](swellrollerboard.jpg)
![](jimsliders.jpg)
Jim fits sliders to one of the Swell windchests.
![](jimsliders2.jpg)
![](chests4.jpg)
Some of the larger offset pipes are played by pneumatic windchests. These are the windchest ‘shells’.
![](pouchboard.jpg)
Bob bores channels in a pouchboard.
![](chest3.jpg)
Installing springs in a pouchboard.
![](tpchest1.jpg)
Completed pneumatic offset windchests.
![](chest2.jpg)
A muffler to quiet the operation of the primary valves.
![](swellshades.jpg)
Several stacks of swell shades await cutting to their final length.
![](swelltrace.jpg)
Randall sets up the center Swell shade front.
![](pipeshades.jpg)
Full-size drawings of the pipe shades.
![](shades1.jpg)
Laser-cut fretwork pipeshades.
![](shades2.jpg)
![](fretwork.jpg)
![](shades3.jpg)
MC = Merton College;
1264 - 2014.
![](panels1.jpg)
Pat selects boards of quartersawn oak to be glued into panels.
![](panels3.jpg)
The profile of the raised panels is cut on a spindle shaper.
![](panels2.jpg)
![](back2.jpg)
Randy fits a piece of wood for one of the case back frames that will be cut with a curving profile.
![](back1.jpg)
The same frame, with completed curved element.
![](frame.jpg)
A detail of the moulding on one of the case frame openings.
![](fittingdoors.jpg)
Randall fits doors on the back of the case, with completed case frames as a backdrop.
![](spires.jpg)
Completed spires for the top of the façade posts.
![](../setup/turnings.jpg)
Pendants that will be fitted to the lower end of the façade posts.
![](cresting.jpg)
![](cresting2.jpg)
![](mouldingclamp.jpg)
Mouldings being glued up.
![](dentils.jpg)
More mouldings, these with dentils.
![](dentils2.jpg)
![](trefoils.jpg)
Pat assembles some moulding that have carved trefoils.
![](../setup/bifoils.jpg)
A section of carved bifoils.
![](brackets2.jpg)
Brackets under the cantilevered part of the case.
![](laminating.jpg)
Laminating curved ribs for the brackets.
![](brackets1.jpg)
The brackets being assembled.
![](bracket.jpg)
![](birdhouse.jpg)
The ‘birdhouse’ at the top of the center tower.
![](star.jpg)
The wooden background for the Zimbelstern, which is about 18" in diameter. It will be painted and gilded. A star of tin will rotate in front of it.
![](randypedalboard.jpg)
Fitting woodwork around the pedalboard.
![](stopjambs.jpg)
The stop jambs.
![](../setup/colorsamples.jpg)
A color sample board. In common with Gothic architecture, the organ case details will have accents of 22K gold and fairly simple and bright colors.
![](colorsamples2.jpg)
Some color samples depicting different decorative schemes.
![](colorsamples.jpg)
![](gilding.jpg)
Lynn Dobson cleans excess gold leaf from one of the gilded pieces.
![](console.jpg)
The console chassis, which contains the mechanism for the couplers.
![](console2.jpg)
![](floatingbeams.jpg)
Wooden squares are mounted on a common beam, a floating beam, which can move to compensate for seasonal variations in humidity.
![](floatingbeam2.jpg)
![](electrical.jpg)
The organ has electric stop action and a combination action. Most of the equipment for those systems is mounted on a single board installed within the base of the organ adjacent to the console.
![](../../../resources/divider.gif)