Voicing the Great division
Blacksburg Presbyterian project · August–September 2026
The last pipes to be cleaned were those of the Fagot, which stood in the Swell and will move to the Great as part of the tonal revision of the instrument. Special attention is always given to the shallots, and I usually sand the faces on a precision ground piece of granite that has abrasive paper glued to the sanding surface. This ensures a perfectly flat shallot surface. Polishing the shallot and the tongue, or reed, makes sure the tone of the reed is smooth and stable. Cleaning the tuning wire, making sure there are no kinks or bends in it, and adjusting the pressure of the wire on the reed will make tuning of the pipe stable.
Reed shallots before cleaning
Reed shallots after they were cleaned
The next phase of the work on the pipework started at the beginning of August with the pipes of the Great Octave 4'. The Great division was originally on a low wind pressure. The lack of volume of the pipes in the church made it very apparent that the pressure needed to be increased. Most of the adjustments to the pipes have to do with that increase — not a drastic change, but enough to make a significant difference.
The lower pipes of the Great Octave rank
Tonal regulation of the GT Octave pipes in progress
GT Dulciane 8' — the final stage of voicing
I have worked my way through the stops of the Great division and have only the Fagot 8' reed pipes left. After that I will tackle the wooden pipes of the GT Bourdon 16', which will be located on a separate chest and also be usable from the Pedal.
Work on the Great Mixture stop in progress
During this month I was finally able to hook up a Teensy microcontroller to my voicing chest, and with the help of my son Christopher I am now able to play MIDI files from my computer on the voiced pipes. Here is the same piece, Vom Himmel Hoch, on two different stops.
Vom Himmel Hoch on the GT Dulciane 8'
Vom Himmel Hoch on the GT Principal 8'
This week Tania and I were able to pick up the restored main organ chests and the three offset chests for the Pedal division from Columbia Organ Works, and they arrived safely at my workshop. Once the pipework is prepared tonally, I will be able to start fitting the pipes to the toeboards and make the necessary changes to the rackboards and pipe stays.
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