Some Audio by Jerri

Well we coaxed the nice Jerri Bearce and her husband over last night to play the Casavant. She graciously played some cool pieces and let me record with my Canon ZR 200 camcorder. She played a neat loud soft piece, and then another. Then she play a Bach fugue. Then she played a triplet thing, which sounds completely different on the Casavant than when she played it on the Moller Artiste. Which do you like better?
Then she played a hard thing from her past, getting through the first part OK, and trying the ending a little slower. Then she sight-read a last verse for "Morning has Broken" that I had, and concluded with Christ lag in Todesbanden for me. This sounded rather differently on the Moller.
She also tried her luck on the old 2M/P eleven rank Mason and Hamlin reed organ that I have with a chorale and a barn-burner.
Very nice and talented friends we have, right?

Light is working

The organ is pretty complete. I got the light built and balanced the stick with a big book on the back.

Brasso?

Brasso is a busto on the metal pipes, made a music rack light like in the picture of the Kuhn organ in Switzerland.

Tale of Two Organs, TOLD

Put pipes back on the back, so I could play it again. Fixed casavant plastic label. Attach to keydesk. Get email from OHS people, my organs are in the database.

http://organsociety.bsc.edu/SingleOrganDetails.php?OrganID=27084

http://organsociety.bsc.edu/SingleOrganDetails.php?OrganID=27085

Try Brasso on the tin pipes. OK. Glass Wax is no longer made. Can’t find Window Wax reformulation locally. Oh well.

I didn't say it would be easy. . .

Tune again, try tuning mixture, not much luck.

No Tune, No Fun

Remove pipes for David C to tune, he can’t come. Bad Back. Submit to the OHS organ database the Moller and the new location of the Casavant.

Book search

Find out same organ built by Kuhn in Switzerland. Found the organ that mine is based on is for sale again, having been built in 1970. Also found my organ is listed in a book: The Tracker Organ Revival in America. I find the book on AEBBooks and buy it. Hoping page 119 has the info.

David sez they use Glass Wax to polish pipes, but I find it is permanently out of production, was flammable. eBay is the only source for the leftovers. New formulation is called Window Wax, not as good I surmise. I’ll try Brasso.

David also tells about how long and how much it will cost:

There's a one-manual Casavant in Park City that used to be in a chapel near BYU, prior to that on a roller platform in the DeJong Concert Hall, prior to that in the Assembly Hall. It was sort of a chore to tune, as small pipes tended to draw on each other. The first time I went way over my estimate (but there were some unexpected problems, too) and the last time I think I did it in 3-4 hours. Bigelow's standard rate is $55/hour. If that seems prohibitive call and we can discuss other options.

I'm published

David Chamberlain writes that Mike is Out of town, but David can come on Thu or Fri.

This is David writing. Mike is away all week, so I would be the one to tune your organ. I think I could arrange sometime Thursday -- Friday might be better. Would you hold keys or would I need to bring someone? Are the pipes slide-tuned or cone-tuned?

I reply OK.

Jim, my brother in the Tab choir, calls from Gibson Guitar factory and tells Tab organists the story, and they wonder how such a thing can happen in Utah county.

I found my Casavant organ in the OHS Pipe Organ database. This tells me that the organ is built by Casavant and is designed by Th. Kuhn. It also tells that it is referenced in a book. I will have to look it all up.

Where O Where has my pipe gone?

So that I can help the tuner, I made a better map of where the pipes all go.

I Just Might

Bigelow delighted to come tune it.

Hello Richard:

Great to hear we have another tracker organ in Utah! Of course, we shall be delighted to help you tune the organ. Can you hold keys? If not, we can bring our own assistant.

David and I are in Missouri maintaining our Opus 24 - III/40 stops at Conception Abbey. We return home late tomorrow, (Saturday). We'll contact you next week to set up and appointment.

Sincerely,

Bigelow & Co.

Mike

End of next week. Make shade for pedal light. Cut stain and varnish.

Key will be $30 from Bilco. Ouch!

Tune My Organ, Please!

Tune more. Fix cipher. Email Bigelow Organ to come tune it. Buy and wire pedal light.

Hello,

This is a follow-up to a call I made Thursday inquiring about who could tune my Casavant 1M/P tracker which I just set up in my organ room (see photo). I just got back from tearing it down and packing it up (from a balcony!!) in Whitehall, NY, trucking it across I-80, unloading and setting it up in my Orem home. I was told that either Mike or David might be available to tune it for me sometime next week. If not, I hope you could refer me to someone in the valley who could do it.

The Casavant is from 1972, and has 8 ranks, 6 stops: Gedackt 8', Prinzipal 4', Rohrflote 4', Gemshorn 2', Mixture III and a subbass 16'. There is also a slight problem with a cipher when the pedal coupler is engaged. (This is probably due to me getting distracted as I hooked up the rear pallet pull-down wires.) I will remove the subbass pipes from the rear of the cabinet ahead of time to allow access to the pipes.

I am Richard Adams, 1014 E 850 N in Orem. You can call me 801 2261357 or reply to this email. David has been in my home, playing the old 2M/P Mason & Hamlin reed organ, just like one he relished in former years.

Thanks for any help you can offer.

Richard Adams

Pipes and Play

Install pipes, tune a little, play.

Part 3

Call Casavant, fix canister, hook up wind.

Part 2

Allen helps put chest on base/towers, little black canister mystery. Can’t hook it up

Reconstruction Begins

Mark with tape, set base and put together top 3 cabinets and Allen helps set them atop base. Install blower, subbass hooks.

Unload and Return

Allen helps unload into the organ room. Take down the fence and open the double doors and it is no problem. We count and re-stack the rental blankets and find I have 10 dz, not just 8. We fill the tank of Mr. Penske one last time and return the truck.

Home again, home again, Jiggity Jig!

Getting away early about 7:00 AM, we head west into the heart of Nebraska, looking for breakfast. We get breakfast in Kearney, NE, and a bagel. Mmmmmm good. Breakfast is the only thing edible at McD’s. We get across Nebraska in style, stopping occasionally to stretch and walk the ankles down to size. Ogallala was nice. We press on, 400 miles of Nebraska, until we hit Wyoming, mile post 401. Aaaaaaghhhh!

After Cheyenne, Laramie, and Rock Springs, we are getting closer to Little America, WY, and can’t wait. 50¢ ice cream cones. So we stop, get a table in coffee shop, order a chicken quesadilla, and a bowl of clam chowder. I eat all the crackers, and get the ice cream cones. I tell the waitress that we go to the small Little America in SLC and get the rolls, she take the hint I dropped and brings us 3 with butter and jelly. Mmmmmm. Left her a big tip. Forgot the FM transmitter on the table, so I go back and they have given it to the front desk, where the two girls are trying to figure out what it is. I tell them and we get back on the road again.

Evanston means we are almost there, drive down through Heber and Provo Canyon, to home. Home by 9:30PM, another 15 ½ hours, 892 miles, 50¢ ice cream cones, 3 states, home again, ankles swollen.

Five States in a Day

I get up early to gas up across the street with two pairs of socks and my running shoes instead of the Crocs. We then take off, in the middle of a construction constriction on the street I just crossed for gas. Luckily we were at the front end of the ½ mile long backup, and get going in only 10 minutes out of the Motel 6 parking lot and the adjacent light. Woo Hoo.

Back onto the toll-way and on to Toledo. We see many national headquarters. I can’t remember which were where, but we saw a Jeep factory, Brasswinds and Woodwinds, Tire Rack, Cabelas, and Michaels headquarters. Really neat.

BTW, tool roads do not mean “smooth pavement”, “no construction” and “low traffic” roads. We ran into all of the above. Eventually we moved into Indiana, after paying a toll. We skimmed across the north end of Indiana, by South Bend and Gary, and then ran into the south of Chicago traffic jam and construction. What a mess. I had this strong urge to turn right to Chicago to spawn. But I overcame.

We trudge on through the state of my birth until we reach the twin cities: Moline, Il, and Davenport, IA. We keep on truckin’ through Iowa, until a huge thunderstorm appears in the west. Wind, rain, hail all try to get us off the road. We slow to 40 and put on flashers. We do survive; the big part of the storm is to the South. We limp into Des Moines, soaked, looking for a real meal: Pizza Hut. We see one pass an exit, take the next exit and drive past Adventureland Park. Just across the street from Pizza Hut. It is there that I found the “Organ Trail” sign half ripped from the side of the truck. I remove the remains and stash it. We order the meal for two, and Patty gets her “salad”. Woo Hoo! Wen get back on the road and motor in the dark through Omaha, NE, right past the College World Series, in progress right by I-80. Cool. We start calling Super 8 and Motel 6 throughout Nebraska and decide on the Lincoln Airport “Resort” 6. It is luckily located right next to the erotic lingerie store. Double cool. We pay and sleep, for an early start tomorrow. Ankles not as swollen, but noticeable.

15 ½ hours, 910 miles and 5 states today. Good. About 250 more of the 500 songs. They are getting worse by the mile. Randomizing doesn’t help any either.

Utah or Bust

Get up and shower again, nice room, pine motif, and OK bed. Paul is great. We walk out and Paul is there, having just gotten back from the lift return. We head for the attached Pine Grove Café at the front of the motel rooms, after checking out the interim The Chocolate Moose confectionary (good it is not open). Order omelets, and everyone is talking, and the place is packed and the lady says: You have a new organ, I hear. I reply: It is great and so is the butter drenched homemade toast.

We say good bye, brush, I put on the truck Amy’s “Organ Trail” sign, and head the wrong way into Vermont, wanting to say we have been to Vermont. We drive 10 miles in and turn around, getting $2.79 gas on the way back. Cash. Ouch.

Best discovery of the day: the Penske cigarette light is hidden behind the litter bag hanging from it! Start the music: Bohemian Rhapsody here I come.

We drive past the Pine Grove Motel again, to return the room key, and drive off. We stop at Ballston Spa, NY, for some Dunkin Donuts Boston Cremes and Pepsi’s. Mmmmm. We then trek onward, calling Lynn at the organ company as we drive by, asking directions through Albany (Just get on the toll way and take the I88 exit, no charge.) to get to I-88 down through New York to Pennsylvania. We drive down to Binghamton, NY, and take I-81 to Scranton, PA, and then on to I-80 (at last). We drive west through the Appalachians and straight to the Ohio border.

We are sad that the southern route takes us away from Kirtland, so we need to take another trip. We get on the turnpike, with toll in hand and watch as the sun goes down. After Youngstown we continue to just South of Cleveland, and get off for a motel 6 in Macedonia. I notice my feet and ankles have swollen from inactivity – a plague of age. I back up the truck to the bushes since there is no lock on the back door. 12 ½ hours, about 650 miles. About 200 songs. Whew.

The Longest Day

We eat continental, get out some cash, walk to Penske, get the truck after about an hour of waiting for who knows what, climb in and NO CIGARETTE LIGHTER. AAAAAAAAGHHHHH! Ok not that big of deal, but I could see gray skies across the country gathering. We drive back to the motel and load the bags and take off, following the first of our may Google Directions Maps. We drive right to Carey Organ in Troy, they are waiting, sort of, in a very old part of town.

They tell me to drive around the corner to a fenced parking lot behind a HUGE old building, round with a spherical top. I now know that is was a coal gas storage building to hold gas to light the street lights. Now it is a dirt floored storage facility, with boats, boat trailers and lots of organ parts.

They tell me to back the truck into an opening about 5 inches total larger than the truck mirrors. Yikes!!!! So I do as I am told and almost make it. OK I made it, then I maneuver the trucks back door to the doors on the Carey Organ Co. trailer. We get out the ramps and transfer an old Allen organ console, electric, along with two speakers into my truck. Hit my head on the smaller roofed trailer. Ouch! Then I drive out and over to Carey’s back door. Then we sit around for awhile while the experts inside finish soldering up the other two speakers.

Meanwhile we get a tour of the place, Paul Carey takes upstairs to hear his Vocalion, which is a reed organ that works on pressure, not vacuum. Really neat sounding, only 100 known to exist, and 19^th Century beautiful. See the pics. He and his friend are the world experts and president and vice president of the Vocalion fan club. The upstairs of the Organ company look like a Victorian mansion, with the table set with fine antique china and all. What fun,

So then we load up some of the already completed stop action for the replacement pipe organ to go into “Our Lady of Hope” in September, along with the two speakers and 7 pipe boxes for my organ’s pipes. By now it is 11:30 AM or so, and Ralph and his friends in Whitehall (we find out) have been waiting at the church since 9:00 AM (no cell phone coverage and we didn’t have a contact number of a land line there).

So we start off our journey of Hope. Lynn Swank is our expert mercenary, who leads us out of Troy and into the freeway system of up-state New York. Finally we exit at Glens Falls, and Lynn stops us for lunch at a local eatery, with sweet potato fries. We order some, but get regular (and passable) fries instead. We leave and finally pull in front of Our Lady about 1:15PM. Ooooops. We are greeted by Paul and everyone, and Lynn drive the truck to the back of parking lots ramp. We go up to the balcony and play and drool over the organ. Very nice and a nice setting. I have NO stained glass donated by the Whitehall Firefighters. Rats.

The lift still has to go back by 5:00PM, so we get to work, unloading for 90 minutes, the Allen temporary organ, and lifting it using the lift, onto the balcony.

Finally about 2:30 we tear into the Casavant. The time has come. Removal and packing all the pipes take 3 hours and 4 boxes. We lower them safely out of the way. Then remove the center cabinet. Then realize that the action and chest must come out for the twin towers to fall. So Lynn starts un-attaching all the stuff under and on the sides of the chest. A little black canister inside the base leaks oil all over Lynn. A Mystery! Finally the main chest comes out, heavy but not too. As it lifts, the twin towers fall outward. I catch the right one, 2 others the left. Whew.

With the base left standing, we take out the blower, and inspect. Meidinger, pretty good shape, well oiled, as the wooden base is soaked with old blower bearing oil, and there is a HUGE oil can. Must be necessary.

Francis, the church man in charge, who already got his check, comes out with a drawing, from Casavant, of the organ, and the Casavant nameplate, warped and un-glueable, fallen off years ago, but saved.

Now all the big pipes are lowered, the chest and towers and base and blower and keyboard, and panels, and pipe boxes, and a huge rainstorm has arisen, soaking the driver’s side truck seat where Lynn had left the window open hours before. Mmmmm, refreshing. The helpers have loaded the truck using only a small fraction al all the blankets I had rented, there is only room left enough for the rest of the blankets. Ha. Its 9:30PM, Lynn has been in periodic contact with his wife, he has to buy discount air tickets today, before the rates go up tomorrow. He does.

As we depart, Lynn heads back down toward Troy, while we follow Paul to the free motel, in the dark, on back roads to Glenville, with the lift in the back of his pickup truck, which needs to be back to the rental place by 7:30 the next morning (it is rented by someone else for tomorrow!). I hand out little gifts (CDs) to all, though not enough for all the sweat and effort throughout the day.

We follow Paul to Glenville. The Pine Grove Motel. A few things are rattling in back, which I can wait ‘til morning to re-pad. Finally we turn in and say goodnight and turn in. A shower helps but it is hard to dry off in NY in June. No dinner, but chewy granola bars will do.

Whew.

Go East, Young Man (and Patty)

Here was the plan, Fly to Albany, get there before 7PM, have Dan’s Delivery pick us up and get us to the Cocca’s Motel on Wolf Road, sleep, wake up Tuesday and walk to Penske, rent the truck, pick up bags and drive to Carey Organ in Troy, load truck, drive with organ guy to Whitehall, unload truck, dismantle Casavant, lower from balcony, load truck, drive to Glenville and sleep. Then get home eventually, sight-see along the way.

That was the Plan. Here’s what actually happened…

Allen slept over at our house to drive us to the airport. We got up, got loaded, woke Al, and left about 4:50 AM, got to the airport about 5:35 and checked in, and sat at the gate. It was a very crowded connecting flight to Atlanta, then a small commuter Canadair to Albany. Well, we got off on time, got to Atlanta and rolled right to the gate. Usually there is a lot of taxiing around and waiting, but this went right there. So we ate at Popeye’s and I got Patty a Wendy’s Frosty before I went riding the tram for an hour. Our flight for Albany took off an hour late. So we get into Albany, and Dan’s is waiting for us. He loads us up and we got to Cocca’s Motel. I sign in,

NO CREDIT CARD. MISSING.

OK, so I’d already lost a couple of cards over the last few years, but this was rather more than an inconvenience. Last used it for the Frosty’s, so I call the company. Now that I have told them it is lost, I am liable for any loss from misuse. How will I rent the truck? Eventually we get a plan. 7-day hold on the card, get to Penske and call them again to take off the hold, rent the truck and then call again and re-place hold. It may just work. But we’ll still need $700 cash for the gas. Hmmmmm.

So just for fun, that night Patty and I decide to walk to Penske just to check out where it is, still daylight so we take off. That 0.6 miles turns out to be about 1.2 miles due to a Target between us. We get there and walk back another way, by a Staples. Better. The walk button is broken one direction, so we have to take our lives in our hands and RUN!

Once back we go walking into the adjacent Chinese and Thai restaurants, too expensive. We settle on the IHOP and get the senior dinners. I tell Patty: I don’t think of qualifying for the senior discount as a discouragement, I prefer to think of it as a VICTORY!!! The lady even let’s me substitute French toast for the choice of toast. Mmmmmm.

Long day, plan falling apart. Tomorrow may be better.

T-1 day

Wandered through church in a daze, wondering if we could make it to the airport by 5:30 AM, would that be enough time, will the planes be on time, what it, what if????

Got all packed and ready to rock and roll. Set two alarms, one from Danny’s room which recently went off all by itself during a down pour with rain blowing in on it through the unintentionally open window.

Man Up

Mad scramble to get all the stuff packed, 6 of my good moving pads in a large suitcase, tools and packing stuff and food in another. Weigh them for just less than 50 lbs, and re-distribute to make it work. I love a plan. Made a list for Sam to do while he is home. Got my ToDo list completed and we were ready to go. Got some cash for the trip. One day more.

I confided to Sam that I had this really uneasy feeling, not really nervous, but unsure or worried. He said Man Up and so I did.

To add to my nervousness, the Bradford’s kindly asked us out for hotdogs at the Hot Dog King. We got there and it had been closed for 2 hours, but the door was open and we walked in. Soon the owner came running from somewhere and we said we’d leave, but he insisted that he fix us something. So we ate and I told them this story so far, Janet suggested I write it all up, so I am.

Can you please...???

Paul Carey called and said just so there were no surprises, they had a replacement organ etc. etc. I said that was fine. Funny how NY people don’t assume anyone is nice. We looked at one of the Penske vans and found that they only had an AM/FM. So I went on a new quest: Find an MF transmitter that plugs into the cigarette lighter. Found one at Wal-Mart the also allows plugging in a USB flash drive. It playes mp3 and wma files it finds in the root directory. So now I can cruise across Nebraska listening to the top 500 Rock n Roll songs of All Time. Cool. Then I can plug in the computer and play Amadeus movie over the truck speakers across Wyoming. Real cool.

Just for luck, I went in and got the bank check for the organ, and printed up the Bill of Sale on some nice buff linen paper left over from old Utah Baroque Ensemble programs.

In the BALCONY????

Sent a message to Ralph:

Hi Ralph,

Just some information for you. Everything is almost set for the big move on Tuesday on my end. I have rearranged my organ room and it is ready to receive the new and best member. It will get plenty of use, and no abuse.

I have attached a bill of sale that I would like to bring and have someone sign Tuesday, just for my jollies. If it sounds too snooty or highfalutin, I can change it or dump it altogether. I'll print off 2 copies and we can each have one.

I am a little worried about hauling stuff down the stairs, repeatedly. So I have tried some contacts to see if there are some young men around the Whitehall-Glens Falls area, who I will ask if they want some summer work for a few hours Tuesday after noon. Those plans may not happen, in which case I'll make do.

See you all soon,

Richard Adams

A reply came:

Hi Richard, The bill of sale is perfect; a mafia lawyer couldn't do better. Good news, you can save your muscles. Carey organ is renting a material lift for you to use. I used it to lower the monster organ from the balcony of the other church. It is somewhat heavy, quite stable, has 2' forks and cranks up to 35' we can use it to raise the pipe chests up and lower your new baby down. Saves a lot of stair walking. I need to pick it up and bring it back before closing. A close friend and organist wants to help us move the Casavant- he owes me big time! I don't think we will need other hands. I haven't heard if Carey is sending along some of his folks to help or not. Either way it will get done and it will be FUN!

There is a small catch, I will tip you off ahead of time, Paul Carey wants you to load onto your truck some pipe chests and a few small items from the monster organ and take them to Whitehall and we can put them up into the balcony, plus an electronic Allen organ for the church to use until their pipe organ is rebuilt- that beast is staying down on ground level!!. It will save me another trip to Troy NY. I'll trade off a motel nights stay for the delivery inconvenience. . . . We need to hear this sweetie play some beautiful music for a while before we "pull the plug" it will put us all in a good mood!

Later good friend, Ralph Krueger

I canceled the Bishop’s plea for people. It was funny that Ralph was preparing me for the fact that I was going to be asked to take some other stuff up for them.

Options and decisions

Same old, just thought about taking Mike in addition to Patty, to help move it, Ralph mentioned it was in the balcony. Aaaaaaaaaghhhhh! So many trips down the stairs, and up. There were no cheapo round trips for Mike, and I could for the same money hire another Carey guy. Sorry Mike. I started to have my Bishop call the Glens Falls NY Bishop for the names of some young men who wanted to earn $10/hr walking up and down stairs next Tuesday in Whitehall.

I called Carey organ to solidify the plans, and talked to Lynn Swank, a long time worker for Carey Organ. He mentioned that if they could use my rental truck to haul the replacement organ and speakers and some chests of the new organ to be installed in September, then I could have the pipe boxes for free.

I also ask my boys if they want to buy the SHO (Al) and the SE-R (Mike). They agree, and we try to take the money out of their stock accounts. It may actually work! The money won’t get here until we are in New York, but that is OK.

Powered by Microsoft (stock)

I started selling various stocks to get the cash for the cashiers check I needed by Saturday. I investigated the routes and the mileage and googled the maps I needed. I started to worry that I needed more help. A pit was growing in my stomach. Hmmmm.

I Love it When a Plan Comes Together...

Called Casavant and asked about the organ, opus 3144. They looked it up and said it was a standard organ they sold to small chapels and practice rooms, just populate with pipes. 54 note keyboard, 30 note pedal. It was voiced at the factory and just installed in Our Lady of Hope in 1972. What an appropriate name. Same year as the Datsun 240Z. Woo Hoo!

Called Carey and they sort of knew of the organ. They were already working on the replacement organ. Was not too loud, not loud enough for that church when full of people. It would take 2 of their men an 8-hour day at $65 per hour. So there goes another $1000. They had some pipe boxes I could get. Yes, they could help me next week.

So I wrote to Ralph:

Hey,

I will buy the organ. Tell the church people. I called Casavant and Carey Organ and got all the answers I needed. Carey Organ indicated that they thought the organ was hardly ever used. I talked to Paul (Carey). He told me it would take a couple of their people and us about a (8-hour) day to pack it up. Its gonna cost me about $3000 bucks for truck rental, gas, airlines, and packing help. Whew.

Which day could we have access to the church, next Wednesday or Thursday is when I could do it. That's June 20 or June 21. I need to know to get flights arranged and truck rental dates.

As for payment. Do I pay you? I can PayPal $5000 today if you want. Then next Monday or so I can transfer the balance, or bring a bank check if you prefer. Call me 801 2261357

Be seeing you soon,

Richard Adams

I got no response all day long, so I called him, and late that night my fate was sealed. He hesitated: You want to buy the organ? Which person are you? I’m Richard in Utah. Oh good, there were quite a few people, but they never responded to my emails, and you are at the top of the list. I was worried that you weren’t Richard and I didn’t want to say yes to two people.

So I got us two one ways to Albany NY for Monday, June 18. To arrive before 7 PM when the airport shuttle to the hotel I had reserved stopped picking up at the airport, to the motel that was just 0.6 miles from the Penske truck rental location. Oh, Penske called from my website inquiry of reserving a truck which I never finished the day before. They gave me the 10% web discount and said if I joined AAA I get another 12%. So I said yes (I could still cancel up to the 17^th). Pick it up Monday June 19 at 8:00 AM in Albany (1/2 mile from the motel). That way we can walk to the truck place, and return to the motel for our bags. I love it when a plan comes together.

So by the end of the day, I had an organ, a flight for me and Patty, a motel and a truck. Oh, and 8 dozen blankets. More about these later.

Auction Ending Soon

C-day. I was figuring I could get $4000 to $5000 out of the Moller Artiste, if I sold it. I could get $500 for one of the reed organs. Maybe $750 for the big Mason and Hamlin. And that would make room for this one. I read a lot in piporg-l list about some really lousy sounding Casavants built in the early 70’s. There was also a problem with the pipe material deteriorating and having collapsing languids. Nothing worse than when your languids sag, am I right Sisters?

So the auction went down to the wire and none of the 1200 auction visitors bit. Good. Tomorrow shall be my dancing day. I will grill Casavant and Carey.

Casavant: Still waiting

I researched cost of moving vans, one way. Airline fares. Motels. Everything. Trying to estimate the overall cost. I looked all over the Organ Clearing house, for similar organs and their prices. Any good-sized residence organ was either sold, old, or over $50000. Whew. I eyed the auction occasionally. No action. Good. Good night.

Answers and Questions

I wrote another email to Ralph:

Ralph,

Hello again. A few more easier questions:

Is this the original installation from 1972?

How large is the room it currently plays in?

What is the name, contact info for the organ company? If I get this I would hire them to build the pipe boxes and I would fly out to help them disassemble and pack it.

What airport do you fly into/out of in Whitehall?

How soon could I come to take it away?

Thanks again

Richard Adams

Then, when no response came, I wrote again….

Another question:

If I do bid and win this, I can only pay $5000 right after auction. It will take me a few days (perhaps a week) to liquidate enough assets to pay the balance. I would come to pack up and haul the organ away within 2 to 3 weeks from end of auction. Is that all OK? I need to know before I bid, so that I don't get bad feed back as a slow payer.....

Thanks for your consideration (Looks like flying into Albany NY is the closest airport)

Richard Adams

Then I found that the auction was on the church organ trader site, too, because late Friday night Ralph got back to me, which he wrote in part...

Hi Richard,

Got some info and suggestions for you. It is the original installation in this church. It was purchased in 1972 by this church, installed by Casavant, tuned by Carey organ co., no maintenance was needed as it plays as good as the day it was born. The little sweetie is not that old! The Lady of Hope is a catholic church with high arched ceiling about 35' high, the building is estimated at 60' wide, 100-120' in length, that's a guess. I would give Casavant Organ Co. a telephone call, get someone who speaks good English- they have them there, ask for pipe info, specs, # of pipes, pitch / scaling / mixture levers and other necessary info. You will need this reference # opus 3144 Their phone # is 1-450-773-5001 Quebec Canada. They do make the Rolls Royce of pipe organs-any organ company who works on pipe organs always rates them tops of the manufacturers. Our neighboring city Glens Falls has a Casavant 129 ranks - 7,179 pipes, a most impressive instrument that has some real kick butt sound, everybody loves it, at $1.2 million they better! Back to this organ now. I have been working with the Carey Organ Co. building / rebuilding / relocating / organs for a while now. They are a very well respected company in Eastern N.Y. Building pipe trays? Possible. They have many of their own. Their phone # 1-800-836-1441 or 1-518-273-2974 Stephanie Gilgut will most likely answer between 9am-5pm She is the electrical & computer genius there and knows organs inside and out. No exaggeration- more brains than 5 people, a real pleasant girl.

Albany N.Y. is the closest major airport, about 55 miles south of Whitehall; Carey organ is in Troy N.Y. about 10 miles east of the airport. Now don't fret about Ebay, if the listing expires without bids, let it go. The organ is still for sale. If you have fears of someone out bidding you and missing out, toss out a bid anyway. We are easy to get along with and very flexible on collecting that much $$ loot quick. The church gods asked me to list it on Ebay, the church organ trader, or any other sales outlet. They don't have the connections or knowledge of selling this type of item

. . .

There is no real big hurry to have the organ removed, they still use it every Sunday and the newly rebuilt 17 rank replacement is scheduled to go in the same location sometime September, if all goes well, never seen a job this big, go well yet! Enough gabbing, you have some research homework to do. A quick note-Casavant says it is worth about $20-25 thousand with many variables affecting the price, a new one - a whole lot more. Carey Organ told the church folks that for a quick sale, a true fair price needs to be about 15k. They agreed. It really is a bargain price. Two years ago I built a 9 rank for my church- my gift to them- and it cost me $32k. Had I known about this one!! Oh well, it's only money. Later Thanks much. Ralph Krueger

I looked on Church Organ Trader and found Ralph’s phone number in Glenville. That was good information. I wanted to talk to Carey Organ and Casavant before I bid, but I was out of luck. It was late Friday night, all closed until Monday AM and the auction was ending Sunday night!!! Man my ulcer is coming back.

Patty, I have a confession...

I decided I wanted more information, so I eBay-wrote the following questions:

How about a pic of the keyboard? How many pipes in each rank? Total? None of the ranks are reeds, are they? Thanks, Richard

I got a response that night from Ralph Kreuger:

Good questions, not so good answers. I can peek in between the display pipes, the chest is full, don't see any reeds, don't see a lot of anything else but pipe tops. Total number??? I did not get to open the case up, the church folks are a little touchy about tampering with their baby. The key desk I did not get a photo of, didn't think of it until I got home. It is a reverse color, dark brown naturals / light brown sharps. I am not much help in your questions. Thanks. Ralph K.

I looked at my options: Get the money together, from where. I had to tell Patty. I went upstairs: “Patty I have bad news… What is it?... I think there is an organ on eBay we could buy… We have the money. Problem is that it is in upper NY State. We’d have to fly there, rent a truck, take it apart, load it up, drive it back here and reassemble it.” I quickly did the math in my head…about another $3000-$4000. Hmmmmmm. Well it was a nice thought. Let’s both sleep on it. Patty looked resigned already.

A Tale of an Organ Transplant

June 6^th:

I got the usual dozen eBay Favorite Searches as normal. This time, in the Pipe Organ search result, there was a rather interesting one: “Casavant Tracker Pipe Organ” with a little pic:

Rather innocuous, but then it did say Casavant and tracker, two little words that sent a shock through me. I had built a room on the back of my garage a few years ago to house just such an animal. I wanted a tracker, and not one of those huge (and cheap) ones housed in a giant church and 100 years old. No I was looking for an elegant little one, with either a soft reed (contradiction in terms?) or a mixture.

Here is the ad:

For Sale: A beautiful small Casavant tracker pipe organ. opus 3144 made in 1972. One manual, 8 ranks, 6 stops. Genshorn 2, Rohrflote 4, Prinzipal 4, Gedackt 8, Sub bass 16, Mixture III / I. Case and wood pipes are medium oak nicely finished. 7' 6" wide, 5' 3" deep, 9' 1" high bass pipes, case is 7' 5" high. Contained within is a very quiet blower. 110 volt. This organ must be sold and removed by September as our new 17 rank organ is to occupy the same space. The buyer must remove. Dismantleing will be fairly easy as this is not a huge complex organ. I have contacts with an organ company who will dismantle and/or reassemble for a fee. Arangements can be made directly with them. Feel free to question, ask for pictures, come and play it! This Casavant is in perfect condition and meticulously maintained. You will be very happy with this fine instrument.

This one had a mixture, 8 ranks, 6 stops, one manual and pedal -- and Casavant Freres at that. A pretty good make. So I put a Watch This Item on it. And sat on it for a day. The auction was ending Sunday night, June 10. So I went to sleep on it.

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