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.