I didn’t know that my husband was an organ builder. Neither did he. That is, we didn’t know until I inherited an organ from my nephew.
One of the pedals needed to be fixed. So my Mr. Handy Dandy Do-It-Yourself-Fix-It husband went to work. And work it was. He ended up taking the whole organ apart. I was a little concerned. Would he be able to figure out how to get it all back together again? And by that I mean all the right parts in all the right places.
He made new little wooden wheels that the organ sits on. He constructed a new wooden pulley on the inside. He replaced the belts that went from the pedals to the bellows. He mended the support block for the pulley. And, best of all, he was able to put it all back together again. Huzzah!
Here it is. All in its taken apart glory.
When we built our house 22 years ago, we had originally intended to have a music room. But, as our architect told us the cost of our home, we started cutting things out. The music room fell victim to the chopping block.
So, our teeny tiny living room is where we have put our (er . . . my) musical instruments. The west wall has a bay window. On the south wall, I have my high gloss ebony baby grand piano. On the east wall, I have my black electric piano. And now on the north wall, I have an antique organ. Does the organ fit in with the interior design of the room? I say, “Sure does, Nellie! An interior designer might say otherwise. Oh well. Here is the organ in it’s all-put-back-together-again glory.
Now, I couldn’t only just have pictures of the organ here on my site because I’m sure you are dying to hear what it sounds like. So, for your listening pleasure, here is a song that I played on it. I had to use a slightly different pedal technic with this organ than the one I practice on during my lunch break. By the way, the clickity-clack you hear in the background are the pedals and NOT my knees . . .
My husband did some research on this organ. This style was very popular with itinerant evangelists because it was smaller, more light weight, and less cumbersome than a pipe organ. I’d say! So maybe when I go on a mission, I’ll pack it and then have revival-foot-stompin’-hallelujah-glory-be-praise-the-Lord sing-alongs.
Thank you, Larry. I will have great fun with this new edition to our family.
By the way, I’m glad my husband is an organ builder and not an organ donor.