Last week, I had an electronic organ technician make some repairs to my Saville organ. The tech traveled a considerable distance and asked to remain anonymous. He doesn’t desire to have regular customers in my area as he has plenty of business closer to home.
This was my first time to have an organ technician perform work on my organ. When I first received the organ back in 2009, I had a guy check out my organ as it would randomly turn off. He didn’t do any actual work (he was quite elderly). He took the top off, looked inside, said he couldn’t help, and left. Amazingly, I have not had that particular problem since that day!
I had procrastinated about having work done to the organ since then. With it being from the 1970’s, I didn’t want to risk making the problems worse. Also, I had received an estimate that seemed high. And it felt like it was a challenge to find someone willing to come to Adrian. In hindsight, I realize I could have identified a church in Adrian with an electronic organ and found out who they were using for maintenance and service. I could still do this! I was encouraged by a lady I met at the AGO convention in July to have my organ serviced.
You may be wondering, why I am specifically referring to electronic organs. Pipe organ and electronic organ technology is very different. Finding someone that services both pipe and electronic organs would be rare.
Here are the issues with my organ that were fixed:
- Spitzflöte 4′ stop now works! Previously, when this stop was on one note sounded continuously. It turns out that it was a F.
- Octave 4′ stop no longer sounds like a tea kettle!
- Lowest 6 keys on the keyboards have never worked on some of the stops. I didn’t even realize this problem could be fixed.
- Increased the tension on the pedals making them a bit stiffer to play.
- Fixed the delay when D# key is depressed on great manual (lower keyboard).
- Tuned the organ and it now sounds better than ever!
Thank you anonymous organ repair man!
Heidi Bender writes about her experiences of learning to play the organ. She started on the adventure in 2009.
She also writes on her website Tons of Thanks, which helps people write thank-you notes. Heidi is also a cat lady who writes at The Joy of Cats.
You ought to take part in a contest for one of the most useful blogs on the internet.
I most certainly will recommend this web site!
I think when you take care of your stuff it takes care of you. I always think preventive measures and repairs need to be done to keep from a big issue coming up.
Your comments remind me of regular maintenance needed for vehicles. Neglected cars do not last as long.