Fabry, Inc., Antioch, Illinois
Steven Jensen Residence,
Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Often, the desire to practice at home is easily met with a short trip to the living room where the piano sits. The fact that there is no pedalboard, or second manual, is justified by ‘getting the notes under the fingers.’ It doesn’t need to be said that the final preparation will occur at the church, where fingerings and pedal movements can be choreographed with registration and volume changes. When one is presented with the opportunity to acquire a home organ, many do everything in their power to make room, find the money, and line up the necessary help to get the instrument in. In the case of Steven Jensen, a conversation regarding a future contract led to the discussion of home instruments and his desire to have one. It was fortunate for him that we had just the solution.
Fabry, Inc. was able to put an organ together from our used pipe and chest inventory. The main chest, of 3 ranks, housed the 8′ Principal, 8′ Gedeckt, and 4′ Koppel Flute and was in good working order. We attached two small offsets for the 4′ Viola to the front of the chest to make it a 4-rank unit chest. The bottom octave of the 8′ Principal would clearly not fit in the standard basement on the floor, let alone the chest, so there was some work to be done. David G. Fabry mitered the bottom 12 of the 8′ Principal and the bottom four of the 8′ Gedeckt so they would clear the joists. The bottom octave of the 8′ Principal was tubed off so the pipes stood on the floor. A used electric 16′/32′ Bourdon was used to keep the space required to a minimum. David then constructed an all-new enclosure out of white oak that included an expression opening. Removable panels on both sides and in the front allow for access to all part of the organ. A used Möller console from our inventory was rewired to fulfill the desired stoplist.
Installation was fairly quick. One day was required to install the organ, pipes and all. The console coming down the basement stairs with a ninety-degree turn against a cinder-block wall was the worst of the headaches. Since the original installation, a modest, used, 8′ Trumpet was added, along with a new unit chest, produced by Fabry, Inc., to complete the specification. Frequent trips have ensued to work on small issues but the overall effect is quite exceptional. The ability to practice and not disturb the neighbors, or those on the second floor: priceless.
—Phil Spressart
GREAT
16′ Bourdon from Rank 2
(1–12 electric)
8′ Principal Rank 1
8′ Rohrflote Rank 2
8′ Gemshorn Rank 4 (1–12 Rank 2)
4′ Octave from Rank 1
4′ Flute Rank 3
2′ Super Octave from Rank 1
2′ Flautino from Rank 2
(50–61 wire back)
8′ Trompette Rank 5
Tremolo
Swell to Great
SWELL
8′ Gedeckt from Rank 3
(1–12 Rank 2)
8′ Gemshorn Rank 4, as above
4′ Spitzprincipal from Rank 1
4′ Gedeckt from Rank 2
2′ Doublette from Rank 1
(50–61 wire back)
11⁄3′ Quinte from Rank 4
16′ Dbl Tromp from Rank 5, TC
8′ Trompette Rank 5
4′ Clarion from Rank 5, to 49
PEDAL
32′ Resultant from Rank 2
(1–24 electric)
16′ Bourdon from Rank 2, as above
8′ Principal Rank 1
8′ Rohrflote Rank 2
4′ Octave from Rank 1
4′ Gedeckt from Rank 3
16′ Dbl Tromp from Rank 5, as above
8′ Trompette Rank 5
4′ Clarion from Rank 5
Pipe & rank analysis
Rank 1. 8′ Principal 73 pipes
Rank 2. 8′ Rohrflote 73 pipes
Rank 3. 4′ Koppel Flute 61 pipes
Rank 4. 4′ Gemshorn 49 pipes
Rank 5. 8′ Trompette 61 pipes
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