I BOUGHT A WHOLE CHURCH ORGAN - Part 1 The Organs Removal

I Bought A Church Organ, Follow along on this project!
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• I BOUGHT A CHURCH ORGA...
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[@bigclivedotcom]

Nice find. That's a bit crazy. One of my friends was an organ builder and had a mini theatre built onto his house with a really excessive theatre organ with lots of systems lashed into one ludicrous console. Sadly he's gone now and was not into the idea of immortalising himself on KZbin playing four keyboards at once while also using the knee controls and foot pedals. Watching him play it was incredible.

[@Pulverrostmannen]

Hey there, I kinda end up where you are all the time don´t I?? ha ha

[@shokdj1]

Wouldn’t like to do the schematics on all them wires

[@LesNewell]

@@Stevie-J Organists are still mad. Too much is never enough for them. I used to work for an organ building company and still do some work for them. Some of their customers are... a little eccentric to say the least.

[@DrDingsGaster]

He sounded absolutely damn amazing!

[@mfx1]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/oYi5d3iMjK-AsJo

[@AshleyTooze]

Welcome to my working life for the past 14 years. Looks like you've got quite a task ahead of you. You made the right decision of cutting the cables and deciding to get rid of the old electro-pneumatic mechanical switching system (often called ladder switches). Although reliable when working, the old switching can be a pain to work on and maintain. Your blower looks like a discus, made by Watkins and Watson (company still in existence in Poole) and those things go on forever, with 5 drops of oil on the bearings once a year. Pipework looks in good condition, except the dodgy soldering of the mitred diapason pipes, soldering zinc isn't as hard as you might think with a 400 watt soldering iron! Be careful with the brass reed tongues on that trumpet rank, the slightest bend on those and they'll never speak properly again. If you want any further advice, feel free to get in touch!

[@LOOKMUMNOCOMPUTER]

cheers ashley thats the kind of advice i need! practical cheers.

[@mikeselectricstuff]

Should have strapped some pipes to the van roof, so they play from the wind as you drive!

[@lo-firobotboy7112]

When I brought my organ home we had the pipes in sonotubes on top of a truck. They did in fact sound at different speeds. it was pretty cool....and very creepy.

[@TheChipmunk2008]

We meet in the strangest places Mike

[@lo-firobotboy7112]

@@Stevie-J Same here. Installed it yesterday for kayaks.

[@dcallan812]

It would sound like The Singing, Ringing Tree. Located on Crown Point, on the moorland overlooking Burnley. Commisioned by Burnley Council & designed by Tonkin Liu Architects

[@jimmygervaisnet]

🤣🤣🤣 yes

[@KarlSheen]

OMG.....I've researched extensively that organ and I was heartbroken when I heard the house was for sale as I knew the organ would be destroyed......but I was overjoyed to find that you rescued it.....it couldn't of gone to a better home.....you do realise pipe organs were the original additive synthesisers......I used to work as a piano and organ tuner but ill health has got in the way however if you need help voicing and or tuning I'd happily volunteer for free......the only condition is I wanna play some of those fantastic synths you got

[@Ranger_Kevin]

Reading the video title "I bought a church organ" and thinking "yeah, that sounds like a logical next step" is not something you can say about a lot of people

[@DasGanon]

"I bought a Church Organ" "Yeah that tracks"

[@РэйЧехов]

Same thoughts

[@MrAndrewlang]

Yep, less surprising than it should be

[@MrMilarepa108]

I DO think he's insane though. Thank God he's a little insane.

[@TomHermans]

laughed out loud with this one 😀

[@craigprocter1232]

when that was installed it was a literal labour of love by him, for her. So happy to see that it's going to continue making music

[@ElvianEmpire]

I feel like nobody better could've bought it to keep its legacy (and the madness/love of the person that built it into the house) alive.

[@giovanni1459]

looking forward for part 2! That looks like a real pain in the arse to assemble.

[@thesquarerootofnegativei6225]

Well, yeah. As much of a pain as taking it out was, putting it back together is going to be worse... by a lot.

[@rob_i208]

@@thesquarerootofnegativei6225 20 hrs to take it down. Easily triple to put it back together.

[@OrganMusicYT]

When you take them apart you put the pipes in crates and keep them together. The smallest pipes of the rank should be bundled together and labelled. Label each crate. Keep everything logical and labelled/tagged that way it becomes much easier to put back together, there's no guessing what goes where, it's there on the label.

[@8bitwiz_]

Nice things you can do when you have the time, but at least they were already labeled. It's going to need re-engineering to replace that old pneumatic "computer" anyhow.

[@OrganMusicYT]

@@8bitwiz_ It saves time to keep things together in pipe crates, it also saves money because without crates and careful removal, pipes will get damaged.

[@Studio23Media]

Absolute props to the husband who did that setup for his wife. That's incredible! It's almost sad to see it undone, but I'm sure you'll do it justice and keep the music going!

[@chrisbeaumont4630]

Somehow you manage to do every outlandish musical project I've ever dreamed of. You're an absolute legend mate

[@gcewing]

This is quickly becoming the Museum Of Large Machines With Insane Amounts Of Wiring In Them.

[@whackbag3606]

You can literally feel the love that guy had to install all that in the house. It's almost a shame it's coming out but i think they'd be happy it's going to be used...idk what true love is but i gotta believe that's what it looks like.

[@LOOKMUMNOCOMPUTER]

IT ALREADY WORKS CHECK PART 2 HERE :- kzbin.info/www/bejne/o4ikdHVmac5-ipo

[@delta250a]

This is going to be a great series.

[@lo-firobotboy7112]

Oh Cool. I'm interested to see what you do with it. A local church gave me their 600 pipe organ complete with 1920's console, wind chests, fans and a whole lot of wires. I want to install it in the attic of my house and tie it into my MIDI synth rig. Just need the time.

[@envisionelectronics]

So here’s a thought. Synchronized Holiday lights with the pipe organ blasting from the gable. That would go viral.

[@lo-firobotboy7112]

@@envisionelectronics That's one of the plans. My wife's request is that we tie it in to a doorbell at the front of the house. She also wants it rigged up to play Tacotta and Fugue for Halloween.

[@allwaysareup]

I think this calls for a race.

[@PeopleAlreadyDidThis]

The problem with attics is temperature stability. A few degrees change from the temp where the organ was tuned renders it unlistenable. It doesn’t take much change.

[@HobbyOrganist]

The attic would be a mistake- the temperature and humidity varies so wildly day to night you'll never have it in tune and excess heat found in typical attics is bad for pipe organs' wood pipes, animal hyde glue used to glue everything, leather etc

[@mathieudelmas3863]

Nice to see this poor instrument has been saved. The lack of interest arises from the many other instruments available in the UK, and the fact that it has been messed with by non-organ builders when installed in the house. And it lost it's wooden structure, too. However, the pipework and soundboards look OK, so you will probably manage to get something out of it. The soundboars all seem to be electric type (Roosevelt), which are easy to manage. For the minor repairs on the pipework, I would get it done by a proper pipe maker. This won't be too expensive, and really worth it. People as Kevin Rutterford or Terry Shires would make a great job. You can also contact people such as the EMCOA, they might have good advices for you. Good luck!

[@OrganMusicYT]

I know several people who have done this, I have been involved in classical and theatre organs for 14 years. Pipe organs can take up lots of space, especially once you start taking them apart, you find that rooms are completely taken over. One thing I will say is that I hope you have someone involved in a professional capacity to help you with this project, you have well and truly jumped in at the deep end. From the way the pipes have been stacked in the van and moved, I would expect some damage straight off, particularly on the metal pipes. However, congratulations on becoming an organ nut! It's like owning an antique car from the 1920s.

[@tams805]

I mean, it was an unwanted instrument. That it's not in a tip is good enough.

[@OrganMusicYT]

@@tams805 Oh it's certainly better than it being in tip, theres no doubt about that. It just helps to pack things correctly as it helps prevent damage that you then need to sort out at the other end. It saves time, money and effort to be safe.

[@mrKozmoz]

I am loving the chaos of this find, doesn't look too bad to redo the wiring for another kind of installation, but I am hyped to see what comes of this

[@tedmich]

Just imagine how much the husband cherished his wife to install this! I'm envisioning the couple from "UP". Also I bet this thing is full of lead dust and asbestos, I'd wear a respirator!!

[@sgsax]

I used to do some consulting with a guy that travelled across the US doing church organ repair and maintenance. I don't know if he would be glad that you're trying to preserve this bit of history or mortified at the chop job you've done. 😁 As far as I'm concerned, it's always fun to see how this old technology worked and was put together, long before we even knew what "solid state" was. Look forward to seeing how you put it all back together. I'm sure it will be a fun adventure no matter what. Thanks for sharing!

[@nickwallette6201]

All that cabling is an absolute nightmare. Totally worth serializing the data and having a local controller in each air box to drive the individual valves. That cuts the bundle down to ground, power, data, and air. :-)

[@bur1t0]

11:55 Oh wow a Selenium Rectifier! As fun as it may be to get them going again, there's two big reasons not to, efficiency, and the smell when they fail. Apparently they have a huge voltage drop, and some other weird properties, so it's not just a straight forward replacement with silicon diodes. That stuff was before my grand dads time.

[@PeopleAlreadyDidThis]

Best plan today is to ditch the old supply and use a switching supply. A little MeanWell will run it all.

[@TheSynthnut]

Wow, that house was bonkers, I'm surprised it wasn't shaken to bits! Crazy project, but a great salvage and if anyone can make it work, then its you. This Museum is not Obsolete is really becoming an incredible eclectic collection, love it!

[@AudioFileZ]

There is nothing in all things that man has created for sound that can eclipse the synergistic collision of utterly amazing engineering of resonant pipes and metered air to create an ethereal sound than a grand cathedral pipe organ. It's on the level of making the Space Shuttle. All grand pipe organs should be preserved as such. The cathedral, or room, does become a integral part of the final sound too of such a beast.

[@figueroalabs]

This is such a cool purchase. For fixing it, as you will certainly need to while building it, i'd like to recommend this book I got a while ago, and it's mostly for building a new one, but it also has very good tips for fixing organs. Book: "Organ Building for Amateurs" by Mark Wicks.

[@allowisousblind6801]

Are you an organ technician?

[@figueroalabs]

@@allowisousblind6801 Do you need any help with anything organ related?

[@allowisousblind6801]

I'm interested in learning, both to aid in completing my organ build project (I have the pipes so far), to explain my understanding of how they work, and to widen my skills a little as an instrument technician.

[@allowisousblind6801]

Where do you start, is tooling mentioned in the book? Are there special needed? Is dent work a thing, I know pipes can get dented really easily and I don't know how it affects tone.

[@figueroalabs]

@@allowisousblind6801 Yes, that book talks about tools needed, about how to fix pipes and dents (put something like soft-pitch or plasticine to receive the hammer blows, and go very slow), tuning, and general work on the instrument. It should be a good place to keep you working on your instrument.

[@TheSpatulaCity]

That house must have been awesome back in the day.

[@shadows9001]

Mate, you are insane in the best possible way! Seriously wow what a project. I thought the phone stuff was crazy enough!

[@tungtobak]

I got exhausted just watching you guys move that thing!

[@VladTepes44]

This is totally mad! I love it I would not have thought such an organ would use telephone wires and solenoids, but it makes total sens

[@richardharrold9736]

The pioneer of organ electrification, Robert Hope-Jones, was an ex railway signalling engineer. Coincidentally, his best friend at work was a chap called Henry Royce, who subsequently achieved fame in another direction entirely. H-J organs originally used solenoids hand-wound by Royce himself.

[@theonlywoody2shoes]

As a “techie” (I’m currently restoring a Viscount Grand Opera digital church organ - 1990s Italian electronics!!!) and an active church organist; thank you for saving this amazing instrument from becoming scrap metal. I fully agree that it should be MIDI enabled at some point, with a dial up modem to allow people to send music files to it (9600,8,n,1) via dial up.

[@nickwallette6201]

Oh that would be awesome. I'll have to find a MIDI transcription of Rick Wakeman's solo from Close to the Edge. haha And the interlude up to the boss fight in Parasite Eve.

[@roamerreed]

flathead screws really make you respect your grandparents even more.

[@wmason1961]

As a controls electrician I can honestly say I have had nightmares about people cutting wires the way you did. I am really glad I am not the one that has to figure out that mess.

[@CashMattock]

I helped move my dads player pipe organ 3 times. Smallest pipe - less than a foot, largest 16’. Fun times! Good luck!! 😆👍

[@JFrizey]

I can't wait to see it finished! I've always had a soft spot for organs. It's sad to think how many were scrapped in the past. I'm sure there are some good organ techs who will be happy to offer advice if needed. It's sad to see the electro mechanical relays go but most have been converted to run via a laptop/midi these days

[@didconcombre]

Best video of the century! Look mum no constructeur :)

[@erikburman530]

Fucking amazing! It reminds me of a smaller pipe organ that my grandparents had in their home. Also included a xylophone. The bass pipes shook the whole place. I loved that!

[@bennmurhaaya8518]

When you think that touring with DIY non standard modular synth was too easy so you have to start touring with actual church sized organ :D

[@babajoe9174]

Crazy - it is

[@blairwilliams136]

Fun fact , pipe organs were the first ever analog electromechanical , air powered synthesizers .

[@spda242]

On a Bonkers scale from 1-100 this project is at 10000 😱

[@thebiggerbyte5991]

Fabulous, Sam. At one point I had a collection of more than 30 Electronic organs, but nothing on this scale of lunacy. Love it!

[@inspiringengineer]

The van is well 'organized' :D

[@conradfreeman]

How do you have all the energy to build all this stuff?

[@Slurkz]

And the time, and means…. It’s amazing. There’s nothing like this channel. 💜

[@conradfreeman]

@@Slurkz I can barely get off the sofa today, and he's out buying a pipe organ, and tomorrow he'll have it installed in his warehouse with a custom programmed Arduino... Give me some of whatever he is on!

[@Slurkz]

@@conradfreeman Let’s see! Looking forward to part #2.

[@geepersoilyrag1884]

There was a guy not far from here who had an organ built into his house (IIRC had the end of the house rebuilt around the organ). 30 years later, the whole end of the house was covered in cracks! He passed away a few years ago and the house has been knocked down. Its really cool to see you save this :) Well, and everything else yo are saving!!!!

[@DerAykac]

I remember back in 9th grade we had a subsitut teacher who was crazy about organs. Guy showed us a documentary about them and we proceded to be bored af and laughin about his enthusiasm. I grew up to regret my actions. Organs fucking rule. EDIT: One day i will come to England just to visit the museum. Pinky swear!

[@cherrycoke106]

I had a teacher that was obsessed with his organ Went to prison in the end.

[@yesnt5797]

@@cherrycoke106 same

[@eloracle]

I'm glad you got it and it's gone to a good home. I did e-mail the estate agents selling the house asking them to let me know if I could take it if a prospective buyer didn't want it but they never got back to me.

[@timster5]

Glad to hear the church organ I heard about on radio 2 went to a fantastic home. 👍🏻

[@allowisousblind6801]

This is beyond awesome, and heavily coincidental. A month ago I bought a set of pipes myself, not the complete set, yet (haven't the space and money yet). Absolutely awesome to see this and thank you for breaking down rough logistics of how things work, go pipes!

[@netman69]

This is what got me to check go and out the museum while i was in the UK last week, I wasn't disappointed :D. What an awesome score!

[@ben_yeates]

things that I hope you do: - replace those weird air actuated valve things - modernise the wiring - get somebody to un--bork those cut and shut pipes - make more awesome content :)

[@patrickmeyer2802]

Electropneumatic systems are how probably 60% of all new organs are built. They are reliable and low maintenance, and removing the mitres from those pipes should be the least of his concern.

[@ben_yeates]

@@patrickmeyer2802 The mitres thing is more of an aesthetic thing for me. I understand that there is an element of "if it ain't broke don't fix it" to this, I just feel like it should be modernised. I'm no expert though.

- Add Furbies

[@Hurtyourfeelingsagain]

The work someone put into this is amazing. Can’t wait to see it up and running.

[@memofrf]

Mate...this brilliant. Thank you.

[@davecook233]

Wow...pipe organs are practically living wonders. Thanks to you, this one has now survived TWO events that might have brought its demise. After seeing those disorganized old wires I think you were entirely right to just remove them and redo the old EM ladder control system to something much simpler that can do the rank combinatorics without a lot of mechanical bits. With microprocessor controls you'll have to refresh the electronics every decade or two, but these days that's relatively easy. The soldering on those mitered pipe joints looks a bit hackish - it would be a really good guess that they were not that way originally and were cut to fit the house installation. Are you looking at putting them back to straight ones if you have room?

[@magnusbooth4719]

It was kind of sad to see it being pulled apart, but it probably landed in the best possible hands.

[@jackking5567]

Of all the people to be doing this, I couldn't think of a better one! This will be excellent linked up to electronic controls and a midi.

[@wook1664]

Would be cool to use Ethernet cables and ports for all the wiring. Would make the routing a bit easier, since the pin order will always be the same, just need to map out the pins to the keys in a logical way.

[@KeritechElectronics]

Oh holy bloody moly, just look at this thing of beauty and joy for ever! Damn impressive find. With an organ like this I'd totally date ya - enough junk for everyone! The blower alone would make an awesome OnlyFans start. Haha, just kidding! Selenium wreck-tea-fire... haven't seen them for a long time. Definitely waiting for the recombobulation series, totally gonna follow you along on that one - that's gonna be absolutely friggin' epic. Where are you gonna find enough space for all that? :D "It's insane" is a damn gross understatement!

[@paulgreenwood650]

I absolutely love this project - well done LOOK MUM NO COMPUTER. I've been playing pipe organs for around 35 years and they still surprise me what those engineers came up with. Check out the Barker Lever System.... A downside to all this though is that as churches close down due to lack of attendance, pipe organs are being ripped out and skipped. Never to be replaced again. Same with churches which are changing to the "Happy Clappy" fad. Soon there will be nothing left.

[@thejakefromstatefarm6768]

That is one hell of a van and one hell of a pack job. I swear it was a week ago i was telling my son who is a d. J. And a music producer how cool it would be to own a pipe organ! Then i come across you possibly the only OTHER guy that thinks it would be cool to own one. Just a week later. How crazy is that. I have to see it once you get it put back togeather. I have no doubt that you’ll have it working in no time. I can tell you’re that sort of guy that can do what looks to be impossible lol.

[@ArthurStone]

Cool. Analogue synth. Good fortune.

[@PjotrStroganov]

Imagine having the previous owner as a neighbour!

[@Ranger_Kevin]

Depends on what they are playing... if I had that in my house I would be like: kzbin.info/www/bejne/gmGtk5SQqdR-d9U Evil villain starter kit part one :-D

[@michaeltreadwell777]

BRILLIANT ! I just found your channel by chance and am already hooked ! MANY hours of catching up to do ! Yes - a heart attack seeing you hack through all the wires - how on earth will you rebuild it ??????????????? Anyway - I'm so jealous of you, I LOVE Pianos and Organs, and I'm really looking forward to following you. Take care 🙂

[@deadheadlights]

This is exciting! Looking forward to seeing this mother come back to life!

[@SanFranciscoFatboy]

you are a god to every dumpster diver in town..... and there are alot of us :)

[@Volcaniced]

This is DAWless like hell! WOW. WOOOOW.

[@paulford8651]

Amazing, i would never imagined there being so much wiring involved!.

[@JENi-vx3yn]

This is absolutely bonkers! I love it!

[@robbed_copy]

Maximus ironthumper has an amazing project with an organ. Worth checking out

[@sonixthatsme]

The couple who had built it in there house are freaking legendary! Nice save.

[@peter.stimpel]

wow, it is freaking crazy somebody has such an organ at home, kudos to that husband for saving and reinstalling it. Freaking crazy somebody sells it on ebay 40+ ys later on. Freaking awesome you bought it, finally.

[@DeadKoby]

Preserving technological history is always super cool.

[@alextheape]

Lead exposure is no joke! Take care!

[@dcorbin5779]

Ohhhh yahhh they allways have the nicest sound

[@ebkdeviousd3392]

Hey I was listening to your songs again yesterday thinking when you gonna make some more songs etc and hey presto good stuff Sam

[@XMJX647]

Collab with Wintergatan needs to happen

[@nitrosilvia]

I love this kind of eccentric home install

[@chrisburn7178]

This is so cool. Hope to see you get it up and running. You'll learn all the organ terminology soon I guess, but each group of pipes which share a particular timbre and windchest are known as a "rank" (sometimes one key plays more than one pipe to give harmonics) and ranks are organised into "divisions", normally Great, Pedal, Choir, Swell & Solo depending on the size of the organ, which normally each have their own keyboard and bellows. The "stops" labelled things like "principal" "diapason" etc. control one or more ranks for a particular sound.

[@demmidemmi]

This is the kind of mad genius we have come to love. Look forward to seeing where this goes

[@usvalve]

Yay, this is amazing! If you can set up a Strowger exchange, I reckon you can set up a pipe organ :-)

[@princeedmirovillar215]

Good thing you bought that organ, it's been staying lonely and quiet inside that house for goodness knows how long

[@hanzazazel412]

This is not surprising in the least. Looking forward to when you add fire to it.

[@XTJ7]

This is the kind of task that is so big I would simply freeze up, not knowing where to start and just not do it :D Kudos to you for plowing on and taking on this mammoth challenge.

[@markcx5461]

Ur popping up everywhere in the algorithm keep it up!

[@Colin_Ames]

Oh my goodness! This is going to be one heck of a project.

[@Hanmai4009]

Đại Phong Cầm, 1 hệ thống khá phức tạp. Cảm ơn bạn. Thanks 👍 I from Vietnam 🇻🇳

[@cluecumber]

i'm drenched in sweat and dust just watching this

[@DrMabuse2010]

The devotion..... Respect!

[@jasonsummit1885]

The air boxes you referred to are called wind chests, so you were close.😁👍

[@LOOKMUMNOCOMPUTER]

Air box sounds nicer :D

[@comms9803]

The real question is do you have a place to install it? You're gonna need quite a large space, not just for the pipework, blower, windchests, windlines, console, etc... but a large enough room so that the sound won't be stifled, muted, or dry.

[@pcaetano7527]

look up a place in the states called Pizza and Pipes, it was around in the 1970s , and would play silent films while a organist would play at dinner time at a pizza place, many of them are now gone, and few are left but there are video clips here on the utube, showing them off.

[@jeroenscholten7193]

Wow! What a massive project you got your self in this time! Love it!😉

[@danpatterson8009]

A project worthy of your energy, talent, and insanity.

[@1allan2]

Wow, what a project, look forward to seeing the build and finished project !

[@mythcrab6047]

I thought it was nuts my gran had a digital organ and grand piano in her dining room taking up about 90% of the space. I can't even imagine if she had a pipe organ in the walls. Would have blown my mind.

[@djtwotribes5680]

the wooden board that the metal pipes sit on is called the Windchest

[@MrZiggyMarbley]

I'l tell you what... this is something... WOW!!!

[@A7fie98]

You should have a look at J-Omega Midi to Parallel conveters, they covert midi input to elecrical output, which is probably perfect for your application. I've used one for one of my projects to control some solenoid valves on a calliope.

[@glebpalamarchuk9087]

Can’t wait for him to connect his modular to the organ

[@AdrenoChrome89]

Selenium rectifier. Nice.

[@properjob2311]

You amaze me with your purchases

[@wackenthaljef]

Waooow thats a serious project!

[@anjwicks]

Incredible!