Pipe Organ Tuning 1.0

This is a brief explanation of what pipe organ tuning is, what’s involved, and what may be some common problems if an instrument has been neglected or improperly maintained.

[@1234piano]

I'm an organist. Thank you, Joseph, for your very clear explanations on pipe tuning - I learned something today.

[@michaeltaylor4752]

I've played the organ for many years and never understood how the tuning process works. Thank you so much for this informative video, I hope to see more.

[@jrorganbuilding]

Glad you found the video informative.

[@williammitchell1864]

@@jrorganbuilding It's a really neat but time consuming effort to watch in tuning organ pipes. I've had tht pleasure of help tuning them at my church since I also play the pipe organ.

[@BruiserFL]

I have wondered how one would tune a pipe organ. Obviously, it's a highly specialized field and I found it fascinating to watch you tune this organ. Can you imagine having to tune that pipe organ in Atlantic City? I heard it has over 33,000 pipes! Thank you for sharing this.

[@fredwild190]

Excellent. Please make a similar video about tuning wood pipes. Thank you.

[@Offshoreorganbuilder]

Thanks for this: a good introduction, for the public, on the noble art of tooning.

[@mathewgkuriang9611]

Good to know how these Pipeorgan are tuned ...many thanks

[@doremifabrications320]

I think many church councils would benefit from watching this!

[@HobbyOrganist]

Great video Joseph! Best Ive seen yet!

[@James_Bowie]

Very informative, thank you. I guess such repairs could be done onsite if you had a 12 foot box truck to work inside of. The tune you played at the end sounded like Tantum Ergo.

[@729MendicantTide]

It is Saint Thomas (Tantum Ergo).

[@bernardcromarty485]

In the days when I was a church organist, there were a couple of Lieblich Flute pipes which had stretched, so that the tuning tampons would drop with changes of temperature. Every so often I had to climb up inside and nip them back in tune!

[@orangefruit9166]

Can u advice how to tune some pipes if i dont have any special, hmm, sticks or whatsoever? Long story, never did that but i will. Also some pipes doesnt make a sound

[@MrDiapasion]

That was very interesting! Thanks!

[@richardmassoth8237]

I'm surprised that you don't have a set of mandrels and tapered mandrels and hammers to attempt to undo the abuses of "cone tuning". That's the type of device often used when removing dents and other damage from brass instruments. There are ball devices, expanding slide hammers and English wheels that can also be used on metal pipes for brass instruments and possibly metal organ pipes. These are the tools of the trade in sheet metal and tube work for metals. I can understand wanting a controlled ventilation environment in the shop to remove tape and truly clean the dust and soot from metal pipes before attempting restoration of the tuning behavior and instrument performance. But I'm surprised that these cannot be used with a "fume box" with proper sized wash basins for smaller pipes in a portable setting. I wouldn't want to attempt to do that with pipes that are longer than 4' in a portable environment. I'd love to see you do a stopped pipe, reed pipe and wooden pipe and tuning video. Keep up the great work!

[@samuellourenco1050]

From B onwards you can hear a beating frequency, which is strange. It is as if the pipes are producing two different pitches at the same time.

[@treadless_co]

Thanks!

[@karlrovey]

Tuning 101, don't make your cone tuned pipes look like the thumbnail.

[@stevelascak5140]

You were tuning a pipe by listening to the beat frequency of two pipes - where was the second pipe sound coming from?

[@jrorganbuilding]

It’s two ranks of pipe ranks playing at once. Since they were both principal pipes, when they’re in tune they effectively sound like one pipe. However, when one is out of tune, you hear the beats between the two.

[@orangefruit9166]

Hello, can you give me an advice on how to make sound silent pipes who just blow air silently? Ill try to fix the organ and never did it

[@randolphfriend8260]

💙

[@fnersch3367]

Where can one buy a blower for a small organ? My bathroom ventilation fan works but is too noisy.

[@jrorganbuilding]

Check the pipe, organ garage sale on Facebook or if you have a pipe organ builder locally they usually may have an extra blower on hand that they might want to sell.

[@Lucius_Chiaraviglio]

What do you think about tuning slides with screw actuation? I have seen drawings of such but never seen an actual example. But it seems that this would have improved stability. (Likewise, for reeds, it would seem that screw actuation of the tuning wire would have improved stability and resist being ruined by repeated retuning, but I haven't even seen a drawing of such a thing.)

[@jrorganbuilding]

I can’t quite conceptualize what you’re referring to.

[@Lucius_Chiaraviglio]

@@jrorganbuilding For the tuning slide, the top of the pipe would have a helical cut, and a stud sticking in from the slide would ride on it, so that when you turn it one way, it ascends, and when you turn it the other way, it descends. Alternatively, the bottom of the tuning slide would have a helical cut, and a stud sticking out from the pipe would provide for the slide to ride up and down in the same way. For the tuning wire, have the wire pushed and/or pulled by a screw (easiest thing I can think of would be to have captive nuts on the end of the screw inside the boot, with the tuning wire looped around them so that when you turn the screw one way it pushes and when you turn it the other way it pulls . . . but somebody might think of a better arrangement).

[@organbuilder272]

That has already been done and it proved impractical for several reasons. Good slide tuners are stable, do not move except when being tunes and allow the pipe to be tuned over many years, during which time the metal slowly softens, with out damage to the top of the pipe body. The cone tuning fanatics have spread this false narrative that slide tuners are not stable. That is nonsense if they are correctly fitted.@@Lucius_Chiaraviglio

[@matthy31]

I'm here just to tell the world about my anger about those poor little pipes I saw in the thumbnail randomly here on KZbin. What monster did this?

[@photonatjag]

Can the change in Seasons effect the tuning (for example here in the UK)

[@jrorganbuilding]

Contrary to common opinion, the seasonal changes do not have a great effect on tuning. Now allow me to explain. The flue pipes go sharp as the temperature increases and flat as the temperature decreases. So in theory the tuning has changed but the reality is that all of the pipes move sharp and flat together so the difference in pitch is not noticeable. Reed stops on the other hand do not move in pitch with temperature changes, so they appear in contrast to be out of tune. Actually the reeds are in tune with themselves and the flute pipes are in tune with themselves but they may not agree as the temperature changes. I do not recommend tuning reeds to match flue work extremes because the reed voicing eventually gets ruined. Tune the reeds to A 440 at 70 degrees and leave them alone and live with the fact that they will not match the flue pipes during extreme hot and cold. Now one more issue. If the organ is tracker action with pallet and slider chests ( you say “sound board” in the UK), the slider chests can be greatly affected by humidity changes. What happens particularly in older slider chests is that a certain amount of air escapes around the slides both on top and bottom. In dry seasons more air escapes than in humid seasons. That difference in the amount of air that escapes ultimately delivers more or less air to the pipes. The smaller trebles are more seriously affected than the larger ones. This can create quite a bit of tuning instability. That’s often the reason that cone tuned pipes eventually get mangled. It’s not that the pipes went out of tune, it’s the chest underneath that’s delivering varied amounts of air depending on humidity that is affecting the pitch in erratic ways.

[@dtony1964]

I'm thinking of giving organ tuning a try. What tools would I need to get started?

[@edwinsinclair9853]

How about reed pipes?

[@jrorganbuilding]

Reeds are a whole other topic. Maybe some day.

[@James_Bowie]

@@jrorganbuilding Yes, please. The local church's reeds are often the problematic ones.

[@jrorganbuilding]

@@James_Bowie in lieu of a video, much of the problem with reeds is that they are often over tuned to match the flue work due to seasonal temperature fluctuations. After a while they become so out of regulation that they no longer stay in tune. I always recommend tuning them at A 440 and then leave them alone. Main rule: tune only using the wire - not the scroll. Additionally, cleanliness is also important. Dirt and / or corrosion will always make for troublesome reeds.

[@James_Bowie]

@@jrorganbuilding Thanks. I suspect that dirt is the main culprit in this case.

[@holmespianotuning]

⁠​⁠@@jrorganbuilding reeds do not go out of regulation from ‘over tuning’ unless it has been done badly by tuning at the regulating scrolls and then somebody else comes along and tunes at the spring. Unless perhaps the wedges and tongues are loose. Many of the cathedral organs I tune stand very well in tune with monthly or even more frequent visits.

[@vwdiver512]

I have perfect pitch... and when I heard him demonstrating the out-of-tune pipes made it made me cringe on so many levels...

[@organbuilder272]

Some of those pipes are dented. Why didn't you straighten them out rather than show that neglect in your training video? Use acetone or lacquer thinner and it will come right off. WHOA - What about reed stops and stopped wood pipes. They DO NOT stay in tune over 10 years. Thumbs up, nice basic demo.

[@holmespianotuning]

What’s wrong with showing pipes that have been abused before repairing them? It seems rather than trying to change the overall pitch it’s simply that someone has not used the correct tools, perhaps because they are too lazy to go and get them, forgot them or didn’t know how to use them. Tuning cones are always lubricated before use and are best used at a slight angle to help prevent galling and damage to the pipe mouths.