Recent Projects

Casavant Frères opus 1103 (1925)

• March 1999, we releathered the action of the six-rank Great division.
• September 1999, we releathered the action of the seven-rank Swell division.
• January 2000, we releathered one of the swell engines and the primary valve units of the Bourdon and Open Wood chests.

Releathering of the Swell Engine

Shown is one of two nine-stage bellows from the swell engine. One pulls the shutter trace, and the other pushes. They hang in a pressurized box from a multi-stage valve assembly which exhausts the stages in sequence. Their free bottom ends are connected by rods through pressure seals to a hefty three-armed iron lever, to which the trace is also connected. At 10" x 22" on 8" wind, they exert about 64 lb, with a travel of about 4". The image on the left shows the bellows as it came out of the engine with gaping holes in the perished leather. Someone had tried to patch the other one with rubber cloth, probably about 1950 when the organ was move to St. Luke's, and it was in a worse state. The second image shows the 3/8" basswood bellows plates stacked with spacers graduated from 1/4" to 3/4", ready to be recovered with about 4 sq ft of leather. The third image shows the completed assembly. Each stage is connected to its valve port by a leather tube which pierces all intervening plates.

The original home of this instrument was the Kerrisdale Theatre in Vancouver BC.

Thomas Appleton (ca. 1845)

• Renewed worn key bushings and replaced moth-eaten keybed felt
• Contructed replacement pipes for inconsistent top octave of pedal rank
• Replace shallots of the replacement Trumpet with more open ones

T. Eaton organ

Renovations to the T. Eaton organ of St. Andrew's . In 1999, we replaced the swell box front, increasing the shutter area by 70%. There are now 24 - 7" x 48" shutters instead of 10 - 8" x 60" shutters.

Casavant Frères opus 516 (1913)

The chapel of this former convent and residential school is being restored to its 1920's splendor. Our part in this is to overhaul the chapel organ over several years.

In 1999, the second year, we overhauled the pedal division and replaced missing stop knobs. When the building was vacant, a vandal had pried open the lid and snapped off three coupler knobs. Turning and engraving of new knobs of ebony and ivory was subcontracted to local artisans. Leather joints in spring-loaded pedal pipe feet had perished long ago and had been overlaid with cloth bandage tape, tar tape and pvc electrical tape. We resisted the temptation to apply a further layer, of the currently fashionable duct tape. The leather joint in the pedal wind trunk had also perished. Pedal action was inspected, cleaned and adjusted.

Casavant Frères opus 293 (1907)

In 1999, cleaning and pipe repairs in the Great division

Stay tuned:

• Further cleaning and repair at St. Andrew's Cathedral
• Further renovations at St. Andrew's Presbyterian
• Further restoration at St. Ann's Chapel
• Further overhaul at St. Luke's Anglican