April 2022 Update

This past month, I was able to finish wiring the rest of the manual chests as well as the chrysoglott. With that behind me, I started to focus on what was necessary to get the manual chests installed. Two continuous chest bearers are needed from the front of the chamber to the back. Thanks to John Cornue for the recommendation of Badger Hardwoods of Walworth. Here, I was able to pick out 12’, rough cut boards and have them mill it down to the same spec Wurlitzer used in their boards (oversized).

Switching gears to upstairs, the Uniflex relay PC was hooked up to our video system. This allows the manuals and pedalboard to display realtime output when an organist plays the console.

Perhaps the largest accomplishment was moving crates around and going through the tallest ranks. By doing this, I was able to determine how many pipes need to be mitered to fit into the chamber. A lot of thought went into how high off the ground to mount the manual chests. Too low and I won’t be able to squeeze my body under them after a few more years of Kopps Custard consumption. Too high and I will need to miter more pipes to fit. After laying on the ground with a screwdriver and yardstick, the height was determined to be 20 inches. The reservoirs and trems will not be installed under the chests, rather next to them and under extra wide walk boards. As it stands, 14 pipes will need to be mitered, mainly in the tuba.

Another item off of the to-do list was to connect the meter tubing between the control panel and wind trunks. Now you can see a real time reading of whatever the blowers are outputting in terms of water column.

Finally, a big thanks to Nick Renkosik for making the connection with the late Col. Jack Moelmann estate. Through this connection, I was able to get a set of wind chimes and a 30-note set of tuned bottles! These will be fun when it comes time for beer barrel polka…