FAQ Organs

Why are pipe organs so expensive?

Why do they take so long to build?

How long should an organ last?

Over the long term, is a pipe organ a better value than an electronic substitute?

What typically should a pipe organ owner expect for maintenance? How often?

Who owns a pipe organ these days? Why should we own one?

We have "Blended" and/or "Contemporary" styles of worship. Is the organ still relevant for our style of worship? How can a pipe organ integrate into this style of worship?

Our church has a pipe organ, but no one to play it. We though have a person in the congregation who plays a keyboard instrument (synthesizer or piano). Can this person learn to play our pipe organ? Where can he or she find a teacher?

We are planning to build a new building. When should the organbuilder be called in?

We are planning to remodel our building, but the remodeling does not directly affect the organ. Should we call our organbuilder anyways?

We are planning on doing piano and organ duets. What special considerations should we be aware of?

We recently had our organ tuned, but it did not stay in tune for very long. Why?

Our church has a pipe organ, but we have not used it in many years. What are our options?

We are experiencing problems between us and the organbuilder that we have hired. What assistance can we procure?

For leathering or re-leathering of an organ, we see it stated that only hot hide glue is used. Why is this important?

Why are pipe organs so expensive?

Pipe organs are built as a custom instrument. Each one is unique. And even though some of the components can be mass-produced (such as chest magnets and drawknob assemblies) almost all of the parts of the organ are built by hand from raw materials. For a pipe organ to be of good quality and a lasting value, skilled labour and quality materials must go into building each and every part of the instrument.

Why do they take so long to build?

Since an organ is a custom built, and complex instrument, there is a considerable amount of labour involved. It is not uncommon for an average sized 2 manual and pedal organ to have in excess of 20,000 man/hours of labour to construct, install and voice an instrument. Also considering that most organbuilding shops are small and have a small staff, it can easily be seen why it takes a long time to construct a pipe organ.

How long should an organ last?

Generally many of the basic components of the organ, such as the pipes and the structure will typically last several hundred years. How long the remaining portions of the organ last depends on type of organ, quality of materials, environment, and quality of maintenance.

Over the long term, is a pipe organ a better value than an electronic substitute?

Yes. Several years ago a statistician compiled data from pipe organ manufactures, electronic organ manufactures, and organ owners (mostly churches). Factored in was the initial cost, routine maintenance, major repairs, replacement costs (in the case of the electronic organ) and inflation.
Depending on the inflation rate, the electronic organ was 30% to 102% more expensive over the course of a 40 year term.

What typically should a pipe organ owner expect for maintenance? How often?

There are many factors involved in maintaining a pipe organ. Such things as the condition of the organ, how stable the organ's tuning is, the number and extent of the problems and the amount of time that the organ technician has been allotted for a particular instrument (especially during peak seasons such as Lent and Advent), will factor into the service call. Generally during a typical service call the reed stops are tuned, and flu pipes that are badly out of tune will also be addressed (any major tuning or re-pitching of the instrument is generally scheduled outside normal maintenance), any minor and easily correctable mechanical problems will be repaired (major or costly items are noted and a follow-up letter is sent to the client for their approval), the blower checked and serviced if necessary, and the console and console area cleaned. Again depending on many factors such as stability, usage, and the clients budget is dependent on often we recommend the organ be serviced.
Generally we recommend that an organ be serviced once every 3 months.

Who owns a pipe organ these days? Why should we own one?

Most pipe organs are built for houses of worship (Churches), but pipe organ owners include universities, schools (primary through high school), theatres, private residences, municipal auditoriums, municipal buildings (such as town halls), lodges, meeting halls, department stores, hotels, outdoor theatres, and even office buildings! A pipe organ is the best instrument in accompanying a group of singers. It is the largest, most complex, and the most powerful of any acoustical instrument, and it is an acoustical instrument with the most variety of tone colours. It can play a wide variety of literature from the baroque to contemporary, and literature specifically written for the organ to transcriptions of music originally written for the orchestra. It was Mozart himself that called the pipe organ 'The king of instruments!'

We have "Blended" and/or "Contemporary" styles of worship. Is the organ still relevant for our style of worship? How can a pipe organ integrate into this style of worship?

Yes it is. Generally in most styles of worship where contemporary music is used, most times there is a keyboard player or 2 playing a piano and/or a synthesizer.
Through the use of MIDI (Musical Instrument Digital Interface, the interface system that allows one instrument to play another or a way of combining different synthesizers together), the pipe organ can not only play the synthesizers and the piano (an electric/synthesized piano), but then can combine the elements of the organ with them from one instrument. This will give a greater selection over sound colours that the keyboard player can choose from.

Our church has a pipe organ, but no one to play it. We though have a person in the congregation who plays a keyboard instrument (synthesizer or piano). Can this person learn to play our pipe organ? Where can he or she find a teacher?

Absolutely. Having basic keyboard skills is extremely helpful in learning to play the organ. You can generally find an organ teacher at a church who has a regular organist. He or she will generally teach organ to others. Also an organ teacher can be found at most colleges or universities. These teachers will generally take on private students outside the school, so you do not need to be enrolled to learn organ from them. As a final resource, contacting your local professional organist's organization. In the United States, the local professional organist's organization is the American Guild of Organists.

We are planning to build a new building. When should the organbuilder be called in?

From the very beginning. Most architects are unaware of the requirements needed for a pipe organ. An organbuilder can help an owner decided what type of organ is best suited for their building and needs, how large the instrument needs to be, and how much the organ that they want will cost. From this the organbuilder can work with the architect to ensure that enough space is available. Also an organbuilder can help in guiding the architect and the building owners in selecting building materials that will visually, as well as tonally and acoustically enhance the organ rather than detract.

We are planning to remodel our building, but the remodeling does not directly affect the organ. Should we call our organbuilder anyways?

Absolutely. There are many items that a pipe organ owner does not realize affects their organ. Such things as protecting the organ during the remodeling from dust and debris, to any necessary cleaning from the remodeling, to the selection of  materials that can enhance rather than detract from the sound or the visual aspects of the organ.

We are planning on doing piano and organ duets. What special considerations should we be aware of?

The most important thing to be aware of is that the organ and the piano need to be at the exact same temperature both when they are used as well as during the performance. Even a couple of degrees can make a big difference. The reason being as an organ gets warmer the pitch goes sharp, and as a piano gets warmer, the pitch goes flat. The opposite effects happen when the instruments get cold. This becomes a problem as the temperature changes, the instruments become further out of tune with each other.

We recently had our organ tuned, but it did not stay in tune for very long. Why?

There are many factors which make an organ go out of tune. If the whole organ is out of tune, especially the reeds and the upperwork, the temperature in which the organ was tuned may have changed. If the temperature returns back to where it was when the organ was tuned, it should return reasonably back in tune. If the temperature is constant, is the organ dirty? Dirt can affect the stability of the tuning of the organ. This may also be more noticeable with random or individual pipes. Once the organ is cleaned, the tuning should be more stable. An organ should be cleaned (depending on several factors such as the cleanliness of the building's air supply) approximately every 25 years. If it is an individual pipe, they can be cleaned as needed. Tuning slides can become loose, which can be re-tightened or replaced as needed. Again this usually affects random notes assuming that the tuning slides were of good quality to begin with. Lastly if it is a reed stop(s) that goes out of tune within a few minutes to a few hours, the pipes may be in need of rebuilding and/or re-voicing.

Our church has a pipe organ, but we have not used it in many years. What are our options?

If the organ is of a good quality manufacture, and it is not in the way, leave it alone. If it is of concern that no one is playing it, if the church has a piano or keyboard player, and they are interested, this person can learn to play the organ. If it is a church whose music has gone from more traditional styles to more contemporary styles, the church may not see the relevance of the instrument. One style does not have to be exclusive of the other. Of course many people desire to have an organ for such things as weddings, funerals, and for accompanying hymns. The organ can be modernized and made relevant by the simple addition of M.I.D.I. (Musical Instrument Digital Interface) where the keyboard player can play synthesizers from the organ console, and even combine them with the organ sounds. There has been a gradual change, even amongst contemporary styles of worship, to reinstate some traditional musical elements into worship. If the organ is never going to be used, or the church needs the space where the organ is presently located, it of course can be sold. Besides contacting your local organbuilder or organ technician, the organ can be listed with the Organ Clearing House, or an online auction service. Once, though, the organ is sold, it cannot be returned. A large church, who had a very fine pipe organ decided to sell it. 6 months later musical elements that the organ were providing were missed enough that they ended up purchasing an electronic substitute that was never as satisfactory as the original pipe organ.

We are experiencing problems between us and the organbuilder that we have hired. What assistance can we procure?     

No matter how careful anybody is, sometime problems between 2 people or 2 groups of people arise. This includes organbuilders and their clients. Most of the time problems arise when there is a mis-understanding between the organbuilder and the client and fault lies with both organbuilder and client. Instead of bring matters to court, most situations can be resolved, and less costly, with the assistance of a consultant. A neutral, third party, who can analyze all side, review the situation and documentation, can make recommendations, and can even oversee the situation through the problems. This person should look at the whole situation objectively, should be a person of unswerving integrity, remain absolutely neutral throughout the process, not personally get involved in doing any of the organ work themselves; remaining completely 'hands-off', and have a thorough knowledge of the organ and organbuilding. There are some organist are capable of serving in this capacity, but there are also some organbuilders have and can act as independent consultants.

For leathering or re-leathering of an organ, we see it stated that only hot hide glue is used. Why is this important?

Leather and rubber cloth are perishable materials that will need to be replaced from time to time within an organ. These materials are generally glued to wooden surfaces, such as pouch rails or reservoir ribs. When the leather or rubber cloth needs to be replace, the old material needs to be removed without causing damage to the wooden surfaces and the wooden surfaces need to be easily prepared to receive the new materials. When using hide glue to glue leather and rubber cloth to a wooden surface, the materials are easily removed when the materials need to be replaced. Hide glue is easily sanded off, and in fact, all of the original glue does not need to be removed, as it will act as a prime glue coat, the new glue will adhere to the old glue, and the old glue will reactivate with the new glue even hundreds of years later! If leather or rubber cloth is glued down to a wooden surface with woodworking glue (yellow or white glue) the materials are extremely difficult to remove, the wooden
surfaces can be easily damaged during the removal process, and all of the original glue will need to be removed prior to the wooden surface accepting new glue and materials. Removal of woodworking glues from wooden surfaces is an extremely
time consuming and expensive process, adding at least seven times the labour amount to a project. If gluing a perishable material to a perishable material (such as felt to leather, or leather to leather), it is an acceptable practice to use a glue such as 'white glue' to join these materials together as long as none of the 'white glue' comes in contact with any wooden surface. This is done because a glue such as 'white glue' remains considerably more flexible than hide glue when dry, and in certain instances (such as valves or double gusset corners) flexibility of the perishable materials is desirable.

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