Organ Maintenance & Tuning Basics Flashcards

What is a 'wind chest' in an organ?

Answer: The pressurized chamber that distributes wind to the pipes on each manual

The wind chest is a sealed pressurized box that holds the organ's pipes and contains the valve mechanisms (pallets or sliders) that control wind flow to each pipe.

When tuning reed pipes, adjustments are made by:

Answer: Moving the tuning wire up or down to alter the effective vibrating length of the tongue

Reed pipe pitch is controlled by a tuning wire (wire spring) that limits how much of the brass tongue vibrates — raising it sharpens, lowering it flattens.

Which type of pipe is most sensitive to temperature changes in terms of pitch stability?

Answer: Open metal flue pipes

Open metal flue pipes are very sensitive to temperature because pitch is proportional to the speed of sound, which rises with temperature, causing metal pipes to go sharp when warm.

What does 'cutup' refer to in pipe voicing?

Answer: The height of the mouth opening (the gap between the lower lip and the languid)

Cutup is the height of the pipe mouth — the gap between the lower lip and the upper edge of the languid — which critically affects tone color and speech.

A 'stopped' pipe (Gedackt) produces a pitch equivalent to an open pipe of:

Answer: Twice its length

A stopped pipe behaves acoustically like an open pipe twice its length, sounding an octave lower than an open pipe of the same physical length.

What is a 'blower' in organ terminology?

Answer: The electric motor-driven fan that supplies pressurized wind to the organ

The blower is an electrically powered centrifugal fan that generates the pressurized wind supply required for all organ pipes to speak.

When checking organ wind pressure, the standard measurement unit used in the US is:

Answer: Inches of water column (WC)

Organ wind pressure is traditionally measured in inches of water column (WC), using a water manometer or digital gauge calibrated to this unit.