The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1900-10-28
TUNING A PIPE ORGAN.
IL Takes Two or Three DAYS and Isa Nerve
Trying Job.

Tho misuse which many pipe organs suffer
Il r .onder n me" said a veteran organ tuner
ano builder "Church organs cost from s.ooO
10 $1,000. They are very sensitive 20 changes
OF temperature and vet many are heated and
chilled once a week all winter AMI allowed 10
get damn soaked In summer. The same people
who neglect an organ will take good care Of
n piano costing a tenth or twentieth as much.
An organ IL a coed deal like a human being
when II comes to changes Of the Thermometer
Suddendrops put n man out Of tune and It's the
same with the instrument. II needs an even,
moderate temperature during the winter In
stead Of q roasting on Sunday and q freeze
the rest Of the week. In summer a stone or
brick church gets damp. A slight hre once a
week will keep the organ dry,
a pipe organ requires tuning at least once
a wear and the best Instruments are looked
over two or three times In that period. II IL
a two or three DAYS Job and needs two men,
Besides ID, tuner up in the organ an assistant
must be at lie keyboard 20 hold down the KEYS
Temperature has 70 be considered even In
tuning All he pipes must be, brought 10
pitch at about The same degree and THIS degree,
Should be that which the organ usually mas
II believe that pipe organ tuning is the most
nervous work one can tackle IN .Se,. mar
tune With my nerves. No, ! don't refer 10
tie nerves OF hearing. / get my impressions
that way, but ! tune with my nervous system
NV assistant strikes a chord. II IL Is not true
/ feel a nervous stress and strain As soon
az the chord Is true my nerves become har-
monious too. II sounds funny. but rs 80.
Two or three days may seem Ike n long
time 10 take 10 tune an organ. but when you
stop to think or the / 100 pipes in a large modern
instrument II isn't so long A large organ
Will have a compass Of five octay@ or sixty
one KEYS These Instruments. have twenty
eight registers and a pipe to each key and register
brings the number 70 LOS. Not every key
and register has a pine, but MS some have two
and sizes, most of them wood but many OF
metal A small number Of the large and long
Wooden pipes never get out Of tune. They
are too long For many years the fancy pipes
at tho front Of an organ we're only Ornamental,
but nowadays these sound,as well.
Il find that pipe tuning a q mystery to most
people They can understand how the piano
Strings arc tightened and loosened But
changes in the pitch OF pipes queer them,
organ has two kinds Of tuning OF course,
the pittn depends on the length Of the pine.
Tie pitch may be raised by shortening tho
pipe or 10y stopping the open end A number
Of the wooden pipes are stopped by wooden
slides Handlcs are attached and the pipe N
tuned by moving the ildos IN or down. Other
woods ha ". set In the top a piece Of metal which
i rolled or bent over partially To stop the pipe
Ribbon strips are cut IA the sides OF the
tail metal pipes and rolled down These break
the column OF air and act the SAINT as cutting
of the top of the pipe Another Kind Of pipes,
the reeds, are on a different principle The
length OF the reed controls the pitch 4 wire
prcSse. tightly against the reed and Is moved
TO lengthen or shorten the vibrating length.