Opus 64

I’m constantly amazed and the number or unique businesses in our area.   Last year when we went on the field trip to Trinity Episcopal Church, we learned that the pipe organ in the church was made locally.   A little web search later and I was on their website, and woohoo! there was a place to sign up for emails of up-coming events.

One of those events was an Open House this past weekend to display their newly built Opus 64.  And let me tell you, it’s no easy task trying to get a photo of this thing!

The builders let the side and back doors and panels off for the open house so everyone could get a good look at the interior of this masterpiece.  This particular organ contains 2000 handcrafted pipes, and took a total of 14,000 man hours to complete!

This is the first time the builder has used an electrical system in one of their organs…looks complicated huh? (above right photo). 

We were fortunate enough to be in the first live audience to hear the organ played, and it was incredible!

We were also allowed to tour the facility and ask questions of the staff.   My husband, the craftsman, was in seventh heaven during this part of the open house!   The builders do everything from cutting the lumber, forging the metal, carving, painting and tuning these incredible instruments.

Below is the raw material for the pipes, waiting to be melted and turned into sheet metal in this handy dandy contraption. 

Once the metal is melted, it’s poured out onto this table and smoothed and made to the correct thickness.

This contraption below is a “swell trumpet”.  The young man in the photo assembles each item by hand, including the reeds.  He then uses the “swell trumpet” and a good ear to tune each pipe.

And he was gracious enough to let Lindsey have a turn.  The sound blast of sound startled her just a bit!

Finally, I LOVED this whimsical display by the entryway!