St. John's Hybrid Austin/Viscount Organ Update: Chamber Speaker Installation

Once the speakers arrived, we began the installation in the chambers.  Each speaker front is removed from it's outer box encasement.  For the most secure and stable permanent placement of Walker Technical Company speakers, we first attach each speaker box, and then reinsert the speaker fronts.  This method gives optimum stability.  Below is that process taking shape...

Each speaker serves a unique and independent purpose.  Through Viscount's Physis Technology, these speakers will emanate sound in a way that seeks to replicate a pipe organ.

Take a look at our completed wiring job.  Whitesel Church Organs make sure that not only the work you see is first class, but also the work you don't see.

Once completed with the mid/treble speakers, we then placed the 200 pound Walker Technical Company subwoofer cabinet.

Choir Speakers...

2nd Great Chamber...

Swell Chamber...

Once Andrew is finished with his 1st class wiring job, we reinstall the swell shades that will control the volume of the pipes, and then finally reinstall all pipes in the swell chamber, including some repaired and re-voiced pipes.  This will be Viscount's largest Hybrid Organ / Combination Organ in North America when complete.

St. John's Hybrid Austin/Viscount Organ Update: Chamber Space Construction

Before we can install the Walker Technical Speaker Cabinets, we had to construct additional chamber space.  Currently, the entire Austin Pipe Organ is located on the left side of the church.  Our intention is to vastly increase the soundscape of the organ.  This will require sound to come from the right side of the sanctuary as well.  We are also improving the range of the new organ by increasing the vertical plane of the sound by placing certain ranks of the organ up high in the transepts and also on a ceiling beam.  Below is a basic illustration of our design, without giving away specific proprietary information about Physis Technology by Viscount and speaker design.  You'll have to pardon us for not going too in depth. Our competitors have been very interested in what we do lately, and how exactly we are capable of accomplishing such an incredible result...

There will also be an antiphonal organ and trumpet en chamade located on a beam in the rear of the church.  Pictured below is the construction of our additional chambers on the right side being built.  This will help direct sound out into the sanctuary.  It will also hide all speakers and wiring from being visible to anyone.  When complete, the chamber space will look like it was 'always there', and not obtrusive to anyone.  We also coat the chambers in special black paint that makes for a wonderfully reflective surface.  It also reduces the chance you will see inside the chambers should direct light hit it.  Remember, the special speaker cloth we use in the chamber fronts is slightly translucent in order for the sound to properly escape.

 Choir Chamber

 One of two Great Chambers

St. John's Hybrid Austin/Viscount Organ Update: Delivery of Walker Technical Speaker Cabinets

The entire order of custom Walker Technical Speaker Cabinets was delivered to the church.  These speakers, and the specific way they will be wired and positioned, are the secret ingredient behind Viscount’s Physis Technology.  In conjunction with the Physis Technology Platform, these speakers will create an incredible amount of movement throughout the sanctuary.  When the new organ is played, you will hear stops moving from left to right, forward and backward, and up and down, with incredible clarity and realism.

 

Above are a few pictures of the speaker cabinets being unloaded.  In the first picture, Andrew (organ and piano service/tuning apprentice) and Dylan (marketing manager), assist with taking the boxes inside.  In the 2nd picture, you will see Ian assisting Joshua Dove, CEO/President of Whitesel Church Organs as well.  Note that both Dylan and Ian are the upcoming FOURTH generation in the business.  They have a genuine interest with working in the industry, and we are especially excited to have them involved on this special project. 

Below is one of the three subwoofers used in this installation.  It will give an incredible clarity to some of the lowest frequencies of organ.  Many people don't realize that it's actually the pedal notes of the organ that drive congregational hymn singing.  We often see churches purchase a new organ from one of our competitors with an incredible console, but the installation lacks the proper and appropriate sound system.  After all, isn't the sound what matters most?  Whitesel Church Organs has many options for sound systems, so don't think your church must have one of these large speakers in order to get favorable results.  As we have done with St. John's Episcopal Church, your organ and sound system will be built entirely to your personal specifications and needs.

These speakers were chosen to give us the best and closest voicing to the current Austin Pipe Organ.  This Custom Viscount Organ powered by Physis Technology will feature an all digital Cavaille-Coll inspired voicing, a baroque organ, an english organ, and a magnificent hybrid American Organ, using the existing Austin pipes as the base for our instrument.

Here are all the speaker cabinets from Walker Technical Company, along with the rackmount for the amps.

St. John's Hybrid Austin/Viscount Organ Update: Acoustical Cloth Replacement

The first step in the installation of this Viscount and Austin Organ Hybrid is updating the acoustical cloth located behind the beautiful plaster filigree panels of the chambers.  The current cloth material is a heavy drape, and not the best type of material to transmit sound.  Here is the before...

As you can see, the fabric was worn, and certainly dated.  It served the church well for many years, but was time for a change.  The acoustical cloth Whitesel Church Organs uses is more conducive to allowing sound to pass through, and it also meets certain updated fire codes that weren't even in existence when the original drape style curtains were installed over 50 years ago.

First, new custom frames were made by the construction manager, Jeff.  Special care was taken for each of the frames to meet behind the plaster, this way the seams are completely hidden, and can't be seen.  This gives the illusion of each chamber having one solid piece of fabric.  Here are the frames...

If you look closely, you can see through the fabric.  This is incredibly important to allow sound to escape the chambers.  Many churches don't know the difference, and often use regular fabrics.  This type of acoustical cloth also allows for proper ventilation of the chambers where pipes reside.  This assists with tuning stability of the real windblown Austin Pipes.

 

Here is the first frame installed in the Swell Chamber.  We removed almost all pipes, and also the swell shades in order to perform this work.  And finally, the finished result can be seen below!

The new fabric gives the illusion there is nothing there, and highlights the beauty, intricate lines, and craftsmanship of the plaster filigree.  Things are coming together!  We look forward to posting more info soon!

Pipe Repair Underway on St. John's Church Austin Organ Pipes

While the organ overall is in excellent condition due to regular maintenance and previous repairs, some of the pipes of this organ needed some work to get it back to 100%.  Our dedicated, knowledgeable, and experienced staff have begun the process of bringing some of the ranks of pipes back to their original condition.  Here is a rank of Bourdon Pipes we have since refelted...

As you can see, these pipes were covered in packing tape.  Packing tape might be great for mailing Christmas Presents to Grandma, but it's certainly not an acceptable long term 'fix' for pipes of this incredible quality.  We are sure this doesn't meet the standards of Austin Organ Company, and it certainly doesn't meet Whitesel Church Organs' standards either.  Our Head Pipe Organ Technician, Bob Lent, made the repairs.  Take a look at them now...

Now these pipes will be less likely to slip out of tune so quickly.  Company President, Joshua Dove reinstalled them recently.

In addition to the Bourdon, we are also rebuilding all the reeds in the organ.  That work will be completed the end of August, just in time for the arrival of the new Custom Viscount Organ Console!

Largest Viscount Organ in North America to be Installed this Summer

The largest Viscount Organ in North America will be installed at St. John's Episcopal Church in Portsmouth, VA. The organ will include a completed restoration of their Austin Pipe Organ, to also become Viscount's largest hybrid organ.

We are honored to announce that this summer we will be installing the largest organ in the 67 year, three generation history of our firm at St. John's Episcopal Church in Portsmouth, VA. This is not only the largest organ our firm has ever installed, but also the largest Viscount Organ AND largest Viscount hybrid organ in North America ever installed.

 

The console will be a custom french console inspired by Aristide Cavaillé-Coll, while still remaining versatile for today's diverse American Church.

The first picture shows the magnificent interior of St. John's historic sanctuary 'courtesy J. Gleason Photography'. The picture below shows the century and a half old Cavaille Coll of Church Notre-Dame of Epernay, France. We are modeling our design after this console, adding many more stops, and integrating some architecture from St. John's Church as well. For instance, the new console will feature raised panels that appear to be church windows representing the trinity. A similar design is found throughout St. John's.

After completing their restoration, the Whitesel Church Organs team is interfacing about 18 ranks of wind blown pipes from the church's existing Austin Pipe Organ. Some of our competitors suggested altering the Austin Pipe Organ, or doing away with ranks of pipes altogether. As a friend of the pipe organ, and real pipe organ technicians and enthusiasts ourselves, we do not feel the need to take away or change something that is working well for the church.  If your church has an existing pipe organ, and is interested in adding additional pipe or digital stops, consider working with Whitesel Church Organs.  We have no ulterior motives, and aren't 'anti' pipe organ like some others in the digital organ business.  We will do whatever it takes to preserve the integrity of the original instrument.

Including the new physically modeled digital organ stops powered by Viscount's Physis Technology, the console will have 88 movable drawknobs.  And not only is this console custom, but the entire stop specification is as well.  Viscount and Whitesel Church Organs took all of the organist's tonal and stoplist wishes and made them a complete reality.  It isn't our job to tell you how many ways you are wrong about what's best for your music ministry.  It's our job to tell you how we can accomplish what you already know to be best for your music ministry. 

The custom console will feature new state of the art handmade automatic velocity fully adjustable wooden keyboards, exclusively available through Viscount. This innovative keyboard design is able to reproduce, down to the minutest detail, the authentic touch sensation of the traditional pipe organ keyboard. The keys themselves will also be groundbreaking in the US, featuring bamboo naturals and ebony sharps.  Bamboo has an exceptional strength to weight ratio, is pleasant to the touch, and is a renewable green resource.

 

The sound system is also totally and completely custom made for use with Viscount Organs Physis Technology by Walker Technical Company of Zionsville, PA. It will boast a total of 51 speaker cabinets strategically placed throughout the sanctuary, without any being visible to congregants in the pews. The speaker system will be powered with 8,000 watts.

This is the first official announcement about the organ, but we will be creating a blog for the installation's progress over the summer. Be sure to stay in touch through our facebook page or website for updates.

Taking the recommendation of Joshua Dove, St. John's Leadership understood the importance of previewing this technology on a similar grand scale and space.  For this reason, instead of viewing a much smaller local Whitesel Church Organs installation, they had the forsight and wisdom to send their organist, Christopher Rusk, to Whitesel's recent large Viscount 3-Manual Organ installation in Darien, CT at Noroton Presbyterian Church. Noroton is the largest Presbyterian Church in New England. Here, Christopher was able to see and hear the capabilities of Viscount's Physis Technology paired with the Custom Walker Technical Sound System in a space with phenomenal acoustics and ideal speaker placement.

The work has already begun, and Whitesel Church Organs plans on the installation being complete this summer.

 

Jeremy Fillsell will be opening this organ up on Friday, Oct. 2 at 7:00p.m., and we're looking forward to it transforming or reaffirming your belief about what this firm is capable of. We are thankful to all who continue to believe in the good work we are doing, and especially thankful for the people of St. John's Church for their trust and faith in Joshua Dove, and our firm. This is the culmination of a life's work. Not of Joshua's life, but that of our late predecessors, Carroll Motsinger and Norman Whitesel, and the continuation of a never ending ministry.

For Carroll's Grandson and current company President, Joshua, this is the beginning of our arrival. Whitesel is not a local or regional firm. Whitesel is a national firm.  A national pipe and digital organ firm with an army of experts ready to provide your church with the finest finished product and the highest quality service, no matter what size church. Opus 1,275. This is our masterpiece.

 

If you currently have a pipe, digital, or hybrid organ project, and would value our opinion, please call us right away at 888-439-8383.

St. John's Organ Contract Signing

Front row (L-R): Margaret Perkins (Senior Warden) & Joshua Dove

Back row (L-R): Clifford King Harbin (Associate to the Rector), Christopher Rusk (Organist & Choirmaster), J. Derek Harbin (Rector)