Organ Console Replacement Project 2020-2022
Central United Methodist Church | Florence, SC
Background
The current organ at Central UMC Florence was built by Schantz Organ Company of Orville, Ohio, and installed in 1988. The organ consists of wind chests, nearly 4,000 pipes of various sizes and materials, wind supply and conduits, electronic components, and the console—the part with the keyboards, pedalboard, and all controls, that the organist plays. The console of the 1988 organ began to fail approximately 5 years ago. In particular, the combination action that allows the organist to preset various combinations of stops/registers became unreliable and was determined to be irreparable.
The replacement project
After receiving proposals from 4 organ building companies, a decision was made to contract Orgues Létourneau of St. Hycainthe, Quebec, Canada, to build a new console. The rest of the organ consisting of pipes, chests, blowers, wind supply, etc. remains unchanged from the 1988 instrument. The new console arrived October 10, 2022 and is currently being installed. We expect the work to be completed within a month.
While we are excited about getting a new console, this does not mean we are getting a new organ. A good analogy would be if you had an airplane that needed a new cockpit, you would replace or update the cockpit, but you would still have the same plane. We still have the same organ with one exception; we are getting one new rank (set) of 61 pipes in our positive division. This will expand the usefulness of that division, particularly in accompanying singers/instrumentalists.
Here are some of the features of the new console:
• a reliable combination action—that is the system that allows the organist to preset various combination of stops
• a greatly expanded memory capacity increasing the number of levels from 8 to 300
• a sequencer allowing the organist to with the push of a single button to advance through a sequence of registrations (combinations)
• a transposer
• the ability to record/playback from the console.
Here are some images including before and after pictures of the project.
The 1988 Schantz console has been relocated to the third-floor choir room. We are exploring the option of utilizing digital technology to find a new use for it as a rehearsal and practice instrument. More details on this to come.
New Organ Console Being Brought into the Church (sped up footage)
