Now that Covid-19 lockdown is beginning to ease we have been able to undertake some installations which had been postponed. It is great news for the churches, as they are now able to resume some services and revitalise their music with brand new instruments.
Last month we also wrote about how we resumed our organ installations with two church organ installations post lockdown.
St Paul’s Church in Chacewater looking for a versatile church organ
The situation here is very familiar and I’m sure many of you reading this will know of churches in a similar situation. It might even be your own!
We were first contacted by St. Paul’s in February of this year. It is a large parish church with a small 2 manual, 12 stop instrument, originally built by local builder Hele & Co in the 1870’s. The pipe organ is situated in the NE transept and speaks directly into the choir.
The small size of the organ, location and direction of sound means that the instrument just does not have enough power to fill the church for large services and the organist cannot hear the congregation. In addition, the organ is in a poor state of repair and the cost of renovation is prohibitive.
The need here was to provide versatile instrument with a much wider range of tone colours, for the organist to feel much more a part of any services with better communication with the clergy and to be able to balance the sound between organ and congregation.
A new Viscount Envoy 35-SV organ installed in the church
The proposal agreed with the committee was for a new Envoy 35-SV console to be situated in the south aisle opposite the pipe organ chamber.
There would be 6 speakers for the manuals, with four being situated on top of the swell box in an ark and 2 speakers inside the organ case facing the choir but angled towards the roof. This arrangement allowed for an even sound scape throughout the church, with a more direct sound into the choir for accompanying any choral work.
The sub speaker for the pedals was situated on the floor inside the organ case. In this project we took advantage of the unique Physis speaker routing, channelling all the great division through the speakers on the swell box and putting the swell through one of those speakers and the two inside the organ.
After installation, the organ was voiced and balanced stop-by-stop to suit the acoustics of the building.
The result has been welcomed by all with John Sheppard (organist) commenting ‘Dear Richard, first of all a big thank you to yourself and your team for the installation of the new organ at Chacewater. Those who have seen and heard it are very impressed, as are myself and David.’
A lovely testimonial from the Organist
We are delighted with the purchase of our new organ Envoy35-SV. The installation and tonal finishing by Viscount was very professional and expertly carried out.
We have received many comments from members of the congregation on how good the organ sounds. Testimony of the good work carried out by Richard and the team. We look forward to the organ enhancing both worship, and concerts for many years to come at St. Paul’s.
John Sheppard (Organist) St. Paul’s Chacewater, Cornwall
Looking for a new church organ? Read our blog on selecting the right organ for your church.
I have played the church organ since the age of 11. I am organist at my local catholic church as well as accompanist for a small choral group and keyboard player in a function band. I am committed to ensuring Viscount customers get industry leading service and advice, resulting in the very best organ to suit their needs, be it church, school, home or concert hall.
