St Nicholas Church Chawton October 2013

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St Nicholas Chawton presented an unusual challenge to replace an earlier Makin digital organ that had been custom fitted into the most charming redundant pipe organ case which as you see has restricted access to the console.

The budget did not allow for a full replacement of the moving drawstop action so it was agreed that we would fit an illuminated drawstop action. We recommended an instrument of 35 speaking stops.

New side jambs were made but we were able to reuse the existing pedal board  and the toe studs. The organ pipework had long since gone so it was a relatively easy job to fit a new speaker system into  the old pipe chamber.

The instrument was tested in the factory before construction in the church which took just 2 days. A loan instrument had been provided to cover the period that the old Makin was out of action before our new instrument was fitted.

I have at last taken the time to thank you for our splendid new organ. It’s a pleasure to listen to, the organists love it, say it’s a real treat to play. You made an excellent job of its fitting. It has gone into the existing casing seamlessly and you can not tell that there are any changes made.

Many thanks for your guidance during the decision time and helping us to choose our organ with superb Physis sound reproduction, the easy up to date system and recording facility with remote control which we will need when we have no organist. Also the knowledge that you are there to help with any problems.

I am not qualified to make technical comment but when I have spoken to those that are – they have nothing but praise.

At the risk of repeating myself, thank you again to all your team for all your help and expertise.