50-kl Williams/Chiappa MP3 Recordings

50-kl Williams/Chiappa MP3 Recordings
The other night I recorded a few minutes of my 50-kl Williams/Chiappa Fair Organ on a personal MP3 player for your comments and feedback. Please treat these as ‘demonstration’ files to show the progress of the project during its final stages. I’ve still some tweaks to make to a few of the trumpets and also melody flutes, plus the organ has so far only ever had the one 'rough' tune which I had to do back in May, and that had to be in quite a limited time period over several nights to make sure the neighbours didn't complain! I’m very pleased to say the reeds (all 42 pipes of them covering every section of the scale) have proved to be remarkably stable, which I hope they continue to be when the organ travels. Once my built-in diesel generator is wired in (something I’ve been working on lately) I’ll only have sheep and cows complaining about the noise from tuning sessions, and hence I’ll be able to get every pipe at just the pitch it needs to be! I’m really pleased at how the balance of the pipework has turned out, which has been exactly as I planned and set out to achieve. Not only do the two register keys alter the melody pipework, but each one brings a different bass and accompaniment chest in to play too, meaning a good variety in tone throughout the instrument, and a really powerful instrument overall when both registers are set (only when both are on does the glockenspiel play). With both registers off, the flutes on the melody are still in play, as are accompaniment flutes and cellos, along with bass flues and helpers, so I’ve managed to get an effective three or four register effect still using standard size and scale 48 key books which only normally have one register (hence I’ve had to add the additional register controls onto each book of music to make it suit this configuration). I am however still pondering the percussion at the moment, which like the pipework changes with the different register conditions in order to get the absolute most of out the three keys available (which usually just comprise 1 bass drum and 2 snare drum notes). The snare drum isn’t really quite loud enough, particularly on forte passages, so I might try adding castanets playing by their own motors, which come in to play with the glockenspiel at the front (i.e. when both violin and trumpet registers are set). You can’t see the snare drum strikers from the front, so this would add more movement for the public to watch. The front bell is a bit unpredictable when it swings, so needs a better mounting. I have now got the intermittent cymbal strikers working, but the bass drum is a bit quiet, so I might make a bigger motor for this. Being more accurate in fact, it’s not that the drums are too quiet, the rest of the organ is very loud, so I’ll have to alter the drums slightly to match. Anyway, enough of my nit-picking and on with the music… Tom Meijer’s absolutely superb arrangement “Looney Tunes Medley”: http://www.gavioli.euro1net.com/mp3/tunes.mp3 The classic Peter Watts book (Steve Clarke arrangement) of “The Teddy Bears’ Picnic”: http://www.gavioli.euro1net.com/mp3/teddy.mp3 A traditional old Chiappa(?) book (arranger not given) of “Yip Aye Addy”: http://www.gavioli.euro1net.com/mp3/yip.mp3 All comments, thoughts and ideas are welcomed; I look forward to hearing what you think of the sound so far. :org:

Hi Nick, I think the Chippa sounds very nice now you have done some more work on it. I noticed you have added an wood-block and also an bandleader on the front,can you bring in the cymbel by its self (which I noitced on The Lonney Tunes selection) without the bass drum playing at the same time? Ben

Well done Nick! I'm impressed, especially with the speed of the action -you need it with 'Looney Toons'! Keep it up Regards Robert Washington :D

Sounding very good Nick, and the percussion sounds about right to my ears, although I must admit I'm not keen on over loud drums so perhaps I'm not typical. Being no expert, do your snare drum beaters have a key each? My brothers' Dean has only one key, or rather hole, but by quite a neat mechanism the sticks play one at atime, giving a "roll"effect. Quite a neat way to save a key for something else. BTW, have you made any progress with the Verbeeck, or have you decided to keep it?

Thanks so much for the feedback guys. Ben, no there is no separate cymbal key on this scale; the cymbal is coupled to the bass drum mechancially when the forte register is set, and the bell is pneumatically linked when the glockenspiel comes in. However, with careful use of the registers you can make is appear that there is (for on beat notes. I have additional plans for a triangle possibly, which only plays when just the violin register is set. I'm still deciding though! Yes the action on this instrument is very fast, thanks to the substantial secondary relay and the now finely set bleed screws (ensuring it performs well with both key and keyless music). I haven't set the upper limits on the electronic speed control yet, which means it can presently play music at a snails pace or at over twice playing speed. The action still performs beutifully at the fas-*test*-('") speed - I'll have to record the finale of "The Can Can" to demonstrate this! To answer your question Andy, there are two notes for the snare drum beaters, which enables a lot of flexibility in the playing of this drum, either as a roll or single notes. These two keys are swapped to the woodblock when the cancel key is open This means the woodblock can still be played anywhere in the music, whatever registers are set, just by cutting the registers for that phrase in the music in line with the necessary cancel key slots to bring the block in. BTW Andy, I'll send you a PM about the Verbeeck. Cheers for now, Nick

Hello everyone, Sounds like the old gal has got some guts! It reminds me of one of those 52kl Deans. Personally I think the bourdons should be cancelled whenever another register is selected, so the tuning doesn't conflict. This is standard street organ practice. I'd be tempted to fit a 4' melody rank (Piccolo, etc) to brighten it up a bit, but as you already have half the pipes ever made in the organ, maybe that's a bit impractical. Have you tweeked the spring pressure on the motors to increase the percussion volume? The other thing to remember is that the beater heads should be a little clear of the drum skins in order for them to 'ring'. There should be enough 'whip' in the sticks to give them a good smack. The same goes for the glock, which will ring out nicely if the beaters are stopped just short of the bars. If you get a long note, the beater will mute the bar as soon as it strikes it, if it's not held back a bit. You could mount the bell on a length of rod, or studding. It doesn't have to be hanging loose to ring. A couple of nuts & washers tightened up will not mute it. I noticed a couple of prominent top accompaniment flutes, maybe they need to be throttled back a bit, or maybe it was just the acoustics, but they stood out anyhow! The most important thing is that you tune the whole organ really well, as this lets it down badly. With such a fine presentation; the action, the music, the overall look of the organ, it's a shame to be let down by something so core to it's performance. You must be proud to have acheived so much in such a short amount of time in not the most ideal of circumstances. Congratulations old boy. I look forward to hearing it in the flesh, & caressing that gorgeous bandmistress..... Rob.

Hi Rob, Many thanks for your comments. Yes, all the beaters are properly set such that the stickers will never rest on the instrument they play; momentum causes them to overshoot, strike the instrument (glock, snare drum, woodblock etc) and return to a position that allows the stuck object to carry on resonating correctly. Even with this, and some hefty springs, the snare drum isn’t quite loud enough to be fully heard over all the pipes. Interesting that you make the melody piccolo suggestion; I’ve always had this in mind for the instrument to make the constant-play flutes a little less “Dutch” when all registers are off, and hence more like a fair organ. At the moment the melody flutes are only lightly (and roughly!) tuned Celeste so as not to interfere with the other ranks. If they were turned off when the other ranks came in however, the trumpet pipes would be playing on their own at some times which isn’t ideal. Besides, the whole instrument has been voiced to allow for the flutes and violins + trumpets playing together (hence the lack of Celeste on the tuning) such that the flutes help the overall sound rather than hinder it. There’s plenty of air available for an extra picollo rank (which would bring the total pipework number to 232!), but I am a little concerned that going up in pitch might make the organ too shrill and actually sound smaller. I’ll have to experiment by trying a rank of piccolos in place of one of the stopped flute ranks (this chest is more than capable of supplying air to three pipes per note). The piccolos could thus operate from this front chest via the diaphragm register system, set up to make them to play only under the conditions when all registers are off, or when both registers are on (i.e. with the glockenspiel to enhance the forte effect). Re the tuning Rob, as I said in the opening post for this topic… the organ has so far only ever had the one 'rough' tune which I had to do back in May, and that had to be in quite a limited time period over several nights to make sure the neighbours didn't complain! ... so I know it’s far from perfect, and I can assure you I will have worked on this before it’s presented in public as a finished instrument. You must be proud to have acheived so much in such a short amount of time in not the most ideal of circumstances. I certainly I am Rob, but picking up on the last comment there, it looks like I’m going to have to re-think the "Williams' Patent Portable Organ Platform" in light of the la-*test*-('") Health and Safety rules? Surely the old bread crate being a nice bright and visible red helps it meet the new EU laws??? …

I look forward to hearing it in the flesh, & caressing that gorgeous bandmistress..... Any time Rob; I'll PM you her mobile number. All the best, Nick

Hey Nick, Hows the Chiappa going, you seem to have gone all quiet about it recently. Any Chance of an update???? Cheers, Eddy.

Hi Eddy, Well the organ rebuild is largely finished, as completed last Summer. I’m still deciding what alterations and additions to make to the pipework and percussion, though having played the instrument quite extensively now I’m happy with the overall result and am unlikely to be making any major changes or upgrades, just a few tweaks. I have now been through all the 46/48 music books to date and added the additional perforations for the extra percussion changeovers and registration controls for this 50kl instrument - a time consuming job which I’ve been doing a handful of books per week each time I’ve been back. I have been working a little on constructing the façade while home over Christmas as well as the display vehicle interior trim and electrical aspects (lots of wiring ahead!). However, with the university degree to concentrate on at the moment, the 50kl project isn’t currently a priority. A few months from now and it will be back at the top of the list, and hopefully then soon completed right down to a repaint of the display vehicle. It all takes time however, especially as there’s only myself doing the work on this and all the other projects I have on – Rome wasn’t built in a day! All the best, Nick

Photo by Tom Harrison, Summer 2006 (note the end chamfer on the drum wing yet to be completed - I had to cut the corner off in order to allow a safer entrance from the rear door, and then echoed this at the snare drum end to allow a clearer access to the bunk bed above the cab):

Nick - can you update the links to the MP3 sound files in this topic - they don't seem to work anymore - I guess you moved them !! Many thanks, Stephen

Hi Stephen, I didn’t move the files, the ISP went bust! :cry: I’ll have a look for the originals on my hard drive and upload again, but might take the opportunity to replace them with some videos of the organ playing which I could upload to YouTube, so watch this space! I’m still on with making a façade for the organ in between other jobs, after which I’ll be completing the outfit with register-changing lights and a lorry repaint. Once I know everything is staying put location wise with the front fitted I’ll be investing the time in tweaking up the tuning and pipe voicing; with the instrument not going out again until next summer my spare time is presently going on the 57-key project and its new housing. Cheers for now, Nick

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