Kimball Pipe Organ with Welte Philharmonic player
We restored it, installed it, and dedicated it in 1986. It is the main concert instrument for Midwestern State University in Wichita Falls Texas. This is the school where Nita Akin taught pipe organ students. Unfortunately she did not have this nice an organ to teach on at the school when she was organ professor. She was so important to the school that the Auditorium where the Kimball now lives was renamed Akin Auditorium. She and her husband also financially supported the installation of the Kimball
This Kimball originally was installed into Senator Phipps' house in Denver Colorado. It was given to Mrs. Phipps for a Christmas present in 1935 by her husband. The console was not completed but the Welte Philharmonic Musicalle ten roll player system was under the tree and played about 130 rolls that are still with the organ. The Phipps family attended St. John's Episcopal Cathedral and the Organist Choirmaster there at the time was instrumental in drawing up specs for the Senator's organ. The residence Kimball at 46 ranks was such a success that the Senator had a 97 rank Kimball built for the Cathedral. That organ is still in the church and is a very impressive instrument. It is extremely valuable in the traditional Anglican music tradition carried out by the present music program at St. John's Cathedral in Denver.
The residence Kimball later left the Phipps house which was made into a conference center for the University and the organ was installed into the auditorium of the Denver Museum of Natural History. Decades later when the Museum put in an IMAX theater the organ was removed and stored where it was purchased by some Denver business men. These gentlemen donated it to Midwestern State University where they found funding for installation and some restoration.
Since installation in 1986 the organ has been performed on regularly in faculty and student recitals as well as for organ lessons. A fine program of organ performance is taught by Dr. Ron Hough (pronounced Hogue) who oversaw installation and has taught on the Kimball ever since its completion.
Brandon was tuning assistant at the 2003 spring tuning.
When I first got there the auditorium had a square box shape to the hall with a flat acoustical tile drop ceiling. I discovered that above the acoustical tile was a wonderful beamed ceiling. The organ had to be installed into the balcony. I insisted that if the organ were up there all the sound would be going into the attic above the drop ceiling. They concurred with me that the drop ceiling had to be removed. The huge soundbooth and attic were removed since the theater department now had a new theater and no longer needed to perform in Akin Auditorium. Organ chambers were constructed in the balcony along with a functional sized soundbooth for recording of student recitals. A chamber for the Echo division was installed at the back of the stage on the third level.
I took my pipe maker with me to Denver and he measured several ranks found on the St. John's Cathedral Kimball organ. He then built identical ranks to flesh out the specifications of the MSU Kimball to make it more useful as a modern concert instrument. He had never made pipework for 6 inches of pressure. He spoke with the original organ technician who had tuned and voiced both the MSU Kimball and the cathedral organ. He told us how the arched cut up was achieved on the original pipework, as he had trained under Hill in England where they built organs using lots of Cavaille Coll pipework. He told us how to voice the reed pipes and add the tiny roller that allowed the voicing and sounds of the Cavaille Coll organs which he had already added to the Kimball pipes.
In the last 17+ years since installation, the organ has stayed in top condition through lightening strikes blowing the power supply, the blower bearings going out and a plague of rats that chewed out all four corners of 13 of the 15 reservoirs.
The Welte rolls included with the organ have some very important organists performing on them including Edwin Lemare, Joseph Bonnet, T.Tertius Noble, Clarence Eddy, Harry Goss-Custard, Enrico Bossi, and Lynnwood Farnam.
The En Chamade trompette closer:
The Choir chamber has the strings at the left, the Concert Flute of wood, the Geigen Principal and then the large scale Kimball French Horn with the roller holes in the sides. The chest to the right shows a little of the Clarinet at far right then the English Horn with the "heads" on the ends of the pipes. The short ones are the 4'Chimney flute and Nazard
Also in the Choir is the Deagan full 61 note harp.
Chime action is half piano action like Kimball upright pianos used.
In the Great division is the main Pedal Division. This shows the Contra Gemshorn foreground, and then the wooden Pedal Bourdon and Open Diapason behind and above the others.
The main Great chest with the Tromba at right
This is the Great Fourniture that we duplicated from the St. John's Kimball in Denver.
Here are bass extension chests for four Great metal flues. The first and second Open Diapasons, Harmonic Flute and Gemshorn.
The huge Kimball tremolos do a great job of tremulation of the tones. The two in the great are stacked on top of each other
The Swell division with the swell Trompet at the right. The woods in the center are the Clarabella.
The String chest for the swell includes the strings at the left and the Oboes at the right with the wooden Traverse flute in center
There is a boxed Vox Humana above the swell Mixture V.
See the little tiny pipes on their own little extension chest. There is a whole extra octave of pipes on most ranks in this organ that are only playable from the coupler being on. (Center right below)
There is a spreader in each division like this one in the Swell.
In the back hall stand the two huge relay boxes. This one is mostly the console switches
This relay box is mostly Welte Philharmonic player relays with a full set of never used relays for Kimball Standard Philharmonic rolls which no one has ever had rolls to play.
The blower and static reservoir which is about 6 feet long.
There are 130 Welte Philharmonic Rolls with this organ.
The Musicalle pictures will come soon.