D-REXx Posted January 20, 2020 Share Posted January 20, 2020 Not too many of these come on the market... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moonglow Posted January 20, 2020 Share Posted January 20, 2020 Wow, and the dude couldn't play it. I wonder about the volume/neighbors? Quote "We don't stop playing because we grow old; we grow old because we stop playing." - George Bernard Shaw Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nathanael_I Posted January 20, 2020 Share Posted January 20, 2020 That is awesome! I'd buy the house for the organ, get the organ out and sell the house on. What a neat instrument. I have no room in the studio for this... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
D-REXx Posted January 20, 2020 Author Share Posted January 20, 2020 Wow, and the dude couldn't play it. I wonder about the volume/neighbors? The neighbours were the first thing I thought of. Since it didn't get played too often, perhaps that wasn't an issue. That is awesome! I'd buy the house for the organ, get the organ out and sell the house on. What a neat instrument. I have no room in the studio for this... $129,000 sounds like a pretty good price for the organ - but then you'd have the cost of dismantling, moving and reassembling it (not to mention having somewhere with the space to install it). I hope that whoever buys it makes sure it is taken care of and played as it deserves. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MoodyBluesKeys Posted January 20, 2020 Share Posted January 20, 2020 Wow! I've worked on 7 or 8 organs with pipes in homes of wealthy clients - these were Rodgers combination instruments with (usually) 8 ranks of wind-blown pipes (flutes and principals), the remainder was electronic; but nothing like that. Most of them were 8' high, about 15' wide with the pipes directly in front and to the left and right angles of the player - was a total blast to play, with the sound coming right into your face. Installations: Several people from the dealership and a good size step-van bringing the organ in three parts (with the pipes separately packed), install the organ, put the pipes in place, then I would do some basic voicing on the electronics. Then the pipe specialist would tune and voice the real pipes, and I would go back and trim up the electronics to match. Each instrument was voiced according to the new owner's desires, so none of them (even the same model) sounded alike. Then there was the big Rodgers model 900 that we installed at the Presbyterian National Retreat in western NC on Black Mountain. That one was all electronic, but had 32' pedal stops as well as the usual 16, 8, and higher. A whole bunch of 100 watt rms amplifiers, the main organ chamber had three 30" Electrovoice pedal speakers, each in a cabinet about 8x5x12 feet, plus all of the speakers for the higher voices. The antiphonal didn't have any of the big speakers, but did have a good assortment for the higher voices. The building has a high dome, and someone climbed up and mounted a horn speaker at the top in the center, which was fed with it's own amplifier for the "Trompette De'Fete" voicing on the Positif manual. It was loud enough to cut right through a 9 finger chord on the Great manual plus two pedal notes. That was also an enjoyable thing to play. The 32' pedal stops were a contra-bassoon stop which had a lot of harmonics, and a 32' Bourdon Flute, which sounded at a pitch of about 16 herts, below human hearing; but it would shake all of the foldable seats in the 4,000 seat auditorium. Quote Howard Grand|Hamm SK1-73|Kurz PC2|PC2X|PC3|PC3X|PC361; QSC K10's HP DAW|Epi Les Paul & LP 5-str bass|iPad mini2 "Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen." Jim Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lerxstwoodpark Posted January 20, 2020 Share Posted January 20, 2020 This was actually (apparently) several years ago. Maybe a good thing: if my wife & I had happened upon it in our house search, I'd have a helluva time trying to convince her to buy it! HERE is an article with more info and pictures about the house. Zillow claims the house was sold for $90,000(!) But, that might have been before the GR housing market exploded. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mate stubb Posted January 20, 2020 Share Posted January 20, 2020 One of the installers mentioned it was a Romantic organ. That lessens the sting of missing out a bit - I'd vastly prefer one voiced for Baroque. Quote Moe --- Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Real MC Posted January 20, 2020 Share Posted January 20, 2020 INDAGADDADAVIDA BABY....... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mate stubb Posted January 20, 2020 Share Posted January 20, 2020 [video:youtube] Quote Moe --- Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lou Gehrig Charles Posted January 20, 2020 Share Posted January 20, 2020 Coincidently, when I was a little kid we lived in a house with a pipe organ. It was a hobby of my dad's, dating back to the days before us kids came along. I don't remember it ever working.... It was more like a basement full of pipes of all sizes, the biggest ones contained in wooden "crates" for mounting or to protect them, I don't know. He built two organ "consoles"... One got sold (along with the pipes) when we moved, but the other one still sits in their dusty basement where its been since 1972. Like I said, I don't recall it ever being finished or playable, but if it was, it was when I was very young. We moved when I was 8 and that was the end of the organ except for the remaining console in the basement. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scottasin Posted January 20, 2020 Share Posted January 20, 2020 I'm originally from GR but now live in Colorado. I've seen this house up for sale within the last few years, whoever got it last didn't stay there for too long. If I was about to build a full featured studio, this would be high in contention for where to do so. Sadly though, thats not exactly what my current plans are. EDIT: just saw the video is from 2014. I wonder what the current status of the house is? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
D-REXx Posted January 20, 2020 Author Share Posted January 20, 2020 Have to admit I didn't realize the video was from 2014 when I posted it. Like some of the above posters, I also wonder what happened to both the house and the organ. It made me think of the 'Farewell to the Fox' concert by George Wright on the big Wurlitzer at the Fox Theater in San Francisco that I attended in 1963. It was a treat to see an expert put the instrument through its paces and demonstrate all the bells and whistles (literally) that it had. He also, among other things, played the highest organ note (almost inaudible) and the lowest (which shook loose the dust of ages from the ceiling). Someone bought the organ before the theater was demolished and installed it in their house, though I expect it was a much larger house than the one in Grand Rapids. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doerfler Posted January 20, 2020 Share Posted January 20, 2020 There is an older thread about this house/organ. I believe Jim Alfredson had gone there to see it, IIRC Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
D-REXx Posted January 21, 2020 Author Share Posted January 21, 2020 Thanks for mentioning that, Dave - I'm pretty new here so have missed a lot of postings from the past. Anyway, I found the old thread house with pipe organ. And not only did Jim Alfredson visit the house and play the organ, he made a video which is linked to from the thread. Very nice to see and hear. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom Williams Posted January 21, 2020 Share Posted January 21, 2020 Wasn't there another house-with-organ thread, located in Florida, a few years back? Or am I conflating it with the GR story? Quote -Tom Williams {First Name} {at} AirNetworking {dot} com PC4-7, PX-5S, AX-Edge, PC361 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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