Progress Reports:

November 2019

The refurbished organ is being installed back in church.  A 3+ week project! 

September 2019

We have now been without our pipe organ for approximately 29 weeks.  At this point, you might be wondering about its return!  The good news is that we have received an updated timeline for our project, AND it will be ready by Christmas of this year!

The dismantling of the old instrument took just about a week; much of it was in poor enough condition that it simply went to the dumpster.  The remainder was carefully boxed and shipped to Orrville, Ohio to the Schantz Pipe Organ Company. 

The crew has been working almost solely on our project for the last few months, restoring pipework from the old instrument and constructing new wind chests, pipes, reservoirs, expression systems, blowers, and the console (where the keyboards are).

Starting in the first week of November, we will begin to see the installation of the new instrument.  Truckloads of pipes, both metal and wooden will arrive, the new wind chests that will send the air through the pipes will be installed, and the empty space in the sanctuary where the console sat will once again be filled. This physical installation will take about 2 weeks.  After that, you will see the organ façade and it will look like it is ready to be used.  The tedious part of the installation is actually what follows the physical installation; the tuning and tonal finishing will take about another month or so.  Every pipe will be tuned and will be adjusted to maximize the sound in the acoustics of the church, and with almost 2,500 pipes, this is quite time consuming!

Throughout the month of November and early December, the crew will be here working.  This may impact Mass times and/or location, other prayer groups such as rosary, and various other happenings in the church.  There will be updates posted for any changes that need to be made.  We thank you in advance for your patience as this exciting project comes to an end!

If all goes according to plan, the tonal finishing will be finished mid-December and will give a few weeks for all the musicians to acclimate to the new instrument and prepare for the Christmas season.

Our New Keyboards!

Our New Console!

December 2018

• The metal for two new ranks of pipes has been cut and will be fabricated in the next few weeks.
• The keys for the new console have arrived at the factory.
• The actuation motors for the wind  chests have arrived from Germany.

January 2019

These photos show the lumber that will become new  windchests and rackboards and as well as the new pipes for our organ.

March/April 2019

The organ project is making steady progress! 

The new console is being made, new pipes are being formed, and planning is in place for preparing the space for the new instrument.  The Schantz Pipe Organ Company has removed the existing console and all the pipes in the pipe chamber. The facade pipes (the ones that you can see) will also be cleaned and restored, but since that will not be happening until later this summer, those will remain in place for now. 

The biggest change of course will be no organ music during this process but we are so very grateful to have a beautiful piano that will help lead our sung prayer until the organ project is finished later this year.  Thank you for your patience during this exciting time!