We were first invited to inspect the organ at Holy Trinity Lutheran church in Wallingford PA, on a cold and dreary day in Jan 2000. The church had weeks before been the victim of an arson attack that destroyed a large portion of the organ and burned a large hole through the roof of the church. This, plus the fire-fighters necessary efforts to ensure that the blaze was fully extinguished, left the sanctuary and organ in very poor condition indeed.

The organ itself was actually in four physical locations with the Swell split between two enclosed chambers on each side of the nave, and the Great and exposed pedal hung on the front wall of the church. Although not an ideal situation, we felt that the excellent acoustics of the church building would make a total redesign of the organ unnecessary, allowing us to retain what was left of the existing structure.

All of the pipes and chests in one of the Swell chambers had been completely destroyed, and one of the main great chests had seen serious and irreparable damage. After close inspection and evaluation of all of the remaining instrument and conversations with the organist and church members, it was clear that the organ was beyond rescue. The congregation chose to replace it. The original organ began life as a Wicks instrument, and was never pleasing to the organist or the congregation, so the thought of a new organ, retaining only some of the existing casework, was very appealing to everyone involved.

The real dirty work began shortly after our first visit, when we began removing the charred and wet remains of the old organ, leaving safe conditions for the construction contractors to begin their difficult work. Many months would pass before music would ring out again in the sanctuary, but once it did, it was exceptional. We were limited to some degree by the location of the existing chambers. Making the organ's sound come together toward the front of the room looked like it might be a challenge, but was overcome with resounding success.

We stripped the old console of all of its interior woods, replacing them with high grade walnut and maple. Unsightly plastic wind line had originally run between the enclosed divisions in the nave to the exposed divisions mounted on the front walls, presenting quite an eyesore. To solve this problem, small blowers were placed inside each case to independently wind each division, eleviating the visual distraction while providing more precise winding to the instrument.

All in all, the congregation at Holy Trinity, Wallingford employed great hope and optimism to overcome a disaster that might've crippled a lesser community. Although it's never good when a church suffers a fire, it was our pleasure to help the people of Holy Trinity to put the event behind them, moving forward with a carefully restored sanctuary, and a full and beautiful new pipe instrument.

Divisions:
Great, Swell, Pedal