The 4/26 Wurlitzer Theatre Organ 

+Larry Fick Yes, I'm 18 and I think organs are quite awesome! :D

That's great, those hard floors must hinder the acoustics and make it hard to play to the room. I would think the manufacturer designed and built/tuned the organ originally to work in the room when it had lots of soft fabrics like carpet, curtains and seats. You should get to hear the organ sound as it did when it was a theater if they indeed renovate properly with the acoustics of the room in mind. I'd be interested to hear it when the renos are done.

Interesting; I wonder how the organ is now, considering the theatre's renovation has halted and who knows when that will open again to the public. I can only imagine what kind of dust and other sediments are piling up on the organ as it sits without any work done; indeed, a restoration is needed when access is granted. Any updates Mr. Amato?

Urbi et Urbis .

@@theodorebiele5201 I couldn`t agree more. (lol)

It would be amazing if you donated all that to a museum to be preserved instead of hidden away in a private collection.

Who is paying for the upkeep of this stupidly complicated machine?

@@tarstarkusz Donations to the ATOS and the local chapters, and work done by volunteers keep these magnificent instruments alive. It's not stupidly complicated, it's only as complex as it needs to be to do its job. A Wurlitzer unit orchestra, in fact, is a tremendous simplification of classical organs adapted for popular music and originally for silent movie scoring. All of the manuals and the pedals draw from the same collection of voices, or ranks, at various pitches available through stops on the console. In contrast, each manual and the pedals of a classical organ draw only on one chamber of ranks, or "division" apiece, and each stop draws on a rank (or a set of ranks in the case of mixtures) and the only way to get other divisions to sound on a given manual is through couplers.

Some people think this is a "behemoth" as pipe organs go, but it's really only because of unification that the console features a forest of almost uncountable stops and controls. 26 ranks is fairly moderate sized for pipe organs these days, and if it were drawn from like a classical organ, four manuals would probably be one or two too many for it. To duplicate that volume and quantity of stops on a classical organ would probably require upwards of 150 or 200 ranks of pipes.

@@TurtleFL The switching systems and mechanisms are a bit more complicated than the modern equivalent that do the same thing.

@@karlrovey I think what you're talking about is the difference between an electropneumatic transmission and a digital transmission. I don't think the digital is any simpler, it's probably more sophisticated, but it does take up far less room in the console and needs a lot less diameter of cabling.

The theater organ and the classic or 'church' organ sound different because there are far different sets of pipes or 'ranks' used in each of them. The voicing of these sets of pipes is very different. For starters, the pipes that are the 'foundation' or tonal basis for each of the instruments are very different. In a church organ, the most basic or foundation rank (the basis of the overall sound) is a rank called the Diapason. This has a strong, round, bold sound, typical of what you hear in churches. These are round, metal pipes, the kind you often see displayed in organ cases. The foundation rank or basis of sound for the theater organ is called the Tibia Clausa. These are rectangular, wooden pipes with a stopper at the top. They have a 'hooty' type of sound when played alone. Add to this that the Tibia and most all of the other ranks in a theater organ are usually played with a vibrato or tremulant applied to them. The device produces a regular interruption in the wind supply creating both pitch and amplitude modulation similar to an orchestral player or vocalist. Church organs rarely use the tremulant and those applied to church pipes produce a far less pronounced vibrato than that of the theater organ.Both theater and church organs have String stops, but those in the theater organs are sharper sounding and 'cut' more when blended with other voices. Strings play a far greater part in the ensemble of a theater organ than in church organs. Strings, too, receive heavy vibrato treatment.Another voice found in both church and theater organs, but of far greater importance in the theater organ, is the stop that allegedly imitates the human voice, called Vox Humana. Both Tibias and Vox Humanas are prominent voices in theater organs, and the larger theater organs have multiple sets, sometimes three or four of each. Vox Humanas and Tibias blend together to produce some of the more typical ballad sounds heard in theater organs.The reed and brass stops of the theater organ are generally more bold and powerful than their church organ counterparts. The Trumpet stops manufactured by some companies, notably WurliTzer, were actually made of brass. The most powerful brass stop, the English Posthorn, heard at the end of this video at the close of the William Tell Overture, it the most powerful and piercing organ stop made.One other interesting technical note: There is a great difference in the wind pressures between church and theater organs. A typical theater organ can run on 3-5 times the wind pressure as that of a church organ, so that each rank or set of pipes is capable of being much louder. Since there are typically fewer pipes in a theater organ than a church organ designed to fill the same space, each theater pipe has more work to do.

I don't think I can thank you enough for that "dissertation" -- the most thorough answer I have ever seen on RU-vid on any subject. You have answered my question many times over and I am thrilled to have such an explanation. Your answer is not only extensive in its details but also notable for its readability. Thank you in spades!

There are two oboe ranks, the oboe horn and orchestral oboe. Each rank has 61 pipes, each pipe plays only one note.

Not just couplers, but a feature called "unification". I'm not an expert, but you can Google it.

Not only that, but the percussion and sound effects don't count toward the ranks of the organ.

Unlike church organs, Theater organ ranks are larger and play on all manuals and pedals.

Most ranks have more then 61 pipes. This means they can play at multiple pitches on some or all manuals and pedal. EXAMPLE- the solo tibia probably has 97 pipes, starts at 16’ C (same as low C on the piano) and would be playable at 16 and 8’ on the pedal, 8 and 4’ on the accomp, 16, 8, 4, 2 2/3 and 2’ on the great, 16, 8, and 4’ on the bombarde, 16, 8, 4 and 2’ on the solo, as well as accomp 2nd touch. That alone would be 17 stops, just from ONE rank of pipes. Same goes for the concert flute (also 97 pipes), most string ranks and some chorus reeds like the tuba’s. As you can see the stop count can go up very quickly.

We held a concert last Sunday. The organ will not be heard by the public for about two years due to construction to bring the place back into a concert venue. We will be working on the instrument during this time.