We have completed the first stage of a repair project on the 1922-1964 Casavant pipe organ in Lindsey Chapel at Emmanuel Church on Newbury Street in Boston. When the church reached out, this organ, still running on original leather, was in very poor condition. Weather and time have not been kind to it. There were many dead notes and wind leaks, and the chamber was neither clean nor easy to work in. However, we are excited to work with the church to return the organ to playing condition. While not a full restoration project, our work will ensure the organ remains usable for weddings, funerals, and summer services held in the chapel in the years to come.
To date, we have:
- Installed new chamber lighting to make maintenance much more pleasant
- Cleaned the chamber top to bottom, including removing much fallen plaster from past water damage
- Installed a new swell motor in place of the original, which, most importantly, gives access to the windchests for future releathering
- Releathered the pedal 16-8-4' Violone unit so all notes play
- Repaired all chamber wind leaks as was practical to greatly cut down on wind noise when the organ is running
Next up is the releathering of the Swell and Great divisions.
- Before -
- After -
