Windchest

Building windchests is a matter of pure organ building

The joiner’s skill and his concern as an organ builder will be found in the manufacture of the wind chests. Accuracy at this stage of organ building sets the demands for other components of the instrument, because ultimately it is at the wind chest that all the parts come together: tracker, stop action, wind trunks and pipes, all parts correlate with the wind chest - as at the console.

According to the concept of the instrument, we use solid wood, or ply wood for parts of the wind chest, which might otherwise react to the drying processes. Oak is the preferred wood. The wood has been stored for many years at our timber yard. The wood’s moisture content is under continuous control and will be adjusted to suit the conditions of its final location. Almost at the last moment, the actual board will be selected and carefully prepared for its specific place -e.g. at the wind chest.

Other materials to be found at the wind chest include the finest lamb’s leather, steel for springs and brass or durable phosphor bronze for the wires of the wind chest. These are materials, which have proved over the centuries to be best for organs, and are still recognized as such.

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