Calvary Protestant Evangelical Free Church

Baldwin, NY

 

M.P. Moller, Midmer-Losh

Opus # ??

II/6

Stoplist

Exterior   Interior (coming soon)   Console   Organ

This pipe organ, originally built by M.P. Moller, was rebuilt and electrified by Midmer-Losh sometime in the late 1960's or early 1970's.  The organ served the church reliably for many years.  Unfortunately, a slow but significant roof leak led to the organ receiving severe water damage.  The organ sat unused and unplayable while the church researched their next course of action.  They were not even sure if they could rebuild the organ due to some appallingly expensive proposals from other companies.        With the completion of rebuilding and additions to another Moller organ in Baldwin, some members from Calvary Protestant attended the dedication for that instrument.  They were quite impressed with our work and asked us to evaluate the organ in their church.  We provided them with a real world priced proposal that would ensure the organ would be preserved and utilized.        After reviewing our proposal and references, the church board chose us immediately.  We were on a tight timetable with this organ, but having the job completed for Easter that same year was a major selling point (besides quality and price) that we offered the church.  Work began without delay; reservoirs, chests and wooden Pedal pipes were removed and brought back to our facility.  The reservoirs were disassembled, stripped, re-leathered and cleaned.  Upon disassembling the chests, the severity of the water damage became terribly apparent.  The chest action itself was beyond repair and even the chest itself was unsatisfactory to refinish and reuse due to warping.  So, construction began on new chests, toeboards, rackboards, an electro-pneumatic action for the Pedal and an electro-mechanical action for the offset chest.  Each Pedal pipe was examined individually sealing off any air leaks and refitting each stopper.        All of the extra work completed above would have meant very little if it was not installed before Easter, which happens to be an extremely busy time of the year for us due to Easter organ tunings.  There were some long hours, but the job was done for Easter and many congregants expressed heartfelt excitement with hearing the organ brought back to its grand splendor.          This church almost ended up with an electronic imitation of the Pedal division despite having quite adequate pipework that just needed rebuilding.  In fact, due to the greed and/or laziness of some of the other firms, this organ almost did not survive at all.  Those high cost proposals led the church to believe their pipe organ would be too expensive to rebuild and maintain.  In reality, with this thoughtful restoration complete, the organ will faithfully serve the congregation for fifty to sixty or more years before needing anything more major than seasonal tunings.