The Organ Tuner’s Greatest Woe

If your church is blessed with a pipe organ, it is most likely under the regular care of a respected professional pipe organ service company. If it is not, or is not regularly serviced, contact me ASAP! As the Organ Advisor for our Centre, my duties include helping organists or churches establish regular maintenance relationships with organ servicing firms.

Organs do need regular maintenace, as do houses, cars, even people themselves. When any of these are neglected, troubles and other issues slowly but surely begin to manifest themselves. A good pipe organ has an estimated life service of about 200 years or more with proper service, according to Ferrand LeTourneau, president of one of Canada’s finest organ builders. But back to the organ tuner’s greatest woe.

Usually, the tuner arrives for a scheduled tuning, which usually includes a certain amount of repair or attention to things that do not work properly. Every organ service firm leaves a service booklet in the area of the console, often in the bench. This is meant for the organist to notate any issues. Here, then, is the woe – more often than not, the notes made in the booklet are quite vague and sometimes not comprehensible. It does little good to note “B is sticking”. First, there are 12 distinct B notes on even a small organ. WHich one is sticking? Second, what does “sticking” mean? Does the key literally stay depressed, or is it sluggish? Does it mean a certain pipe remains playing after the note is released? If so, which stop causes this?

The message here is that much time can be saved with a simple accurate message. The organ service people lose much valuable time when they are required to forensically decypher unintentionally cryptic messages, reducing the amount of time available to make repair and perform tuning work. So, then, what can the well meaning organist, as he/she dutifully attempts to note an issue, do?

Very simple. Write the note in such a way that it clearly tells the organ people what is wrong. The acid test for the clarity of the note is to reread it, and see if it makes sense to you, if you had not written it. Here are some easy helpful tips.

Start with the date. Always.

Then identify what is wrong. Let’s say High C on the Open Diapason is dead. The term “High C” is vague, as is Tenor C, Treble C, C2, C4, or Low C. To eliminate this, consider the number of the key from the bottom. The lowest C on the keyboard is C1, the lowest C# is C#2, Middle C is C25, Middle C# is C#26, and top C is C61. This avoids all confusion, and works equally well for 8′, 4′, 2′ and other stops.

So the note would read, “November 15, 2017. Open Diapason C25 dead”

Simply put, use clear language to consisely and accurate describe the problem. In the rare case when a note cannot describe your problem, make arrangements to meet the tuner at the church, or leave a telephone number. The organ tuner will be happy to call.

The care and preservation of these wonderful instruments we are priveleged to play is a team effort between the organist and the organ service firm. Both are vital, and can steward the organ’s care over many years.