Church pipe organ

Original

Immaculate Conception Church is blessed to have a beautiful pipe organ for use in the liturgy. Monsignor Russell Passeno ensured that the new building have suitable space for a worthy instrument. Following is a little history and specifications on its design. The original organ was a 1953 Moller. The stoplist was as follows:

GREAT

8 Diapason, 8 Bourdon, 8 Dulciana, 4 Octave, II Mixture, 8 Krummhorn.

SWELL

8 Rohrflute, 8 Salicional, 8 Voix Celeste, 4 Salicet (from 8 Salicional), 4 Nachthorn, 2 Flautino (from 4 Nachthorn), 8 Trumpet.

PEDAL

16 Subbass, 16 Rohrflute (from swell), 8 Bourdon (from Subbass), 8 Ronrflute (from swell).

Reconstruction

In 1991, Immaculate Conception entered into a contract with Lauck Organ Company of Otsego Michigan to rebuild the organ. The Great was installed in the center and the left chamber became the Pedal chamber. The right chamber remained the Swell. All new windchests and reservoirs were built for the organ except for the pedal Subbass and the bottom octave of the pedal 8 Principal. Also, one original reservoir was retained for the pedal division. The original console was retained and made movable. The stoplist became:

GREAT

8 Principal (61 pipes, new), 8 Spitzflute (61 pipes, new), 4 Octave (61 pipes, new), 4 Blockflute (12 pipes, extension of 8 Spitzflute), 2 Superoctave (12 pipes, extension of 4 Octave), III Mixture (154 pipes, new), II Sesquialtera (98 pipes, recomposed and revoiced from old Great Mixture).

SWELL

8 Rohrflute (61 pipes, original, revoiced), 8 Salicional (61 pipes, original), 8 Voix Celeste (49 pipes, original), 4 Principal (61 pipes, new), 4 Nachthorn (61 pipes, original, revoiced), 2 Octave (12 pipes, extension of 4 Principal), III Plein Jeu (154 pipes, new), 16 Krummhorn (from 8 Krummhorn), 8 Trumpet (61 pipes, original), 8 Krummhorn (61 pipes, original).

PEDAL

16 Subbass (32 pipes, original), 16 Rohrflute (from Swell), 8 Principal (32 pipes, original Great Diapason), 8 Bourdon (12 pipes, extension of 16 Subbass), 4 Choralbass (12 pipes, extension of 8 Principal), 16 Posaune (12 pipes, new, extension of Swell Trumpet).

Maintenance

In recent years, the console became troublesome with many key contacts wearing out and breaking. It was known that the console would have to be replaced at some time but the original work in 1991 cost only $20,000. and a new console was not in the budget.

Discussions began about a new console. There was also discussion about the lack of soft stops on the Great division. Lauck Organ proposed possibly adding a few stops to the Great to be located in the left chamber under expression. The possibilities of a third manual was also talked about.

In 2005, a committee was formed by the pastor, Fr. Jim Hayden with Mark Tafelsky serving as advisor. A new console was decided upon as well as the third manual. The console and Choir division cost $50,000. The new specification is 24 ranks and is as follows:

GREAT (6 ranks, same as 1991 except
Sesquialter moved to Choir)

8 Principal, 8 Spitzflute, 4 Octave, 4 Blockflute, 2 Superoctave, III Mixture.

SWELL (10 ranks)

8 Rohrflute, 8 Salicional, 8 Voix Celeste, 4 Principal, 4 Hohlflute, 2 Octave, III Plein Jeu, 16 Bassoon (from 8 Oboe), 8 Trumpet, 8 Oboe (pipes donated by Mark Tafelsky — rebuilt and revoiced to replace Krummhorn), 4 Clarion (extension of Trumpet).

CHOIR (6 ranks)

8 Gedeckt (61 pipes, new), 8 Viola Pomposa (49 pipes, new. Common bass with Gedeckt), 8 Viola Celeste (49 pipes, new), 4 Principal (12 pipes, extension of 8 Viola), 4 Flute (12 pipes, extension of 8 Gedeckt), 2 2/3 Nazard TC (49 pipes, moved to Choir from Great Sesquialtera), 2 Piccolo (12 pipes, extension of 8 Gedeclt), 1 3/5 Tierce (49 pipes, moved to Choir from Great Sesquialtera), 1 1/3 Larigot (extension of 2 2/3 Nazard), 8 Krummhorn (61 pipes, moved to Choir from Swell).

PEDAL (2 ranks)

32 Untersatz resultant, 16 Subbass, 16 Rohrflute (from Swell), 8 Principal, 8 Bourdon (extension of Subbass), 4 Choralbass (extension of 8 Principal), 16 Trombone (extension of Swell Trumpet), 8 Trumpet (from Swell), 4 Clarion (from Swell).


The console, windchests, new metal pipework solid-state systems (except for combination action) were all manufactured at our Otsego, Michigan factory.