First (Scots) Presbyterian Church
Charleston, SC
Opus 21 - 1992 - 4 manuals - 48 registers - 71 ranks| Opus List | Stoplist | Music at First Scots |
| Opus List | Stoplist | Music at First Scots |
The pipes are in a shallow alcove behind three wrought-iron grilles symbolizing the cross and the thistle. Each grille weighs one ton, and is 95% acoustically transparent. Polished display pipes of the Great and Positif are carefully arranged behind the grilles in classic manner. During concerts, when the church lights are dimmed, the wash from the console spotlights illuminates the facade pipes, giving a dramatic visual effect.
The
very limited space in the choirloft precluded a traditional drawknob console without
losing irreplaceable choir seating. The solution was a compact console using 25mm
square, momentary contact luminous touch controls. Careful design, including a
full-scale mockup, resulted in an ergonometric layout which puts all stop controls
within the natural arc of the organist's arms.
The divisional stop groupings follow AGO placement recommendations, and are subdivided by horizontal row into tonal groups, making hand registration very simple and musically natural. A full range of pistons, with 32 memory levels and user-settable tutti and crescendo, gives further flexibility.
The case is constructed of Honduras mahogany, with stop jambs of polished bird's-eye maple. The keyboards have maple naturals and cocobolo sharps. The pulpit is removable, allowing the console on its castered platform to be fully visible for concert use, or to be rotated so the organist faces an orchestral or choral conductor.
The
straight stops of each manual division are placed upon electric slider windchests,
allowing precise, simultaneous attack, fully-developed fundamental tone, and exceptional
tuning stability. Borrowed or extended stops are on electric chests with integral
expansion chambers, and the basses utilize electro-pneumatic actions. The very
wide, shallow chamber space projects the sound directly into the auditorium, and
allowed relatively low windpressures and natural, unforced voicing techniques
on windpressures ranging from 68mm on the Positif through 250mm on the Solo Tuba.
The photo shows the Positif division, immediately behind the top of the center grille, with the 4' Prestant exposed at the front of the division.
Due
to the dramatic increase in the size of all the choral groups at First Scots,
the console was moved to the Gallery just before Christmas of 1996. There have
been no ill effects due to the positioning of the pipes in the front of the building,
and plans are being made to fund the planned-for Gallery organ.
Here is a very nervous photo of the console being lifted into its new position.