Hi friends – I know it’s been a few days. But as you’ll see from the next few posts, Casavant has been BUSY!
Today, I received over 40 photos from the Casavant shop, showing many aspects of our project, which is nearing completion! There were pictures of facade pipes being painted, pipes packed and ready to ship, drawings and renderings of pipes yet to be crafted, and lots of our fabulous new chancel console.
And the console is what I’m going to focus on today. Remember – the white oak of the main console cabinet has not been stained yet, and the gorgeous burled walnut of the stop jambs is still “dry” – it will be clear sealed and will pop!
All the small holes are drilled carefully in a very particular place – this is where the new stopknobs will go. The left side of the console will have the Chancel Swell, Gallery Swell, Chancel Pedal, and Gallery Pedal. The right side jambs (seen below, two left photos) will have Gallery Solo, Chancel Solo, Gallery Great, Chancel Great, and Gallery Choir.
The keyboards are sitting in shelves waiting to be installed. Don’t worry about the wonky “up and down” keys you see – they will fall perfectly into place when the time comes to set them in place!
And the very cool swell shoes or pedals – they look like gas pedals – have been installed. These have a story! The 1959 Casavant console at Grace had 5 of these, and Casavant has reconditioned 4 of them for use on the new console. Why 4 and not 5 you ask? Well, the new console will not have a Crescendo pedal. This was a device that allowed the organist to add or remove stops quickly without using up valuable pistons. Because we now have hundreds (if not thousands) of memory levels, and sequencers, Crescendo pedals are not really necessary.
Stay tuned for new posts coming quickly over the next several days with lots of new pictures! Also – we are trying to “close our gap” by June 28. We have just a little over $100K to raise, so if you’re inclined to help out feel free to contact me! Vedwards@gracepvd.org.
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