2008-01-30 - Identified through online information from James R. Stettner. -- The Kimball was originally a T-P instrument built for a location in Vancouver, Washington. It was electrified by Balcom and Vaughan with a new B and V console. The Great uses behind-the-key switching. The Swell has a gang switch relay in the chamber, and the Pedal uses gang switches in the console. The original Kimball chests were retro-fitted with a Kilgen-style E-P unit action. The original Great 4' Harmonic Flute was replaced with a new 8' Unda Maris. The original Swell 4' Flute d'Amour was replaced with a new 8' Voix Celeste; and the original 8' Oboe was replaced with a new 8' Trumpet. The original Pedal independent 16' Bourdon was only retained for its first 12 pipes as an extension of the Swell 8' Gedeckt. There is at least a 3-pipe scale difference between the two sets. The organ was completely de-piped, pipes cleaned, new aluminum slide tuners fitted, chamber cleaned, chamber painted (by parishioners), stoppers releathered, and tonal deflection of the expression shutters changed in 2002 by Puget Sound Pipe Organs of Seattle. The wooden grille covering the chamber and blocking about 40% of the egress was also removed and new, more acousticlaly transparent grille cloth was installed by parishioners. -Database Manager
Stoplist copied from the keydesk November, 1995 Source: Source not recorded Date not recorded
Yakima, Washington
Bethlehem Lutheran Church
W.W. KIMBALL CO., Opus ____, ca. 1910
Balcom and Vaughan, Opus 643, 1958 - Electrification, Rebuild, Moving and Installation
GREAT (Expressive) COUPLERS
16 Open Diapason (tc) -- Swell to Pedal 8
8 Open Diapason 61 Great to Pedal 8
8 Hohl Flöte 61
8 Dulciana 61 Swell to Great 8,4
8 Unda Maris (tc) 49
4 Octave 12
4 Flute 12
4 Dulcet 12 FINGER PISTONS
2-2/3 Octave Quint (OD/Sw) -- Swell & Pedal 1 – 4
2 Fifteenth (OD/Sw) -- Great & Pedal 1 – 4
SWELL (Expressive) TOE STUDS
16 Bass Flute 12 None
8 Violin Diapason 61
8 Gedeckt 61
8 Salicional 61
8 Voix Celeste (tc) 49 PEDAL MOVEMENTS
blank Expression (bal.)
4 Flute 12 Crescendo (bal.)
4 Salicet 12
2-2/3 Nazard 7
2 Flautino 5
8 Trompette 61
Tremolo
Chimes (Maas-Rowe; a22-f42) (21)
PEDAL (Expressive) ACTION: E-P & D-E unit
16 Contra Bass (Sw) --
16 Gedeckt (1-12 soft) -- VOICES: 9
8 Open Diapason (Gt) --
8 Flute (Sw) -- STOPS: 29; inc. chimes
8 Cello (Sw) --
5-1/3 Quint (Gt) -- RANKS: 9
4 Principal (Gt) --
4 Trompette (Sw) -- PIPES: 609
NOTES
This is a rebuild of a Kimball from Vancouver, WA. It was originally thought that it
was the old Methodist Kimball. But writing on the pipes discovered when the organ was
out for cleaning revealed that it had originally been built for the Elks Temple in
Vancouver, Washington.
The chests were converted by Balcom and Vaughan from an original, pneumatic primary
action on ventil chests to an electro-pneumatic unit action utilizing the original chest
pneumatics and chest channeling.
Original Kimball pipes include the Great 8' Open Diapason, 8' Hohl Flöte (originally
called Claribel Flute), 8' Dulciana; Swell 8' Violin Diapason, 8' Gedeckt (originally
called Stopped Flute), and 8' Salicional. The Swell 8' Voix Celeste and Great 8' Unda
Maris were added to the organ as new pipes by Balcom and Vaughan at the time of the
rebuild and installation, and took the place of the two original independent 4' flute
ranks. The original pneumatic stop action boxes at the ends of the chests were converted
to direct-electric unit chests for the treble extensions.
The top 7 notes of the Great 2-2/3' Quint and the top octave of the Great 2' Fifteenth
are borrowed from the Swell flute unit. The Swell 8' Trompette is actually a revoiced Oboe
and replaced the original Kimball 8' Oboe. The console was new by Balcom and Vaughan.
The project must have been something of an economy job. The Great utilizes behind-the-keys
stop slides for its switching. The Swell has a Reisner gang switch relay in the chamber,
and the Pedal utilizes multiple under-key contacts and gang switches inside the console as
well.
The Pedal 4' Trompette is a stop change and was originally a 4' Flute from the Swell 8'
Stopped Flute unit. It is also possible that the couplers were added as an after thought
or by whomever made the stop change.
In 2002_ the organ was de-piped by Puget Sound Pipe Organs. All pipework was cleaned and
repaired. The stoppers were all re-leathered. One bank of shutters was turned around to
change the deflection out into the room rather than towards the front. And the swell shutter
engines were re-leathered.
Sources: B&VOL & files; JRS; extant organ
[Received from James R. Stettner 2014-11-03.]Regrettably, it is not possible to display the information about the sponsor of this pipeorgandatabase entry or if there is a sponsor. Please see About Sponsors on Pipe Organ Database.