The Rochford Compton

32' DIAPHONE INSTALLATION

Work started in 2010 on the installation of a Genuine Compton 32' Diaphone. This, like the 16' Diaphone already installed came originally from the Astoria Finsbury Park Cinema. It is one of only two that exist in Britain. When operating the Diapason will be available in 4', 8', 16', and 32' pitches.

It is a huge rank and has meant major rearrangement of the organ layout including removal of part of the floor of the upper chamber. The wind chests were mounted on trestles temporarily in the chamber to make it easier to work on them.

The chests were opened up and inspected. The pnuematic motors were in a bad way so they were removed for refurbishment. The chests were cleaned and wind feed manifolds constructed.

Careful measurements were made for final positioning. After rebuilding the chests were positioned on the floor of the chamber. The chest layout in the Astoria was different so wind feed holes had to be blanked and new arrangements made for wind feeds.

The pipes are huge. They are folded three times to reduce their overall height. They have to be supported when in place so support staging has been constructed to support the rack boards as the picture shows.

The Pipes were mounted and fixed to the support structure. The next job was to finalise the wind feed arrangements and manually test them. The tests showed that they all worked but some of them were well out of adjustment and tune. With a rank this size tuning and regulation involves incemental adjustment of the reed valve in the base by adding or removing weights coupled with rotation of the tuning paddle in the top of each pipe.

It was decided that the wiring up to the relay was the best course of action for the next stage. Pat Dunham made a control and test panel to make the operation and testing of each pipe easier. As can be seen in the picture each pipe can be activated by a switch on this panel which is mounted on the support staging.

When the wiring was complete the Console had to be modified by adding a stop tab connected to a new section of the pedal Relay. Initial tests whilst playing the organ revealed that the pipes were uneven in tone and volume so further regulation was required. This took several days but was worth it.

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