Pipework

The pipes form the "choir" of the organ. Metal pipes are made to exacting standards in our well-equipped metalwork shop. We cast our metal in various proportions of tin and lead on a casting bench made of Portland stone, which is covered with a special cloth called Nomex. Once the metal has been cast, it is planed on a drum-planing machine, which was especially made from a section of North Sea gas piping. Our planing machine is the largest one in Britain and as well as planing the material to uniform thickness, it can also burnish the material to a mirror finish.

Every organ is different, as is its environment. Each instrument is, therefore, individually scaled and details of pipe construction are often discussed between our voicer Michael Blighton and Roger Kirchner, the pipe maker.