Tuning

Well, I finally got round to tuning. It took quite a while to sort it out but when I sussed how to do it it was straightforward enough. The back rank of violins are fixed length and not tuneable but the meter showed that they are sufficiently in tune with themselves not to warrant major surgery. First time I checked they were perfectly at A440. I guess it was luck that I picked the right day next day with a change in the weather, they were flat.

Never mind, just put the meter away and do it by ear. A few years working in piano restoration helped. So, tune the front rank of stopped flutes to the violins. Easy - once I’d freed the stoppers so that they would actually slide. They need to be tight enough not to move with the normal travellings of the organ but not so tight they need more than a good grip with the fingers. Most were OK but a few were so tight it took a vice and “mole” grips (with rubber pads to avoid marking the wood). Refit the pipes that had to come out for “easing” push them back with a wipe of Vaseline to seal. One or two were a bit slack but a slip of newspaper between the leather and wood was enough to make a considerable difference.

Ready to tune. Surprisingly it was much easier to hear the “beat” on an organ pipe than it was on a piano so it didn’t take long. Just move the stopper till the “beat” stops. If in doubt I deliberately eased the stopper out till it was definitely flat then back in till the “beat” stops. That’s 22 pipes in tune, 11 violins and 11 flutes. Now the celeste. I think it’s more common to tune the celeste slightly sharp but on Rosie it was hard to tell whether it was sharp or flat. Some were one, some the other they were so far out so I went for sharper. Tune the celeste to the flutes them deliberately sharpen it a bit till there’s a noticeable “beat” that sounds pleasant to the ear. Count the “beats” and tune the other celeste pipes to the same speed of “beat”. That’s 33 pipes done, just the11 melody/ bass pipes to go.

I don’t have a tuning roll but on Rosie’s pressure box system a strip of masking take over the holes on the tracker bar seals all but the holes you want to sound one note at a time. The lower pipes don’t have a violin to tune them to so had the be tuned to the octave (or two ) above. Just uncover two holes at a time to sound the already tuned flute to the lower tone. The “beat" is just as obvious. For the two bass note with two pipes each (one an octave lower to give depth to the bass) cover the mouth of the deeper pipe, tune to higher one to the octave higher then uncover the lower one and tune the two bass pipes to each other.

Job done and sounding a lot better thought I think the celeste is less than perfect. Might try tuning the a few beats lower to see if it gives a more mellow tone. Good enough for the weekend though.

Oxford Castle May 1st update

Not a lot to add as the event is going ahead as planned except a 1000 start rather than 0900.

As all the owners there are BOGA  members
(British Organ Grinders' Assoc.  http://www.melright.com/boga/) we'll have a few pictures of other events we've run or attended and other info re the association dotted round the organs.

We spent a couple of hours at the castle a few days ago on a photoshoot - publicity for the day along with other characters who will be playing a part. Not sure when it will appear but I expect a spread in the local press in the week or so preceeding the event. I've pinched a copy of one of the picture (left) but hope there may be more. BOGA official phtographers wuill be present on the day anyway.
Hope to see some of you on the 1st.

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Oxford Castle organ festival Sunday May !st

We haven't been out recently but now the weather's beginning to look a bit better it's time to hit the streets again. The next definite event is at Oxford Castle when five or six organs will on site for the day, approx 0900 to 1500. I've a good idea who's coming so can say with confidence there'll be some of the best small organ in the country present, including some home build. Don't be afraid to talk to us and ask questions.It's Royal wedding / bank holiday weekend and we expect it to be busy.

Better book an evening to tune Rosie properly. Christmas left her sounding a bit rough in spite of proper tuning before hand and "tweeking" almost every evening.

Warming up for the season - possible event in Oxford

Nothing much to report since Christmas but Rosie has been getting a little attention, oiling round the various bits that need it, polish to the brass and woodwork and a tuning. That still needs a bit more attention but it will be right before we go out again. At Christmas the tuning was going out so quickly that in the end I didn't bother with more than a quick tweak each evening. No one seemed to notice, or they were just too polite to mention it,  but I could hear the pipes going out during the first few minutes of every day.

Nothing is definite yet but we were so well received at Christmas that the Castle have been asking about other dates and more organs. We're looking at Sunday May 1st as a possible with about half a dozen organs around the site. John West has been talking to them and making arangements. If it goes ahead there'll be something in BOGA - newsletter, web site or both soon. Organ owners interested can wait and see or give one of us a call.

Look forward to meeting some of you on the streets as soon as the weather gets a bit better.

If it stands still photograph it.

Just a quick note. It seems we've become a fixture after 10 days on the same pitch - and still four more to go, plus the following pre Christmas weekend. I've lost count of how many time we've been asked over the past couple of days  "Can we take a picture with you?" It seems we're on some sort of treasure hunt for kids young and not so young where one of the tasks is to get of photo of yourself with someone interesting in Oxford. Apparently we rate a close second to Anthony, the town crier, who is worth more points as he's only in town on selected days while we're there every afternoon.  Always worth a few coins in the charity bucket - Macmillan cancer this time at the request of the castle management. I don't know whether Santa might be worth more but he's only here at weekends. Now there's a thought, a picture of Rosie and Santa.  

Oxford Castle

Well, over officious traffic wardens actually prevented us getting into Bourton on the Water for the evening there so we parked up outside the town and walked in  sans Rosie.

Oxford Castle is going well. Attached one picture pinched from the Oxford Mail. Could have cropped it a bit more accurately! Strictly copyright so I probably shouldn't have copied it. If they object I'll have to take it down and put one of my own in. This is one of hundreds they took - you know how fast motor drives can take pictures, and at one time both of us (me and the photographer) were lying in the middle of the road to try to get better views. Temperature was well below freezing at the time.

Christmas starts now

It snowed last night. Just a very few flakes but there was no doubt about it. It largely got lost in the artificial snow but you can tell the real thing. No mistake this morning though, a light dusting on the car Time to add thermals under the usual outfit.
After a quiet few weeks it's suddenly got busy. A tentative enguiry about busking at Oxford Castle brought a booking for no less than 21 day in late November and December - Nov 26 to Dec 12 and weekends to Christmas. We'll be there from midday to teatime each of those days.

Hope to add some pictures soon, in the meantime look up their web site to see what's going on. http://www.oxfordcastle.com/oxford_castle_events.html


In addition we will be in Bourton on the Water on the evening of Friday Dec 3 (that's the one day we'll leave Oxford a bit earlier ).


Come and say hello if you see us there.