SANCTUARY ORGAN

The Organ in the East Dallas Christian Church was built by the Schudi Organ Company of Dallas and installed in 1974. The instrument comprises 42 registers, 52 stops and 60 ranks of pipes.

Since extensive architectural revisions in the chancel were not desired by the church, the organ was located in existing chambers.  These two large areas above and to the sides of the choir loft were redesigned and actually decreased in size to help project and focus the sound into the church.  The Great Organ and three stops of the Pedal Organ (32' Kontra Posaune, 16' Subbass) are in the left chamber, and the remainder of the instrument is in the right chamber.  The horizontal resonators of the 8' Trompette en Chamade are above the Positiv enclosure.  Both the Swell and Positiv divisions are in reflective enclosures that are fitted with swell shutters.

A small 3/4 horsepower blower is located in each chamber.  The air produced by the blower (at 120 mm or 43/4" wind pressure) is then regulated by large floating-top reservoirs and again at the windchests by built-in regulators to 60 mm (23/8") and 75 mm (3") wind pressure.  The current for the key action, stop action, and console functions is supplied by six solid-state regulated D.C. power supplies that provide a total of 180 amperes at 14 volts.

Slider-pallet windchests with electric pull-downs are used in the organ (with the exception of four unified manual stops and three large pedal stops).  In this type of action, the pipes of each note on the chest are supplied with air from a common note channel.  Thus the pipes speak exactly at the same time and have a different attack from other types of action, in which an individual valve opens beneath each pipe.  The action is also simple and reliable (one-fourth or less of the moving parts in an electro-pneumatic action), and does not required frequent re-leathering.

The Organ console has three keyboards covered in ivory with ebony sharps.  The engraved draw-knob heads and divisional labels are also of ivory.  The outer case is oak and the interior of the console (stop jambs, key cheeks, key slips, name-board and music desk) is solid walnut.  The console is all-electric in operation.  A self-contained capture-type combination action is provided, and there are 10 reversible functions including three ventils.

With the exception of two wooden stops (Pedal 16' Subbass and Positiv 8' Holzgedeckt), all the pipes in the organ are made of tin and lead.  The percentage of tin is chosen to suit particular stop, and varies between 25% for the flutes, 75% for the principals, and 90% for the resonators of the Trompette en Chamade.  The Great 8' Trompette is built to scales suggested by Dom Bedos in his 18th century treatise L'Art du facteur d'orgues.  This stop is built with very thin tongues, wide shallots, double block and nut, and wide 80% tin resonators that are cut to precise tuning length.  The Spanish-style Trompette en Chamade is a distinctive solo stop and does not cover the remainder of the organ when used in the full ensemble. 

The builders express their appreciation to Mr. Hans Knaths of the firm Carl Giesecke & Sohn of Gottingen, West Germany, and to Mr. Jacq. Stinkens of Ziest, Holland for cooperating completely in the construction of the reed and flute pipes, respectively.  Also appreciated was the advice about the Great 8' Trompette that was given by organ-builder Charles Fisk of Boston.