Ashfield, Massachusetts
St. John's Episcopal

Johnson Organ, 1860

Notes from David King

Stops, right cheek, top to bottom:
    8 ' Stopped Diapason Treble (from TF.  Rank becomes a chimney flute from middle C.)
    8'  Stopped Diapason Bass (to TE)
    8'  Dulciana (TC)
    8'  Open Diapason (TC)
    Pedal Coupler
    Pedal Bourdon (CC - B  12 notes)
    Tremulant (not functioning)         

Left Cheek, top to bottom:     
    16' Solo Clarabella (c'' - g'''  19 notes -- I think I have that octave notation correct.  
                                                 It runs to the top of the keyboard.)
    2' Fifteenth
    8' Gamba (TC)
    4' Principal Treble (from TF)
    4' Principal Bass (to TE)
    4' Wald Flute (TF)

         Two-stage hitch down Swell.
         Everything enclosed except the Solo Clarabella and the Pedal Bourdon.

         As to condition, the bellows were releathered (including the feeder bellows) some 15 
years ago by someone hired by David Gifford, the then organist.  Four or five years ago, the 
action was rebuilt by Stephan Meyer, including two replacement stop faces and some work on 
the pedal pipes.  Someone at some point added tuning slides to the pipework, probably to retune 
the organ to A440 from its original tuning of A450.  The only original features not working are 
the Tremulant and the practice pedal.  Someone in the past -- possibly when the electric blower 
was added -- removed a pedal that allowed the organist to pump the instrument from the console.  
The slot and part of the lever mechanism remain.
         As to the pipework, it has apparently never been revoiced and tunes effectively except 
for the Gamba, a bell gamba which is ear tuned.  For many of the notes, the ears have to be bent 
so close to the mouths that the pipes are driven nearly off speech.  Previous tuners have squeezed 
the tops of some pipes together to flat them.  I have added (non-destructively) pasteboard cones 
to the top portion of other pipes to extend their lengths and let me open up the ears.   Eventually 
I hope to undo the earlier damage to the rank and also give it some mild regulation.  Stephan Meyer 
had also added soft metal beard-like shades to some of the pedal pipes to bring them within tuning 
range.
         Other than the tremulant and the missing practice pedal, all of the original features of 
the instrument are functioning.  The swell shades and pedal pipes have their original brick red 
paint, and while most of the case has been painted, the side towrad the wall still has its original 
finish.
         Penciled on the back of the swell box behind the pedal pipes are the following notes: 
      "St. John's Church organ.  Brought down from the gallery August 12, 1874,  Change of front, 
      August 26, 1889 by Wm. Brown.  Turned around October 3, 1905 by J. Abrahams. 
      Tuned by 
      Mr. Chaffin   1883    Mr. Pierce 1887    Mr. Brown 1889, 1905, 1907    Turned around 1915 by A. L. Ellis"

         As far as I can tell, the "change of front" refers to a new decorative trim piece added to 
the top of the bass side of the case -- the "front" in that it faced the congregation at the time.  
When the organ was pulled out of its niche in the gallery, it was probably felt that the side facing 
the congregation was a bit plain, so the decoration was added.  The various turnings around refer to 
whether the instrument was placed to the north side or south side of the altar.  The final move, in 
1915, was probably due to the installation of the coffin door in the north side of the church and the 
construction of a platform in front of the altar, which made it impossible to keep the organ there.	 

[received online, August 1, 2006]