In 1908-1909 the organ was refitted throughout with William Hill & Sons' latest type of tubular pneumatic action (excepting the Celestial organ, for which the electric action was retained), an entirely new console was provided, a large-scale Open Diapason added to the reed soundboard of the Great organ, and several additions made to the couplers and combination pistons.
William Hill & Sons are also the builders of the organ in the Town Hall, Sydney, Australia, once the largest in the world; it has 126 speaking stops. It may be looked upon as the apotheosis of the old style of organ-building, with low pressures, duplication, and mixtures. The highest pressure used is 12 inches and there are no less than 45 ranks of mixtures which were characterized by Sir J. F. Bridge as being "like streaks of silver." The writer saw this organ in the builder's factory in London before it was shipped to Sydney. A unique novelty was the Contra Trombone on the Pedal of 64 feet actual length. The bottom pipes were doubled up into three sections and the tongue of the reed of the CCCCC pipe was two feet long. Although almost inaudible when played alone this stop generated harmonics which powerfully reinforced the tone of the full organ. The organ is inclosed in a case designed by Mr. Arthur Hill after old renaissance examples.
ORGAN IN THE MANSION OF J. MARTIN WHITE, ESQ.,
BALRUDDERY, SCOTLAND
The organs heretofore described have been somewhat on the old lines, but we come now, in 1894, to "the dawn of a new era," and the star of Hope-Jones appears on the horizon. With the exception of an instrument rebuilt by Hope-Jones in Dundee Parish Church, this is the first organ with electric action in Scotland.
Organ in Hall of Balruddery Mansion, Dundee, Scotland
Balruddery mansion, the rural residence of Mr. J. Martin White, stands in a fair country seven miles to the west of Dundee. The grounds of the mansion are a dream of sylvan beauty, with the broad bosom of the River Tay within the vision and beyond that the blue line of the Fife shore.
The organ is the work of three hands. It was originally built by Casson; the most notable characters in the voicing are due to Thynne; and it remained for Mr. Hope-Jones to entirely reconstruct it with his electric action, stop-keys, double touch, pizzicato touch and some of his new stops. The console is movable, connected with the organ by a cable about one inch thick, containing about 1,000 wires, enabling the player to hear the organ as the audience hears it.
Referring to the view of the hall on page 167, the Great organ is in the chamber behind the pipes seen in the upper gallery. The Swell and Solo organs are in the attic above, and the sound of these can be made distant by shutting the Swell shutters, or brought near by opening them. The pedal pipes are put upside down so that their open ends may be toward the music room.