Practical Organ Building

by W. E. Dickson

We have hitherto said nothing of pedals. What we shall now say will not occupy much of our remaining space.

We have to fit our little organ with a set of pedals pulling down the bass keys of the manual, but commanding no separate pipes of their own.

What is to be their compass? On this we have to remark that when an organ is intended for the practising of a student or professional musician, or for the performance by any player whatever of genuine organ music, the full compass of thirty notes, C to f, is quite essential. On this point no room must be left for misconception. But small organs, designed for humble and unambitious players, or for the accompaniment of voices in a room or in a village church, may be fitted with pedal-boards shorter by a whole octave than this complete or full compass. A range of seventeen notes, C to e, will certainly suffice for the ordinary practice of the great majority of persons who are at all likely to sit down to our little organ.

Observe, however, that this curtailed pedal-board must be placed in the same position relatively to the key-board which would be occupied by one of full range. In other words, it must not be located, for appearance sake, in the middle of the case, but must be pushed away to the left of the player, leaving a blank space on the floor to the right. If this were overlooked, it is plain that a player accustomed to the imperfect pedals would be utterly at fault when introduced to an instrument of higher character.

An excellent rule on this subject has been laid down by Mr. Hopkins, whose opinion in such matters is judicial. It is this:—To place the central C of the pedals—the thirteenth note, commencing from the left—directly underneath the middle C of the manual. If this rule be observed, the foot will easily find all the notes of the lower octave, whether the compass be complete or curtailed; and we must leave to our readers to decide upon the range of their pedal-board after a due consideration of circumstances. Seventeen notes (an octave and a third) must be taken as a minimum; twenty notes (octave and a half) and twenty-five notes (two octaves) are alternatives still falling short of the full compass of thirty notes necessary for the practice of the preludes and fugues of Bach and other great masters.

The pedals should be made of oak, and should be from 18 to 20 inches in length, 1 inch wide or thick, and at least 1½ or 2 inches in depth. The sharps, or short keys, should be about 5 inches in length, but they are glued or otherwise fastened upon strips of oak as long as the other pedals. The front or near end of the sharps should stand up about 1 inch above the level of the naturals; from this point they may slope up to 1⅜ inch. The long tails or bearers of the sharps must be sunk about 1 inch below the level of the naturals, in order that they may not be touched by the foot. The fore-end of the sharps will be well rounded off, and the upper edge of all the pedal keys will be made slightly convex. Lastly, the distance between the centres of any two adjoining naturals may be 2½ inches precisely. Of course an empty space or gap will appear between E and F and between B and C in each octave, as those intervals have no intervening short key.

We have found the following arrangements convenient and satisfactory. Make the pedal-frame of stout oak; the back bar, behind the heels of the player, a balk 3 inches or more by 2 inches. The fore end of the frame under the organ-panel is formed by an upper and a lower bar, between which strong round pins of oak are placed, making a rack through which the ends of the pedals protrude an inch or two. These protruding ends, where they pass through the rack, are muffled with cloth to prevent rattling, and each pedal descends upon a small pad of vulcanised india-rubber, and is met by a similar pad under the upper bar when it recovers its position. If this is properly managed the movement will be quite noiseless.

The builders commonly use a spring, screwed at one end to the under part of each pedal, and pressing at the other extremity upon a board or bar; or, on the other hand, the springs are screwed to this board or bar and press against the under sides of the pedals. In this case the tail of the pedal key, out of sight under the back bar of the frame, works upon a pin passing into a mortice.

We ourselves, however, have long used a spring which serves both for spring and for hinge. It is a simple slip of steel, 5½ inches long, ⅝ inch wide, and 1⁄16 inch thick, having two holes near the one end, and one hole near the other. This latter is screwed firmly down to the back bar of the frame, which, as we have already explained, is a balk 3 inches by 2. The fore end of the spring is screwed by its two holes to the under side of the tails of the natural keys (cut away to receive it), and to the upper side of the tails of the sharp keys. Or, the spring may be quite concealed from view by being let into a saw-cut in the tails of all the pedals. We have found this plan perfectly effectual, and we strongly recommend it to our readers. The springs can be made by any smith for twopence or threepence each. Their strength or resistance can be easily regulated by screwing them, not to the plane surface of the back balk, but within grooves cut in it, 1/2 inch deep at the back, diminishing to nothing in front. A few turns of the screw (which should be well greased with tallow), by lowering the tail of the spring, will bring on it a strain or tension which enables us to adjust with accuracy the resistance of each pedal to the pressure of the foot.