ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

From: John R. Burns, June 2000

Writing to update you on the status of Opus 1424. On Saturday, May 27, 2000, it was removed from the Faith Baptist Church in Peckville, PA. I had the invaluable help of Randy Newman, Lester "Roc" Rockafellow, Matt Hontz, and Suzanne Petrella.

On the Opus List it is noted with a status of "OK." It was anything but that. The console had been replaced. The Glockenspiel and Xylophone had been removed, but the chimes were still present. There was no toy counter or traps.

Of greater importance, the Trumpet was long gone, replaced on its chest by a Diapason. The Vox had been removed some time after installation in the church, and its chest was empty. The Salicional and Flute/Bourdon ranks were intact, and in fairly good condition. Someone had thoughtfully nailed all of the stoppers in the flute rank in place, presumably to minimize those annoying tuning sessions. But it appears that no serious damage was done. The chests, offsets, regulators, and trems were all there, albeit with water damage to some. The blower was present, with a 2 HP, two cycle motor. The motor had no electrical connection, but a pulley was attached to the exposed end of the shaft, and it was driven by belts attached to this by a separate, large 2 HP single cycle engine. It functioned but shook quite a bit. It was Roc's opinion that the original motor needed new bearings, and that would probably fix this problem. It was listed as having an output of 400 CFM at 12" of water.

It's now all in my garage, along with some additions that had been made to it. It will not be restored to its initial configuration. I feel bad about this, but it wasn't even close to its former self as it stood. I think that I'll have to be content with preserving the ranks, and restoring the chests, trems, regulators, and offsets. Then try to make sure that they find a good home, probably in a planned TO of my own, or another good TO installation.

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