ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

From: Ray B John, January 1999

At this writing, the Mosque 3/17 260 special is no longer playable.

The wind trunk from the blower room on the fifth floor main chamber going across the proscenium arch was accidently removed and has not been replaced. This same fiasco occurred about twenty years ago when the Mosque was air conditioned. Tommy Landrum and Dick Barlow who for many years scrupulously maintained both the Mosque and the Byrd organs, came in one day to work on the organ. When the wind was turned on, there was the roar overhead. Upon investigation, the air conditioning people had removed the 100 foot long windline because they didn't know what it was for. It was promptly replaced and the organ continued to see regular useage for some years.

Unfortunately, another group of "organ enthusiasts" pushed Tommy Landrum and Dick Barlow out of the Mosque and the Byrd Theatre. Not having the weekly maintenance, both instruments began to suffer.

I played a Sunday morning concert at the Mosque in the fall of 1994. At that time every rank in the organ was riddled with dead notes. As I recall, one person was trying valiantly to maintain the organ when time permitted him to do so.

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