Tuning and maintenance

Organ tuning

Don’t postpone the tuning of your organ!  By having it tuned and maintained each year, you’ll keep its lovely voice at its best.  We correct small irregularities in the sound before they can get obnoxious.  Besides, when the organ is regularly tuned, keeping it in tune takes less time and that saves money.

When to tune?

What is the best time to tune the organ?  That depends on the location of the instrument.

Tuning is easier and more successful when the temperature is constant.  In the months that the heating is on, the variations in temperature are usually greater.   So we recommend tuning in the period from May through September, when the heating will be off.

How long does it take to tune?

Depending on the size of the instrument, the tuning job can take between 2 hours and 2 days.  Our tuner brings her own electric tuning machine (if the organ is suitable).  This has the advantage that we don’t need any extra assistance.

Maintenance

Your organ is required to provide substantial service with great regularity.  Good maintenance is important to keep your organ in top condition.  Some problems, like sagging pipes, can be corrected simply during normal periodic maintenance.  But such relatively small problems can bring high costs if they’re not caught early.

Impending mechanical malfunctions can often be fixed during this maintenance, before there’s a failure.  And the organ’s blower should be oiled regularly.

During maintenance we listen to every pipe.  As necessary, we carry out the following:

  • Revoicing, when a pipe’s tone deviates too strongly from that of its neighbors;
  • Refitting loose caps and stoppers of pipes, which can cause out-of-tuneness;
  • Adjusting keyboards as necessary;
  • Checking and regulating couplers;
  • Eliminating mechanical squeaks and other noises;
  • Cleaning the keys;
  • Removing dust under the pedal board;
  • Oiling the blower;
  • Checking and adjusting the action as required;
  • Checking the tuning register and adjusting the tuning of other pipes as necessary;
  • Checking the wind pressure.

How often is maintenance required?

Depending on the quality of the organ, we advise yearly maintenance or perhaps every other year.

From old to young

Van der Putten has maintenance contracts for many organs:  from young to old ones and from small to large.

The oldest organ that we maintain is in the church in Krewerd and dates from 1531.  The largest organ that we maintain is in the church in Midwolda;  it was built by A.A. Hinsz in 1772.  The newest organ that we maintain was built in 2006.

Cost of maintenance

The cost of maintenance depends on the size of the organ and the distance.  We always try to keep the costs down by maintaining more than one organ in the same area on the same day.

More info?

We’d be happy to tell you more.  Just contact us.