Pipe Organ Builders, Designers and Consultants
Established 1828
Organ Building at Rushworth & Dreaper
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Our TIMBER MILL is fully equipped with comprehensive machinery to fulfil all organ building demands for new and restored organs. Intricacies in design and casework can be interpreted with the highest quality of finish. Carefully selected timbers for our organ building come from local specialist suppliers. In the main we deal with oak, mahogany, obeche and resin bonded laminated boards. THE CONSOLE is one of the most important features of the organ and must not only be pleasing to the eye but also comfortably designed for playing. Rushworth consoles have been known for decades as some of the best in the field and contain the most up to date actions for both key and stop. We specialise in not only mechanical actions, but also Solid State Piston Capture Systems.
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All SOUNDBOARDS are designed according to the correct scaling of the pipes and whether with modern electric or mechanical action are built of materials chosen to withstand dramatic changes in atmospheric conditions. The actions are designed to give full wind to the pipework and at the same time leave a light and prompt response to the touch of the player. Mechanical KEY ACTIONS have been developed over the last two decades following careful study of all that is best from the past with modern technology. Such actions whether for instruments large or small are calculated to be light to the touch and built with carefully selected materials for longevity. Where appropriate electric actions are built to the same high degree of accuracy with modern materials utilising Solid State coupling actions and Capture Systems. All actions are built for ease of maintenance and with compactness in mind.
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Metal Casting
The making of THE PIPEWORK is of the utmost importance as not only the correct materials, but accurate dimensions are a prerequisite to tonal success. The molten pipe metal is cast on a perfectly level bench, of Yorkshire stone, to the required thickness by an adjustable trough. Every organ pipe from the tiniest, which is approximately the size of a pencil to that of 32ft length is made individually by craftsmen of many years standing to a degree of quality and accuracy that enables the voicer to put the pipe on speech naturally. THE VOICING demands particular care as it is the pipes that one hears. Each pipe must not only represent the correct note, but also blend in quality with the stop it represents. The scaling of the pipework for the whole organ has to be carried out by one individual who is responsible for the tonal concept of the instrument and as such draws the various parts of the specification whether they be flue, reed, string or mutation, into a whole, living musical instrument.
Our ample ASSEMBLY HALL allows every new or rebuilt pipe organ to be constructed for full testing under normal working conditions. Thereafter, the organ is dismantled and shipped to the church where it is assembled, whether it be at home or abroad, by the craftsmen who built it.
Email: ho@rushworths.co.uk
© 1990 Rushworth & Dreaper