by Ryan Luckey, Vice President & Project Manager of Bedient Pipe Organ and First Lutheran Member
The Bedient Pipe Organ Company covered and protected the pipe organ during our building construction project. Of course, any renovation project will generate a lot of dust and we certainly want to keep the organ clean. This isn’t just a cosmetic issue. If dust gets into the hundreds of pipes inside it can cause speech problems and dead notes. Preparing an organ for a renovation project requires three important steps.
First, we create a plastic tent around the instrument and seal it as tightly as possible. This will keep the bulk of the dust out of the organ.
Next, we install a special blower fitted with a HEPA filter blowing into the tent. This gently inflates the tent and surrounds the organ with clean air. If there are any seams that were difficult to seal, the positive air pressure prevents dust from getting into even the tiniest leaks.
The final step is to protect exposed delicate parts (such as the keydesk) from falling chunks of debris. We do this by building a plywood ‘house’ over it and covering it with its own inflated tent.
Any day now we will be back to uncover the organ, check the key and stop action and tune it so it’s ready for worship when we gather in-person again.
We often get calls from churches that neglected to think of covering the organ before diving into a construction project. In those cases, we need to clean up the mess. This requires removing all of the pipes and washing them, disassembling certain action components inside for cleaning and setting up scaffolding to clean the exterior of the case. Then it’s reassembly and tuning. That cleaning process can cost tens of thousands of dollars and take several weeks, depending on the size of the organ. We are so glad First Lutheran planned ahead and had us protect the organ!
I, like everyone else, am very eager to be back in the Sanctuary with the organ leading hymns and liturgy!
