First United Methodist Church of London - London, OH - 3/28 Johnson & Son / Muller

First United Methodist Church of London
London, OH
3/28 Johnson & Son / Muller
Opus 814 - 1894/2010

Photos of the Swell Division

Click on the photo to see a larger image

	Accessing the Swell requires first entering the Great Division chamber, then climbing through a small door and oddly angled ladder. The Swell Division actually sits above a door opening from the church sanctuary. A sliver of the pathway under the chests can be seen at the bottom of the door opening.
	The Swell Division pipework sits to the left of the Great Division when viewing from the seating in the church. This photo shows a little better the majority of the pipes in the chamber. Note the black expression shutters on the left side which allow the organist to control the amount of sound. There are 8 ranks and a total of 500 pipes in the Swell.
	After entering the chamber, on the right side is the upper part of the Pedal Bourdon rank. The stoppers on the top are used to tune the pipe and double the speaking pitch. Apparently the second pipe from the right was shy and turned itself around for this photo! The small white object at the bottom is a thermometer used to monitor the temperature in the chamber when tuning.
	Above the Pedal Bourdon pipes shown above is the Viola Celeste rank which was added in 1988. A celeste rank is tuned slightly off pitch and normally selected with another rank (in this case the Viola) to produce a slight wavering sound. The wavering gives the gentle vibrato sound heard when an instrumentalist plays a string instrument.
	On the far left side of the chamber we see the largest pipes in the Swell. The Pedal Bourdon pipes basically loop around several other ranks in the chamber. To the left of these pipes are the Viola and Open Diapason ranks. All three of these ranks are part of the original Johnson & Son pipe organ. On the right side next to the Stopped Diapason pipes are the Bassoon-Oboe and Harmonic Flute ranks. The Bassoon-Oboe has a similar construction to the Trumpet in the Great but is thinner.
	The Quint rank, added in 2010 by repurposing an original Johnson & Son rank, is dwarfed by the Stopped Diapason on the left, and the Harmonic Flute on the right. The Quint is a mutation rank, meaning it speaks at a pitch other than the octave or unison.
	This photo shows the Open Diapason pipes seemingly trying to get a peek as to what is outside the chamber. Between the pipes and the outside world are the expression shutters and a decorative grill which covers the chamber opening. Some of these pipes were mitered, possibly to fit for a previous position in the chamber.