The 8′ Open Diapason is the core sound of the organ. This rank is originally from St. Peter’s.

About the Stop

Open Diapason
It works! Time to bring it to church.

The Diapason is the fundamental organ “sound”. It is not trying to imitate other instruments like flutes or trumpets. This is a sound all its own and is what people associate with “organ”.

This is a fairly powerful stop, as it should be. Ideally, this rank should be accompanied by a 4′, 2′, and at least 1 mixture of similar properties. However, this organ was too small to have those things, and also the time period it was from did not utilize those configurations as much. (This configuration is known as the “principal chorus”.) Perhaps as time goes on, we can find some complementary pipes to add-on to the organ. For now, it will be ok!

Repairs

So far, the only work done on the Open Diapason has been with the offset chest which holds the lowest-sounding 8 pipes. The rest of the pipes are on the large main chest, and will be completed later.

The repairs done here are oh so similar to those on the other chests. Cleanup, small repairs, and rewire. Thankfully, this one was in pretty good shape!