Wigton Pipe Organs

St. Mary of the Assumption Catholic Church

Charlevoix, Michigan
Casavant Frêres, Opus 2947, 1967
Rebuilt and Enlarged as Opus 37R by Wigton Pipe Organs, Dryden, Michigan

In 1967 Casavant Frères of St. Hyacinthe, Quebec, built the organ for Our Lady of Sorrows Church in Detroit. Some years after the church was closed, the organ became available, and we recommended it for installation at St. Mary's. It replaces a much smaller unit organ installed in 1964. That instrument now serves as a choir rehearsal organ at Assumption Grotto parish in Detroit.

This organ comes from a time in which the neo-classic ideal was being reborn. Organs from the period are characterized by low wind pressures, smaller scales, and rich harmonic development. There also tends to be more speech transient noise, which needs to be adjusted for the acoustics of the room. In making plans for moving the organ, we recommended a couple of modest additions. The original 8' Spitz Principal was available only in the Pedal. This is such a basic stop for the chorus that we felt it was important to make it available in the Great division, so new pipes were added to complete that rank. We also added a Céleste to the Swell. This stop is purposely mis-tuned slightly sharp to give it a shimmering sound for quiet effects.

As can be seen in the photo, one big challenge was to adjust the layout of the organ to fit the new room. The original configuration was totally asymmetrical, since the organ was in a corner of the room. To allow for a symmetrical arrangement around the window, we installed the Swell division under the Great. We built new casework for the other side, which houses the blower and the static reservoir. The Pedal chest above it was reversed, as was one of the chests for the large wooden Subbass pipes. We installed the Spitz Principal in the center, building new windchests and reservoir for that stop. We installed a multiplex control system, which includes a multi-level combination action, and has provisions for a transposer and record/playback features.

Pipe organ projects are very labor-intensive; we spent almost 1600 hours on this project. Several people were involved over the course of the work: Edwin Judd, dismantling; Michael O'Neill and Lee Western, electrical wiring, assembly and installation; Richard Swanson, voicing and tonal finishing; David Wigton, dismantling, voicing, installation, tuning.

STOPLIST
 
Great
  8'      Spitz Principal      61 pipes  Zinc, spotted metal, 29 new pipes
  8'      Rohrflute            61 pipes  Zinc, spotted metal
  4'      Principal            61 pipes  Spotted metal
  2'      Blockflute           61 pipes  Spotted metal
  1-1/3'  Mixture  III        183 pipes  Spotted metal
 
Swell
  8'      Gemshorn             61 pipes  Zinc, spotted metal
  8'      Gemshorn Céleste     54 pipes  Casavant (Starts at GG)
  8'      Gedeckt              61 pipes  Zinc, spotted metal
  4'      Gemshorn             61 pipes  Casavant	
  4'      Spitzflute           61 pipes  Spotted metal
  2'      Principal            61 pipes  Spotted metal	
  8'      Oboe                 61 pipes  Zinc, spotted metal
          Tremulant
 
Pedal
 32'      Resultant            Acoustic  
 16'      SubBass              32 pipes  Stopped wood
  8'      Spitzprincipal       (From Great)
  8'      Bourdon              12 pipes  Stopped wood
  4'      Choral Bass          32 pipes  Spotted metal
 
Console
  Couplers - G/P8, S/P8, S/P4, S/S16, S/S4, S/G8, S/G4
  Tilting tablet console
  Compass: 61/32
  Combination Action: Six General thumb pistons, 
     toe studs for Great to Pedal and Full Organ
     Transposer and Player pistons
     Balanced shoe for Swell expression
 
Totals
   13 stops,
   15 ranks,
  857 pipes

Back to Opus List