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MMD > Archives > December 1999 > 1999.12.03 > 01Prev  Next


Estey Pipe Organ with Haskell Style Pipes
By John Spradley

Imagine my surprise when Victoria Webb posted her comments on the Estey
Tuba!  I often wondered what happened to the organ.

I started at L.A. Trade-Tech college in the Fall of 1962, and immedi-
ately obtained access to the organ.  Pipework was totally un-molested,
but the push-button action was not operative.  I doubt the organ had
been tuned in two decades or more, but it was nearly in tune!  I arranged
for several of the old Poly High student organists to visit and play it,
including Dick Simonton, Doc Olsen, and three others whom I have forgot-
ten.  Truman Welch (sic), a skating rink organist, had been a student
organist, too.

I measured the reverberation in the auditorium, and it was six
seconds!  It made the organ sound absolutely superb, but was too much
for speech, so the auditorium was remodeled over a summer vacation.
I never did hear what happened to the organ, which actually belonged to
the Student Body Association.  They were never consulted by anyone about
the organs demise.

As I recall, most of the pipes (if not all) were 'Haskell' type, folded
to be 1/2-length.  It was a very compact instrument.  According to the
former student organists, at one time it supposedly had a roll player
with only one roll.

I heard that a twin had been installed in Hollywood High, and had been
vandalized by students, who put pipes in their car's exhaust and went
screaming down Hollywood Boulevard.

John Spradley


(Message sent Fri 3 Dec 1999, 14:38:22 GMT, from time zone GMT-0800.)

Key Words in Subject:  Estey, Haskell, Organ, Pipe, Pipes, Style

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