Robert Morton Pipe Organ with Harp and player
$
510
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Description
There is NO Reserve on this auction!
So here’s the history of this organ. Originally it was a four rank (diapason, string, vox and tibia) with a xylophone. It was installed in a home for a lady in the Pasadena area in 1929. It was an attic installation because the total height of the organ was four and a half feet tall. It has all the chest action on top of the chest. Somebody told me that it was a “mortuary organ” chest design. This allows the chest to be on the ground since there are no magnets underneath. So with a low chest and the longest diapason pipe mitered, the total height was four and a half feet.
Then maybe in the 50s, the organ was installed in a church in Arcadia, CA. The organ person replaced the Spencer blower with a small Medinger blower, got rid of the xylophone and vox and added an extra string rank on a direct electric chest.
Then in the mid 60s, the church bought a new Wicks organ and the Morton was sold to the church organist who then installed the organ as is in his garage in Costa Mesa where I bought it in late 1969. I spent the next several years completely rewiring it, refinishing it with three coats of Varathane, releathering, and added a Vox making it a five rank. Later I built a orchestra bells unit instead of the xylophone. The original 12-note low bourdon pipes and chest I didn’t have room for in my parents house so I traded it for a Wurlitzer 12 note chest and pipes (why I did that I don’t know). Eventually, I just got a Peterson Low 12 generator which hooked up to a sub woofer which sounds really good. You can’t tell the difference and it doesn’t take up any room.
So the whole thing takes up half the space of a normal bedroom with an eight foot ceiling. Very compact and since it was always a residence organ, it is not loud but has a very pleasing sound.
The chests are all individual so that you can install it in any configuration. And there are gold plated multi-pin connectors for each chest.
After setting the organ up in my parents house, I bought a Petersen Player and installed it in the music rack. It allowed you to record and play back. Then I had to move and the organ was in storage for 25 years. After moving to my present home, I cleaned it all up and checked all the leather (which had been coated with that silicone preservative), had it up and playing again. The only problem was the Petersen player which only played back but wouldn’t record. I have all the schematics so if you know electronics, maybe you can figure it out.
Then, a couple of years ago, I bought a 49 note harp and had it shipped out from New York. I was in terrible condition, but I did a complete restoration including all new magnets and now it adds a wonderful dimension to the organ.
Just recently, I added a 88 note paper roll player that will play all the standard QRS player piano rolls. How cool is that??
The organ is sold as is where is BUT, if you want I could (for extra $$$) install it for you somewhere in the western US AND if you wanted to really do it right, have a whole new electronic control switching system installed. That would eliminate the switch stacks and you could have a playback function as well.
On top of that I also have a 61 note Morton concert flute and Orchestral Oboe that I was going to add but never did. The flute has a low 12 chest included.
Any questions, just ask. Thanks for looking!
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