((PKG)) ORGAN FACTORY
((Banner: Organ Makers))
((Reporter: Lesia Bakalets))
((Camera: Sergey Sokolov))
((Adapted by: Martin Secrest))
((Map: Chattanooga, Tennessee))
((Banner: Richards, Fowkes and Co. has been building pipe organs for 30 years))
((RALPH RICHARDS, CO-OWNER, RICHARDS, FOWKES AND CO.))
I fell in love with the organ almost instantly. It was like, ‘Wow.’ And it’s an interesting instrument with so much history. Up until the Industrial Revolution, the organ was the largest, most complicated and loudest musical instrument in existence. The only things louder than an organ were thunder or cannon. Every single small detail in these organs is important, from the initial design, the construction of the parts, how they’re fit together, how they’re glued together. All of it’s one piece.
((NATS))
((BRUCE FOWKES, CO-OWNER, RICHARDS, FOWKES AND CO.))
I mean, a small organ can have less than a thousand pipes in it, and a cathedral organ might have 10-thousand pipes in it. Everything I have, you know, is involved in this workshop, you know, all of my handmade jigs, and machines that are specifically tailored to building pipe organs.
((NATS))
((RALPH RICHARDS, CO-OWNER, RICHARDS, FOWKES AND CO.))
You saw the metal pipes being made. When those are rolled together, there’s no way to determine the precise, exactly, diameter. It could change by half a millimeter easily, and it might not be perfectly round. So, we have to fit those pipes into (a) rack, and make sure that they fit perfectly. But, we put it together almost like a giant puzzle, piece by piece, fitting every piece, until it’s all together, and then we want to make sure also that it plays. We don’t make every pipe work in the shop, but we want to make sure that the mechanical system works, that there are no leaks in the wind system, because pinholes can cause leaks.
Organ builders, in history, have never made a lot of money. There are long hours. Often, we refer to it almost as a disease. You know, you get into this profession because this is what you want to do with your life. And if you have the disease, kind of, you have no choice. And that’s how Bruce and I’ve felt since we fell in love with building organs. What else could I do that would have this much, this many interesting things going on all the time.
((NATS))
