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A new console for the Williams High School Theatre Pipe Organ.
The original Wurlitzer console has only one bolster and places severe limitations on any plans to enlarge the Williams organ. When the organ was given to
PTOS, the club decided to find a larger console. After considerable discussion and searching, we found that two ATOS Chapters had purchased console shells from Bob Arndt. With financial help from the Burlington NC
Kiwanis club PTOS purchased an Arndt Console. Below is a picture story board of what PTOS is doing to get the most out of our new console for the Williams High School in Burlington, NC
This picture was taken by Riesner. The consoles were purchased by Arndt when Riesner went out of business.
The console top has a very distinctive shape and is similar to pictures I have seen of the George Wright organ.
Console Shell as received from Arndt. Arndt had removed the light shades which made the top look like those used by WurliTzer on their earlier consoles.
New half rails were laminated and matched to the stop rail.The extra half rail requires raising console top by 3-1/2 inches. The half rails increase the stop rail capacity by 18
Stop Tabs (SAMs) on each side. The Arndt top, temporary front covers, temporary set of manuals and back rail are in the picture to verify clearances in the console. The
Stop Rail with the new Half Rails and the Back Rail will hold over 250 Stop Keys
New scroll top cut out and placed on console to verify fit. Temporary front panels where made as templates and used to verify proportion.
View of the back of Stop Rail showing extrusions used to mount SAMs. The extrusions are screwed to the stop rail every 3"with flat head wood screws. Brass clips that have
been drilled and tapped ride in the extrusion and the SAMs are screwed into the clips with 6-32 machine screws. This method makes it very easy to adjust the
spacing of the SAMs. The black bracket in the lower left of the picture is made of #10 steel and supports the stop rails in the front. The center of the stop rail is supported
by a brace that runs across the width of the console. The brace is reinforced by two #10 steel fletch plates securely fastened to the brace. wood front panels screw to the
brackets with machine screws and metal wood inserts similar to those used on Wurlitzer chests.
View of the back of the Back Rail showing the Extrusions mounted on the back rail and the clips riding in the extrusion. The Back Rail will hold 60 Stop keys (SAMs).
SAMs = Syndyne Action Magnets
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