Balcom and Vaughan Pipe Organs, Inc.
1988

As installed in the Liberty Theatre the organ was a standard Style 185. As noted elsewhere, Balcom & Vaughan added the Tibia from the Rialto Theatre's Wurlitzer as well as a Kinura and Trumpet. This necessitated some reconfiguring of the stop rail (e.g. there's now a global "celestes off" tab in place of separate tabs for unisons and celestes and second touch only remains on the accompaniment manual). Electric Reisner switches were grafted onto the relays for the added ranks.

In March of 2022 a MIDI player device was added to the organ. It was built by Museum volunteers from components purchased from Artisan Instruments. It was added to replace the piano roll player, a troublesome mechanism to maintain. The roll player remains in place and is still usable. The MIDI player output is connected to the 61-note roll player wiring through a punchdown block. It is controlled by an Artisan MIDI Sequencer mounted on the organ console. The sequencer accepts USB flash drives that contain Format 0 MIDI files. The sequencer can also record notes played on the SOLO keyboard as well as notes played by the piano roll player.

Updated by Robert J Straub, who maintains the organ.

Since installation at the museum, a player piano mechanism has been added and modified for automatic play, controlled from the organ console. Sixty-one of its outputs are wired into the Solo keyboard. At one time, sixty-one notes of a full player piano were also connected to the Accompaniment keyboard, with their own stop. The piano eventually wore out and was removed, but the wiring is still in place.

Updated through online information from Jesse Zylstra. -- The organ can be visited during museum hours and demonstrated by a lobby host on request. The organ is also playable by appointment (visit the museum website for contact information). The organ pipes, toys, reservoirs, part of the stack switch and relay can be seen through glass windows. The following ranks are not the from the original installation: Tibia Kinura (replaced due to damage) Tuba (replaced due to damage) Vox (replaced due to damage) and percussion: Harp, cymbals, and piano. The organ still uses the original action.

Identified through online information from James R. Stettner. -- Removal, restoration, and reinstallation of the 1919, Style 185 Wurlitzer from the Liberty Theatre in Wenatchee. Installed with its 1931 additions. The museum was formerly known as the North Central Washington Museum.