Seattle, Washington
St. John the Evangelist RC Church
BALCOM and VAUGHAN PIPE ORGANS, Inc., Opus 769 RB, 1973
Puget Sound Pipe Organs, 1998–99 - Tonal Additions
Clinton B. Meadway, 1999–2000 - Donated Used III-man. Console;
Install Combination Action
Frans W.M. Bosman, 2000 - Tonal Changes
GREAT (II) SWELL (III – Expressive)
16' Contre Basse (Ped) -- 16' Holz Bourdon 12
8' Principal 61 8' Gross Flute 61
8' Diapason (Ped) -- 8' Holz Gedeckt 61
8' Doppel Flöte 61 8' Gamba 61
4' Octave 61 8' Gamba Celeste (GG) 54
4' Doppel Flöte 12 4' Prestant 73
blank 4' Stopped Flute 61
2' Super Oktave 61 2-2/3' Nazard 61
II Sesquialtera [12-17] 122 2' Block Flöte 61
8' Trumpet 61 1-3/5' Terz 61
Tremulant 16' Bassoon (tc) --
blank 8' Tuba 61
blank 8' Hautbois 61
blank Tremulant
blank
blank Swell to Swell 16'
blank Unison Off 8'
blank Swell to Swell 4'
blank
Great to Great 16' CHOIR (I – Expressive)
Unison Off 8' 8' Gross Flute (Sw) --
Great to Great 4' 8' Holz Gedeckt (Sw) --
8' Gamba (Sw) --
8' Gamba Celeste (Sw) --
PEDAL 4' Prestant (Sw) --
32' Resultant -- 4' Stopped Flute (Sw) --
16' Contre Basse 12 2' Principal (Sw) --
16' Subbass 32 8' Tuba (Sw) --
16' Zart Bass (Sw) -- 8' Hautbois (Sw) --
8' Oktav Bass 32 Tremulant I
8' Holz Gedeckt (Sw) -- blank
8' Gamba (Sw) -- blank
4' Choral Bass 12 blank
4' Doppel Flöte (Gt) -- blank
2' Octavin 12 blank
III Mixtur [12-15-19] 12 blank
8' Tuba (Sw) -- blank
8' Trumpet (Gt) --
8' Hautbois (Sw) -- Choir to Choir 16'
4' Trumpet (Gt) -- Unison Off 8'
4' Hautbois (Sw) -- Choir to Choir 4'
COUPLERS FINGER PISTONS
Swell to Pedal 8,4 General 1 – 10
Great to Pedal 8,4 Swell 1 – 6
Choir to Pedal 8 Sw to Ped (rev)
Great 1 – 6
Swell to Great 16,8,4 Gr to Ped (rev)
Choir to Great 16,8,4 Choir 1 – 6
Ch to Ped (rev)
Swell to Choir 16,8,4 Pedal 1 – 6
SFZ (rev)
Set
PEDAL MOVEMENTS Gen Can
Nave Expression (bal.)
Gallery Expression (bal.)
Crescendo (bal.) TOE STUDS
General 1 – 10
Gr. to Ped. (rev)
ACTION: E-P unit VOICES: 19 STOPS: 47 RANKS: 20 PIPES: 1,239
NOTES
This organ had as its beginning, a 2-manual, 7-rank, tubular-pneumatic W.W. Kimball Co.
instrument (opus 6613) originally built in 1924 for the original Paramount Theatre
(later, Guild 45th) in Seattle's Wallingford neighborhood. Two years later in 1926,
Kimball added two ranks to the Swell. It was this organ that was moved to St. John the
Evangelist in 1930 by Balcom and Provorse and electrified with it's original console.
In 1976, Balcom and Vaughan did a fairly major rebuild as their opus 796RB – installing
a new non-expressive Great division in another chamber on new Kilgen-style, E-P unit
chests but retaining the original Kimball Great in modfied form. The Swell was also
altered. The resulting organ was 17-ranks of which 11 were new. A new console was also
provided.
In 1998-99, Puget Sound Pipe Organs of Seattle rebuilt and enlarged the organ. The orig-
inal Kimball chest in the Swell chamber was replaced with three newly releathered Kilgen-
style Balcom and Vaughan chests from Church of the Ascension in Seattle's Magnolia
neighborhood. The Kimball chest was acquired by the Pipe Organ Foundation of Mercer Island,
Washington. The Swell chamber became solely the Swell division plus the original Kimball
16' Bourdon. Another 3-stop Balcom and Vaughan E-P unit chest was installed in the 1973
Great chamber to hold the displaced ranks formerly in the Swell chamber. A used Stinkens
8'/4' Rohr Flöte replaced the 1930 Kimball 8' Melodia that had Flute d'Amour stoppers
inserted. The 2' component of the 1973 Great IV Mixture was placed on the restored 3-rank
chest to play independently, but also wired to draw with the Mixture stop tablet. In the
Swell, a used 8' Gamba and Celeste of undocumented provenance were added from PSPO inventory.
The used 1923 Bennett (opus 912) 16' Bourdon/8' Stopped Diapason from Chehalis Methodist
replaced the original Kimball 8' Stopped Flute. A 4' Spill Flute, 2-2/3' Nazard, and 2'
Block Flöte all from Church of the Ascension were added. And the 1973 1-1/3' Nasat had
three new pipes added at the bass and was installed as a 1-3/5' Tierce. The original Kimball
tapered 'Dulciana' (a Muted Viol) was cut-down at scale, and revoiced as a 4' Octave Conique.
The Swell Kimball regulator was releathered as was the original Kimball Pedal 16' Bourdon
chest. A used 2-note chest was added along with two Kimball pipes for notes 31 and 32. The
gang switch relay from Church of the Ascension was also installed in the Swell to handle
switching for the enlarged instrument. And a metal 16' Contre Basse extension from Church
of the Ascension was added to the existing Pedal 8' Oktav Bass unit in the 1973 Great
chamber.
In 1999-2000, Clinton B. Meadway and his wife DeAnne of Monroe, Washington donated the 3-
manual modified Aeolian console formerly at Church of the Ascension to St. John the Evan-
gelist. The relay added by Puget Sound Pipe Organs included all the switching for another
manual division. So the Swell was largely duplexed to the bottom manual as a Choir division.
A new Syndyne combination action was added to the console to manage the greatly enlarged
stoplist. The former Balcom and Vaughan console as taken in-trade and ultimately sold to a
private party in California.
Later in 2000, Frans W.M. Bosman of Mosier, Oregon made pipe substitutions and tonal changes
to the organ. Some of the 1973 Stinkens pipework from both the Great and the Swell, and the
1979 Stinkens pipework from Church of the Acension was replaced with much older used pipework
from various other organs by Moller, Kimball, and Austin. A Kimball Doppel Flute was installed
in the Great in place of the Rohr Flöte with pipes 1-12 on a new offset chest built by Bosman.
A used, transposed 8' Diapason replaced the 1973 4' Oktave. A used 8' Diapason replaced the
Pedal 8' Oktav Bass unit. The original 2' Super Oktave/IV Mixtur 2' was removed altogether,
and in its place more used Diapasons were install as a 2' register and a II Sesquialtera for
which a new chest was built for the Tierce component. In the Swell, a used Estey 8' Gross Flute
was added with notes 1-12 on two new 6-note chests built by Bosman. The 4' Octave Conique was
replaced with yet another transposed 8' Diapason of unknown provenance. The 4' Spill Flöte was
replaced by a transposed, stopped wood Austin 8' Rohr Flute (so now the Swell 16'/8' and 4'
flutes were all stopped wood). And a used, 1933, 8' Moller Tuba was acquired from Puget Sound
Pipe Organs and installed in the Swell.
Sources: The Console (Vol. 3, No. 9); The Encyclopedia of the American Theatre Organ, Vol. I;
Balcom and Vaughan opus list; JRS; extant organ.
[Received from James R. Stettner 2015-09-25.]