Bruce Miles - Consoles page

Bruce Miles .

Consoles page.

This 9 rank (originally 8) Compton organ was originally built for the Astoria Cinema, Hull in 1934 and installed in a museum at Rufforth, near York, in 1990. The organ has been out of use since 1995 and has recently (2008) been moved to Holland. The illuminated surround is typical of those used in UK and was also used with other makes of organ. The colours are controlled by the tabs on the left side of the straight stop rail, which can be set to give a fixed colour or to 'auto'. The fixed colour feature was often used to accompany a 'colours' selection incorporating such tunes as 'Red Sails in the Sunset', 'BlueMoon' and so on. For the 'auto' setting the colours change slowly through the colours of the rainbow.
The specification is Tibia 16 8 4 2.2/3 2, Diapason 16 8 4, Flute 8 4 2.2/3 2, Viol 16(TC) 8 4 2, Viol Celeste(TC) 8 4, Vox 16(TC) 8 4, Tuba 16 8 4, Trumpet 16(TC) 8 4, Krummet (added) 8 4. Solo Cello.

Yours truly at the console taken using flash. This kills the colour stone dead, but shows the detail of the etched pattern. The original etched glass panels for this organ have been lost. The replacements are of translucent plastic, with the design copied from an early (1934) photograph.

A close up of the console. The coloured tabs at the left end of the straight stop rail control the console lighting. The two thumb pistons to the left of the solo manual are the Solo Cello tuning controls and at the extreme right of the top rail are the Solo Cello drive motor switch, on/off tab control and there are four tone control tabs.
Photo - courtesy Alan Baker.

And finally a shot of my home organ, a Conn 650 of 1970. The sound has been much improved by the addition of spring-line reverb on both main and tibia channels.

Revised 29-Apl-09