If you haven't been to our house lately, you may be surprised to see how much more crowded it is than a few months ago. Last October one of our church members called us up and said that her cousin wanted to give away an organ (the musical kind!). Were we interested? Only if it worked. She said that her cousin said it worked.
I stopped by his place to see it and make sure it worked. Unfortunately due to the storage situation, we weren't able to try it out, but it looked nice! The Man stopped by a few days later and the cousin rolled the pickup that the organ was in out of the storage shed and they were able to transfer it from the back of his pickup into the back of The Man's pickup. The Man drove home with the monstrous organ and speaker/ amplifier/ whatever-it-is-called cabinet, and the bench.
We stood in the back of the pickup for awhile contemplating how we were going to get it down from the truck, up on the porch, up the steps, and into the living room. Old organs are heavy. Very, very, heavy. It took two strong guys to just scoot it a few feet from one pickup to another, we knew it should take more than just The Man and Wife to get it into the house. All the people we knew of that were available also had bad backs, so we didn't even ask. Finally, with the help of M, a furniture dolly, ramps, concrete blocks, and a lot of stuff I probably shouldn't admit to on the blog, we got it into the house and plugged it in. If we ever attempt something like that again, we should have at least 4 or 5 strong men to help out in the move. Those things are solid!
Some of the keys seemed to work, none of the pedals worked, and the speaker noise wasn't pleasant. We moved it to its present location until we could get someone to see if it was worth fixing.
We pulled the amplifier cabinet out from the wall for the service call, but this has basically been what one entire wall of my living room has looked like for the last few months...
With the piano, organ, guitar, violins, recorders, and whatever other musical instruments the kids drag in, this room has been referred to as the conservatory.
Meanwhile...a young man has been attending our church with his mother. A few months ago he inquired why no one ever played the organ at church. We told him that no one at church played, and the last time someone attempted to play, there were some weird noises and it probably needed to be serviced. It turns out that he plays the organ!
The Man called around to find a person to come and service both the organ at church and at our home. The only one The Man could find to service the organ was in the next state and didn't want to drive over the mountain pass due to weather. When the weather cleared he was going to be out of town, then he was sick, then he was still sick. Last week, another person who goes to our church called the manufacturer and got the list of qualified technicians in our area. One was dead, the other was the man we had been trying to get to come for the past few months! FINALLY! He came today!
After servicing the organ at church, he came to our house. He proclaimed that ours wasn't worth fixing. He said it would cost several hundred dollars for him to get it working, but he claims he could get us a nice, smaller one for a lot less. I told him to go ahead and take any parts he wanted since we're probably just going to junk it. He said he could use the amplifier and some cords. I'm not sure what all he took, but he didn't charge us for a separate service call. I'm so glad the organ donation didn't end up costing us anything.
The kids already have plans for the wood from the cabinets. I already have plans for rearranging the furniture. If you want any of the parts, put in your request now! Demolition will begin soon.
1 comment:
Those organs really are heavy. We have a dead organ in a back room at church that weighs more than our entire congregation combined! The pastor wanted it moved, but all of the little old ladies just laughed. It would be easier to take the Junior classroom apart board by board and rebuild it elsewhere than move that organ. So it stays.
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