In March 2007 HWS Associates were invited to survey the once magnificent Compton organ at the former Gaumont Palace/Odeon Hammersmith, now live music venue the Hammersmith Apollo.
Although the console had already been cosmetically restored to a high standard by David Pawlyn, very little other work had been done to the rest of the organ. The pipe chambers were filthy dirty, there was some water damage from a roof vent, some pipes were damaged, various faults existed and there had been no connection between console and chambers for at least 10 years. This wonderful 4 manual, 15 rank, 1932 Compton had not been played since the early 1980s and in the 1990s the main cable was severed.
Due to the imminent sale of the building to another operator, the management required the organ to be up and running asap in order to fulfill its obligations. So on 4th April I got the call that we were to take over from David and start straight away. This was actually the very day after we had completed the Regal Uxbridge Compton console restoration and although still somewhat weary from that project we started at Hammersmith on the 5th with a full-day's cleaning in the chambers. My team for this project couldn't have been better! It consisted of eminent theatre organist and restorer Richard Hills, wiring expert Andrew Barham, woodwork and metalwork (and general construction) guru Egidijus Lazauskas and ex-Osmonds man Stephen Dutfield. Steve re-leathered all the traps motors back at his home in Cardiff but the rest of the team were on site most days.
I had decided that every pipe should be removed and cleaned, the chests hoovered, polished and tested and the pipes replanted. So all 1200-ish pipes came out over the following weeks, the damaged ones were sent to Booths for repair, replacements for the missing ones were ordered and the long process of fault finding and fixing was started.
After a month of solid and hard work we had cleaned every pipe and chest, remedied various faults and installed the chamber end of a new multiplex system. Our brief was to reconnect the console via a multiplex system, which means that all 850 wires on the console tag board are connected to the corresponding chamber tag board via an electronic scanning system that encodes the connections into a high-speed data stream and sends it via a thin network cable. This means that the console can be unplugged if required and indeed we opted to install a pluggin point in the wings as well as on the lift base so the console could be to one side rather than always take centre stage. The original Compton relays have however been maintained, although this has proved to be more troublesome than at first thought.
The multiplex system used is Opus-Two from Canada. Whilst it is designed to be a complete relay and stop action system, we only needed it to drive the original relays in this project. One huge benefit of using it though is that a MIDI keyboard can be plugged into the chamber cards and the whole organ played or tested from the chambers. So after four weeks from starting we are able to do just that and the Hammersmith organ was heard again, albeit in a limited fashion.
The organ is one of the finest theatre organs made by Compton and has the following ranks:
• Open Diapason (diaphone at 8ft and 16ft)
• Horn Diapason - actually a Hill, Norman & Beard rank from the original HNB semi-straight organ installed in the Capitol Haymarket which Comptons dismantled in 1930
• Violin
• Violin Celeste
• Cello
• Salicional
• Stopped Flute
• Oboe (originally this was a Krummet but was swapped with the Shepherds Bush Oboe)
• Clarinet
• Vox Humana
• Tibia (metal)
• Tuba
• French Horn
• Concert Flute
• Orchestral Trumpet
The pipe-work is installed in long high chambers above the front stalls and the sound is ducted down through a large grill above the proscenium. The console is stored under the stage apron (which covers what used to be the orchestra pit) and a new lift has been installed to take it up through the centre of the stage.
The Apollo is one of the country's largest performance venues and will take a maximum of about 3500 all seated or 5000 people with the stalls seats removed (which happens frequently!).
The next stage of the project was to get the console wired to Opus-Two and to start testing all the hundreds of electrical connections within it. Meanwhile other works continued in the chambers. The tuba and French horn had suffered the worse from debris and water damage and took ages to replant, clean, reset reeds and get speaking. The clarinet was also very troublesome and we had several pallets which refused to either open or close properly as well as lots of missing reed weights.
Once the console was wired to Opus we ran a data cable from the chamber and a historic moment was reached - the console was reconnected to the chambers and for the first time in many years the organ could be played properly, not withstanding lots of dirty contacts and still plenty of non-sounding pipes. This was now eight weeks into the project.
The weeks that followed were taken up with systematically going through every fault and trying to remedy it. In addition the blower and motor were lubricated, the electricians wired in remote start buttons for the blower in the wings and understate and we set about trying to find a replacement vibraphone as the original bars had been stolen some years ago.
Extra help on the reed pipes was forthcoming in the forms of Robert Rowley and Ian Bell who both very kindly lent their considerable expertise to getting the clarinet and tuba reeds sorted out so that the pipes spoke properly and promptly. Robert also undertook some work on the tremulants and winding in order to improve the tibia and strings tremulation.
It's amazing how many things there are to do on a machine like this when you're trying to get it from an abandoned collection of bits to a fully working pipe organ! Every day I had a list to work through and it often seemed that as fast as items were crossed off it, others would get added to it! Although our brief to reconnect the organ and get it playing was actually fulfilled after about two months or so, our aim was to hold a launch party in late July and for that we wanted the organ to be as good as we could make it. We therefore kept on working without additional funds to achieve this and to try to get every pipe playing, every piston working and the whole organ in tune and sounding sweet. I think we just about achieved this, certainly well enough for the party, although there are still a few small issues to attend to.
Another additional item we undertook was the remaking of the original style music desk. The console had long-since had a 'plank' instead of the original fretwork desk and I was determined that this restoration project should see a 'proper' desk returned to the beautiful console. I managed to find a couple of old photos and with some computer manipulation we produced the correct pattern. The new one is made from 9mm ply and is nice and strong. Hopefully it will last better that the first one did.
The party on July 25th was a huge success. Richard Hills gave an exemplarily performance and the invited guests were joined by TV cameras and the media. It was a momentous day in my opinion and re-launched this wonderful instrument in style. I think this is one of the finest theatre organs in the country now, especially as it is still in its original and amazing venue.
I'd like to offer my enormous thanks to my team for their skills, talent and dedication to this project and also to everyone who helped or gave words of support.
Peter Hammond
Senior Partner HWS Associates LLP
