User:M47715c00l/Boardwalk Hall Auditorium Organ

The Boardwalk Hall Auditorium Organ is the pipe organ in the Main Auditorium of Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, New Jersey. According to the Guinness World Records, it is the largest pipe organ ever constructed, the largest musical instrument ever constructed, and the loudest musical instrument ever constructed. It holds several other records in the organ world.

Design

The organ was designed by senator Emerson L. Richards in 1928. The Main Auditorium contains 15 million cubic feet (420,000 cubic meters) of air, and the organ was designed to be large and powerful enough to fill the auditorium with sound. The organ was built by Midmer-Losh Organ Company as Opus 5550. Construction of the organ took place between May, 1929 and December, 1932, during the Great Depression. Most of the pipes were built by Midmer-Losh. Anton Gottfried made some of the reed pipes, including the Brass Trumpet, Egyptian Horn, Euphone and Musette Mirabilis. The German company Welte-Mignon built the Bassoon pipes which used papier-mâché resonators, and built the wooden Tuba d'Amour pipes for the Echo division. The contract to build the organ was for $347,200 although the final cost rose to about $500,000; it was valued at $60 million around 2003.

Main Console

The organ's main console is built into a round kiosk on the right side of the auditorium stage. The console has 7 manuals and a pedal keyboard.

Boardwalk Hall Auditorium Organ keyboards

VII	Bombard	5 octaves, 61 keys, C2 to C7
VI	Echo	5 octaves, 61 keys, C2 to C7
V	Fanfare	5 octaves, 61 keys, C2 to C7
IV	Solo	5 octaves, 61 keys, C2 to C7
III	Swell	6 octaves, 73 keys, G1 to G7
II	Great	7 octaves, 85 keys, C1 to C8
I	Choir	7 octaves, 85 keys, C1 to C8
	Pedal	2 octaves, 32 keys, C2 to G4

(The pitches listed are given in Scientific pitch notation.)

There are 6 swell pedals which control 15 swell boxes, plus a crescendo pedal. There are 1,235 stop tabs, divided between the left and right stop jambs on either side of the console.

Flue stops	587
Reed stops	265
Melodic percussion	35
Non-melodic percussion	46
Couplers	164
Tremolos	18
Swell pedal selectors	120

Pipes and Divisions

The organ does not have a traditional façade; all of the organ pipes are hidden behind decorative grilles and screens. The pipes are divided into 8 chambers surrounding the auditorium.

The current layout of the organ was Richards's third design. The first design was to house 43,000 pipes in six chambers (all mentioned above minus the two Forward chambers), but there was not enough space for all of the pipes. The numbers of pipes was reduced to 29,000. Later, the Forward Chambers were put back in the design, and some stops from the original plan were reinstated. This raised the numbers of pipes to the present official number of 33,114.

Records

Grand Ophicleide

The 16' Grand Ophicleide, stop 9 in the Pedal Right division, is recognized by the Guinness World Records as the loudest organ stop in the world. It is described as having "a pure trumpet note of ear-splitting volume, more than six times the volume of the loudest locomotive whistle". It produces 130 dB of sound pressure at 1 meter distance.

The Grand Ophicleide is one of four reed stops that are voiced on 100 inches of water column (equal to 3.62 PSI) of wind pressure. The Boardwalk Hall Auditorium Organ is the only organ in the world that uses 100 inches of wind; the stops in most organs are voiced on 3 to 10 inches of wind (0.11 to 0.36 PSI). The pipes of the high-pressure stops are secured to ground, and individual parts are secured to each other. If any wind leaks, it can cause a whistle almost as loud as the tone of the pipes. The reed pipes have weighted tongues, and the tuning wires are held firmly in place to maintain the correct tuning.

The Atlantic City Convention Hall Organ Society's newsletter is named "Grand Ophicleide" after this stop.

Diaphone-Dulzian

The 64' Dulzian, stop 17 in the Pedal Right division, is one of only two real 64' stops in the world. The other real 64' stop is the Contra-trombone stop in the Sydney Town Hall Grand Organ in Sydney, Australia. Some other organs have 64' stops, but these are acoustic fakes; they are created by combining the tones from other stops to make a lower resultant tone.

The Dulzian low C pipe is 64'9" long (19.7 m), weighs 3,350 pounds (1,675 kg), and produces a frequency of approximately 8 Hz. The sound it makes has been described as "a helicopter hovering over the building". The pipe stands upright for about 40 feet (12 m). The remaining 24' section is mitred at a 90 degree angle and points horizontally towards the Right Stage Chamber's grille, like an upside-down letter L. All the pipes that are taller than 32 feet (9.8 m) stand like this.

External Links

• The Atlantic City Convention Hall Organ Society, "ACCHOS" This link no longer exists. The current website covering most of what was previously found at ACCHOS is now found at the website Boardwalk Pipes.
• Boardwalk Pipes. Early in 2012, this new website was established as the successor to the ACCHOS website, to provide a focal point that caters for the continuing worldwide fascination in these unique instruments.
• A Facebook group page, "Fans of the Atlantic City Boardwalk Hall Organs", contains additional information
• American Theatre Organ Society article on the organ
• The Organ Site database entry for the organ (in German)