Great Falls, Montana
First Church of Christ, Scientist
ESTEY ORGAN CORPORATION, Opus 2794, 1929 - New Consol, 1935
Harold B. Curryer, 1980's, Tonal Changes
GREAT (Expressive) COUPLERS
8' Open Diapason 61 Swell to Pedal 8,4
8' Melodia 61 Great to Pedal 8,4
8' Dulciana 61
4' Flute Harmonic 61 Swell to Great 16,8,4
Chimes [prep] --
Great to Great 16' FINGER PISTONS
Great Unison Off General 1 – 4
Great to Great 4' Swell 1 – 3
Great 1 & 2
Pedal 1 & 2
SWELL (Expressive)
8' Stopped Diapason 73
8' Salicional 73 TOE STUDS
8' Vox Celeste (tc) 61 Gt. to Ped. (rev)
4' Flute d'Amour 73 Sforzando (rev)
2' Fifteenth 61
8' Vox Humana 61
Tremolo PEDAL MOVEMENTS
Expression (bal.)
Swell to Swell 16' Crescendo (bal.)
Swell Unison Off
Swell to Swell 4'
PEDAL (Expressive) ACTION: E-P ventil & unit; D-E unit
16' Bourdon 30
16' Lieblich Gedeckt 30 VOICES: 12 STOPS: 14
8' Bass Flute 12
8' Flauto Dolce 12 RANKS: 12 PIPES: 730
NOTES
The organ is installed in a common chamber at the front, center of the room above the
Reader's platform. The console was installed in a room to the left, front side of the
auditorium making it very difficult for the organist to hear the balance and blend of
the organ. The Great chest is placed in front of the Swell chest, and the Pedal is
divided on either side of the manual divisions.
Oddly, the Pedal 16' Bourdon is marked with opus number 2151 which was a 1924, 2-manual
organ with a player listed for the Lyon & Healy Studio in Chicago. In 1937, it was en-
larged by Estey as their opus 2798 to be a 3-manual organ for the Presbyterian Church
in LaGrange, Illinois.
In the 1980's, the church contracted Harold B. Curryer of Spokane to make one tonal
change and to re-leather the entire organ. The added stop was called 2' Fifteenth and
was placed on a poorly-built, homemade, direct-electric chest furnished by Mr. Curryer.
The pipes are a mixture of six different types of used pipes. The first 37 pipes are
three different makes of stopped wood pipes labeled, “St Diap”, “Fl Am”, and “Gr 293”.
Notes 38-44 are two different ranks of open metal principal pipes labeled, “Octave” and
“15th”. Notes 45 thru 61 are marked “Piccolo” and are harmonic. He used the Swell 8'
Aeoline stop wire to operate the added Reisner gang switch. The 8' Aeoline pipes are
still present, but unused. The re-leathering was also not as all-inclusive as the church
had understood it to be. The console was not re-leathered, nor were the Pedal chests.
In April 1994, Meadway & Stettner releathered the console coupler pneumatics. The Pedal
chest pneumatics remained to be done, and dead notes had been cross-bridged between the
two Pedal 16' stopped woods.
At some undocumented time in the past – perhaps during Mr. Curryer's time – the original
8' Vox Humana was replaced with a used, Estey labial 8' Oboe. It was originally a tenor
C set, but the bass has been completed with a used, canistered Salicional bass from
another source. Tenor C of the labial Oboe is marked, Oboe/a 513/W. McLaughlin/July 1905.
Bass CC of the removed 8' Vox Humana is marked, 943/6” wind/2-14-28/R.C.L. In 1995, the
Vox Humana was given to St. Anne's Co-Cathedral to replace their damaged original set in
exchange for repairs to the Estey organ by Meadway & Stettner.
Sources: Estey opus list; JRS; extant organ
[Received from James R. Stettner 2016-01-21.]