Bonneville Stake Center - Small, but Unique

These pictures are actually from the 2nd time I went to play this organ. The first time, I was only able to stay for about 15 minutes because a bunch of people were coming in to watch the General Womens' Meeting, and obviously needed the chapel. I also couldn't get any pictures, because the room was rather crowded and the projection screen was down in front of the organ.

This is the first Wicks, and the first chapel pipe organ I ever played, but because of the short time, I had to go back to document it and really get a feel for it.

As you can see, there's some nice detailing on the wind chests for the facade pipes, and there's only room for the one row of pipes against the wall. Below you can sort of see the other pipes inside the swell box in the center. The shutters on the swell box are made of glass, which is why you can see the pipes. You can also sort of see the console in the back right corner of the rostrum.

Here's my selfie:

As you can imagine, with just a small swell box and a single row of facade pipes, this is a pretty small organ. You can see below that it only has 5 ranks of pipes, which isn't very many.

I was able to get this cool shot, since the pipes are right at eye level where you can reach them. Now, if you can ever get that close to organ pipes, DON'T TOUCH THEM, unless you have permission. It's easy for them to get them out of tune. Tuning and voicing an organ is a laborious and expensive affair, and most churches probably won't want to pay for it more than absolutely necessary.

This is the view from the console. It's tucked way back into the corner, and the piano is almost right up against it. I imagine, however, that this makes it easy to use piano and organ in the same program, since the organist could easily whisper in the pianist's ear (or vice versa) without either of them having to move.

I enjoyed this organ. It was fun, and I was able to get some fun sounds out of it. Being only a 5-rank organ, it's not very loud, even on full organ, but it makes it useful for general church services without the church buying a large, costly organ. It doesn't have the finest tone I've ever heard, but it's a workable instrument that I enjoyed playing. I'll be posting some more pics this week, and one of my favorite organs is coming up! 

Have a great week, guys!

Organ Specifications:
Built By: Wicks Organ Company
Opus Number (if indicated):
Year: 1979
Manuals: 2
Ranks: 5
Location: 85 S. 900 E. Provo, UT

Bonneville Stake - Stoplist