8' Principal / Dulciana Offset

Yesterday I spent the entire day working with the 8' P/D offset chest.  Rewiring was completed a week ago, but I have now finished building the new chest bearers.  I also puzzled together the rack boards to hold the pipes upright.  Most of the pieces were there but some needed to be rebuilt.  Having been installed in several different locations over the years left a lot of unused screw holes that led to a lot of confusion.  Also, there was writing on the boards refering to "oboe left front" etc. that added to the confusion.  I eventually got it all sorted out and assembled.  I also sanded all the racks and supports rather agressively.  They had never been coated with shellac or other finish and the dirt was deeply embedded.  I applied two coats of amber shellac and the wood is just beautiful!

One major hurdle was the arrangment of these two octaves of pipes.  The longest pipe measures around 9' tall without the windchest.  My living room ceilings are 8' 3" so I need to have them mitered in order to fit.  Some pipes are mitered all ready, but a few more need to be done.  I hope Gene Bedient and his crew can fit my mitering into their schedule since I don't have the expertise or equipment to do it.  I unpacked most of the bass pipes and put them on the chest.  I set this up in the adjacent unfinished store room since the ceiling in my workshop is 7' and the store room is 8' 4" between the floor joists.  I was finally able to actually see how this all comes together.  When I move it upstairs this chest will be in front of the fake fireplace mantle.  My plan is to miter the Principal (back of the chest) 180 degrees behind the pipe.  This puts the end of the longest pipe about 4" above the mantel.  Tuning will be a pain, but the pipes have roll-down slots rather than tuning collars so they should hold their tune pretty well.  The Dulciana (front of the chest) will be mitered either 90 or 180 degrees in front of the pipe.  These will be sticking out above the trebles of the Dulciana Celeste rank, so there is no fear of them being in the way of other pipes.

Freshly cleaned pouch boards are pictured below.

Next step will be the 16' Bourdon chest:  rewiring, bearers, and support racks.