In 1978 Rushworth & Dreaper were commissioned to provide an organ for the Chapel of the Resurrection at the University
of Ibadan in Nigeria. Since its installation the organ had received little maintenance and gradually became unplayable.
Henry Willis & Sons recently brought the entire organ back to Liverpool for a complete overhaul, including the fitting of
a new Solid State switching and capture system with 999 levels of memory, MIDI capability and transposer.
All electrical components and the blower were replaced with new.
The organ is dismantled in Nigeria
When unpacked in our factory, the level of accumulated dust and grit was evident
The switching system was full of grit and the blower was totally seized
Many magnets were seized and the pallets had degraded
The bedding under the tip-blocks had been eaten away quite dramatically
The original console case
was replaced
The key frames
are remade
& the keys are
restored and polished
The keys are then fitted to the frames
The pedal are re-pieced and fitted to the rebuilt frame
New air damped vertical magnets are fitted
The restored pipework is fitted to the rebuilt chests
The wole organ is re-assembled for thorough testing in the factory
Using MIDI and an iPhone, the organ is left playing for days to test it and eliminate any bedding-in faults before dismantling and shipping back to Nigeria
The organ is completely
dismantled and loaded
into a shipping container
for its journey
back to Nigeria
After eight weeks
in transit
the container
finally arrives
The pipe chests
for the Great Organ
are re-instated
The new blower
is fitted under
the Swell Organ
The Console is raised up
into the west gallery
and the Great pipework is put onto the chests
