Celebrating the pipe organ, the King of Instruments

Organ Profile

1967 Schlicker organ at Plymouth Congregational Church, Seattle, Washington

Seattle’s Plymouth Congregational Church pipe organ was built by Herman Schlicker (Buffalo, NY) in 1967. Several ‘prepared-for’ stops were added in 1978 to complete the original plan. In 1996, the Oregon firm of Marceau & Associates built a new French-style terraced console utilizing Harris, P&S and Solid State Logic components. Just prior to the AGO National Convention in July 2000, the instrument underwent further extensive revision of voicing and the addition of new trumpet and oboe ranks.¶On Ash Wednesday February 28, 2001, the Pacific Northwest was hit by a severe earthquake. The Plymouth Schlicker was severaly damaged, as the violent up-and-down motion completely destroyed the instrument’s voicing. Pipe feet were smashed, languids slammed downard, rack boards snapped and reed resonators folded or became S-curves.¶Fortunately, insurance coverage was sufficient to allow music director Steven M. Williams to ‘begin again’ in rethinking the organ’s tonal condition. When completed in October 2002, the instrument will have a ‘further evolved’ voice. Various pipe scalings will be increased, some reed resonators will be made full-length rather than fractional, mixtures will be recomposed, zinc bass octaves will be replaced with higher quality pipes of spotted metal. String ranks will be unmitered and given different foot lengths to make them sound better and ‘celeste’ more effectively. The Quintadena stop in the Positiv division will be replaced by a Geigen Principal.

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