Residence Organ of Kelvin Smith
In 1993, Kelvin Smith bought his first pipe organ, from a Albuquerque, New Mexico. It took two trips in a pickup truck with a rental trailer to move the organ to his home in Spanish Fork Canyon, in Utah. The organ was originally built by the Moller organ company for a church in Michigan. In its relocation to New Mexico, three Wicks ranks were added. The seven Moller ranks plus one of the Wicks ranks still provide some of the core sounds of the organ, but the number of ranks has gradually increased to the present number of 83, amounting to around 5000 individual pipes.
Non-musicians shake their heads in dismay, but to an organist these pipes are the gateway to infinite opportunities for music. Skinny string pipes provide lush, soothing background sounds, square wooden flute speak with haunting voices and are the building blocks of sparkling, playful sounds. Fat diapason pipes produce the deep, penetrating sounds of the organ and trumpets and tubas, with real vibrating brass reeds, put a sharp edge and sizzle in the sound. Hundreds of tiny mixture pipes add a shimmer to the treble end. Oboes and clarinets and krumhorns, also with real brass reeds, provide pungent solo voices. No organ is complete without a good selection of all these sounds. In fact each keyboard of the organ will include a good sampling of them, allowing some notes to be played in one color, while other notes are played in a different one.
The goal in building a large pipe organ is to create an instrument with a wide range of tone colors capable of rendering the great compositions of a long line of organ composers. Beyond that, the goal is to share with listeners the magic and wonder that is communicated through music.
The story of the building of the organ is an epic tale with glorious victories and debilitating defeats. The construction of a suitable room, which is 50' long, 30' tall and 20' wide was the first step, which was accomplished in Paris, Idaho. Most of the story long tedious hours of work, planning, collecting, fabricating and assembling thousands of parts. 27 years after that first acquisition, the bulk of the organ came online in 2020.
Below is the specification, or list of stops. Each stop represents a set of pipes which produce its sound. Notes tell about the source of the pipes, ie., the builder and opus number of the instrument they were a part of. *Pipes marked with an asterisk awaiting installation.
See the recordings available.Specification
| Great | 1012 Pipes | ||
| 16' | Principal | Moller | 61 Pipes |
| 16' | Bourdon | Moller 5349 | 97 Pipes |
| 8' | Diapason | Moller 5349 | 61 Pipes |
| 8' | Second Diapason | Moller | 73 Pipes |
| 8' | Bourdon | Austin 1148 | 61 Pipes |
| 8' | Gemshorn | Unknown | 61 Pipes |
| 8' | Violincello | Austin 1148 | 61 Pipes |
| 4' | Octave | Skinner | 61 Pipes |
| 4' | Waldflute | Austin | 61 Pipes |
| 2 2/3' | Twelfth | Johnson 550 | 61 Pipes |
| 2' | Fifteenth | Johnson 550 | 61 Pipes |
| 2' | Flautino (ext) | Moller 5349 | |
| 1 3/5' | Seventeenth | Unkown rescaled VDOR | 61 Pipes |
| III | Mixture | E.M. Skinner? | 183 Pipes |
| 16' | Fagotto (Sw) | ||
| 8' | Tromba | 61 Pipes | |
| Tremulant | |||
| - | |||
| Swell | 1,616 Pipes | ||
| 16' | Salicional | console prepartion only | |
| 16' | Lieblich Gedeckt | Johnson 550 | 73 Pipes |
| 8' | Geigen Diapason | Moller 5349 | 61 Pipes |
| 8' | Bourdon | Johnson 550 | 73 Pipes |
| 8' | Concert Flute | Austin 1148 | 73 Pipes |
| 8' | Gamba | Estey (a labial oboe) | 73 Pipes |
| 8' | Gamba Celeste | Hillgreen-Lane, to CC | 61 pipes |
| 8' | Salicional | Austin 1148 | 73 Pipes |
| 8' | Voix Celeste | Unknown | to DD#, 58 Pipes |
| 4' | Octave | Austin 1148 | 61 Pipes |
| 4' | Flute Harmonique | Johnson 550 | 73 Pipes |
| 2 2/3' | Nazard | Unknown | 61 Pipes |
| 2' | Flageolet | Johnson 550 | 61 Pipes |
| 2' | Nachthorn | Moller | 61 Pipes |
| 1 3/5' | Tierce | Revoiced EM Skinner | 61 Pipes |
| 1 1/3' | Larigot | Moller | 61 Pipes |
| 1 1/7' | Septieme | 61 Pipes | |
| III | Mixture | console preparation only | |
| IV | Plein Jeu | Unknown | 244 Pipes |
| 16' | Fagotto | Haskell | 61 Pipes |
| 8' | Trompette | E.M. Skinner | 61 Pipes |
| 8' | Oboe | Johnson 550 | 73 Pipes |
| 4' | Clairon | Haskell | 61 Pipes |
| 8' | Vox Humana | Austin | 61 Pipes |
| Tremulant | |||
| - | |||
| Pedal | 484 Pipes | ||
| 32' | Contre Bourdon (ext) | Stoppered Austin Wood Diapason | |
| 16' | Principal (gt) | ||
| 16' | Wood Diapason | Johnson 550 | 44 Pipes |
| 16' | Subbass | Moller 5349 | 44 Pipes |
| 16' | Lieblich Gedeckt | (Swell) | |
| 16' | Dulciana | (Choir) | |
| 10 2/3' | Quinte* | C.S. Haskell (currently plays Gt. Bdn) | 44 Pipes |
| 8' | Octave | Johnson 550 | 32 Pipes |
| 8' | Wood Diapason | (ext) | |
| 8' | Bourdon | Johnson 550 | 32 Pipes |
| 8' | Flauto Dolce | (Pos) | |
| 8' | Dulciana | (Choir) | |
| 5 1/3' | Quinte* | ext (currently plays Gt. Bdn) | |
| 4' | Choral Bass | Wicks | 32 Pipes |
| 4' | Diapason | Salt Lake Tabernacle-Niels Johnson | 32 Pipes |
| 4' | Flauto Traverso | (Great) | |
| 4' | Labial Oboe | Gottfried | 32 Pipes |
| IV | Rauschpfeife | recycled Kimball and others | 128 Pipes |
| 32' | Bombarde* (ext) | Part Skinner | boots only |
| 16' | Bombarde* (ext) | ||
| 16' | Tuba (Ch) | (Choir) | |
| 16' | Fagotto (Sw) | Haskell | |
| 8' | Trompette | unknown, 1840's | 32 Pipes |
| 8' | Tuba (Ch) | ||
| 8' | Fagotto (Sw) | ||
| 4' | Clairon | revoiced by Larry Wheeler | 32 Pipes |
| - | |||
| Choir | 1,317 Pipes | ||
| 16' | Dulciana | Austin 1148 | 85 Pipes |
| 8' | Diapason* | 61 Pipes | |
| 8' | Violin Diapason | Austin, Salt Lake Tabernacle | 61 Pipes |
| 8' | Melodia | Estey | 61 Pipes |
| 8' | Rohrflote | Johnson 550 | 61 Pipes |
| 8' | Viole de Gamba | Moller 5349 | 61 Pipes |
| 8' | Viole Celeste | Moller 5349 | (CC) 61 Pipes |
| 8' | Dulciana | Moller 5349 | 61 Pipes |
| 8' | Dolce Celeste | Hillgreen-Lane | 61 Pipes |
| 4' | Octave | Kimball, Salt Lake Tabernacle | 61 Pipes |
| 4' | Harmonic Flute | Kimball, Salt Lake Tabernacle | 61 Pipes |
| 2 2/3' | Nazard | currently borrowed from 4' | |
| 4' | Fugara | Unknown | 61 Pipes |
| 4' | Dolce | (ext) | |
| 2' | Piccolo | Unknown | 61 Pipes |
| 1' | Fife* | recycled pipes | 61 Pipes |
| 2 2/3' | Dolce Cornet III | Haskell | 183 Pipes |
| 8' | Clarinet | Johnson 550 | 61 Pipes |
| 8' | Cornopean | Austin 1148 | 61 Pipes |
| 8' | Hautbois | Austin 1148 | 61 Pipes |
| 16' | Tuba | Austin opus 1173 | 73 Pipes |
| 8' | Tuba (ext) | Austin opus 1173 | |
| - | |||
| Positiv | 988 Pipes | ||
| 8' | Nason Flute | Austin 1148 | 61 Pipes |
| 8' | Quintadena | Revoiced by Larry Wheeler | 61 Pipes |
| 8' | Spitzflote (ext) | Moller | |
| 8' | Flauto Dolce | Austin | 73 Pipes |
| 8' | Erzahler | Moller | 61 Pipes |
| 8' | Erzahler Celeste | Moller | 49 Pipes |
| 4' | Rohrflote | Moller | 61 Pipes |
| 4' | Spitzflote | Moller | 73 Pipes |
| 2' | Principal | Organ Supply? | 61 Pipes |
| 2' | Blockflote | Moller | 61 Pipes |
| 1 1/3' | Quinte | Revoiced by Larry Wheeler | 61 Pipes |
| 1' | Octave | 61 Pipes | |
| II | Sesquialtera | Moller and Austin | 122 Pipes |
| II | Zimbel | Organ Supply? | 122 Pipes |
| 8' | Crumorne | Revoiced by Larry Wheeler | 61 Pipes |
| - | |||
| Percussion | |||
| 8' | Chimes | Deagan | |
| 8' | Harp* | Austin | |
| Zimbelstern |