Wurlitzer Photos
This is the starting point for a behind-the-scenes look at the Wurlitzer Theatre Pipe Organ as installed at the Alabama Theatre, Birmingham, Alabama.
The organ is a collection of elements, which can be roughly organized as follows:
- Console - the four keyboards and the pedal board, the stop tabs, and the other controls the artist uses to make the pipes speak.
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- Blower and wind lines - the blower (in the basement) creates the wind pressure to blow through windlines up to the pipe chambers.
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- Organ Computer Relay System - the electrical contacts, wires, PC computer, software, power supplies and logic boards that provide electrical signals from the console to a pipe chest or other device.
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- Pipe Chambers - the three 'rooms' on either side of the stage that open into the auditorium. The chambers contain the wind lines, regulators, tremulants, and wind chests that hold the pipes that make the beautiful sounds of our Wurlitzer Theatre organ.
Our first stop is to take a look at some of the electronics inside Bertha's console.
The console with the horseshoe raised to expose the stop tabs. [PhotoCredit: Andy Fox]
Console. [PhotoCredit: Andy Fox]
The view inside the console after the back covers are removed, showing the computer interface boards (blue rectangles) and the power supply (large black box at the bottom). The wooden vertical pieces are mechanical connections from the swell pedals to their indicators on the front of the console. You can see the back-side of some stop tabs, which are electro-mechanical switches which control which ranks are playable. [PhotoCredit: Larry Donaldson]
Bertha wearing her new dress.[PhotoCredit: Andy Fox]
From the console, we have to decide which pipe chamber(s) to tour.
The Solo Chamber is stage left (on the right-side of the auditorium). This is accessed by climbing two flights of stairs from the stage up to one of the dressing rooms, which has a small door which leads into the Solo Chamber .
The String Chamber and the Main Chamber are one above the other at stage right (on the left-side of the auditorium). Up until a few years ago, they were only accessible by getting a ladder and putting it on the stage floor and climbing the ten-feet or so up to the lower part of the vertical steel chamber ladder mounted on the side wall of the stage. Now, however, that steel chamber ladder is accessible through a second-level dressing room access door, allowing a person to step right onto the String Chamber ladder platform.
The String Chamber is the lower of the two chambers. From the ladder platform, you swing open the heavy steel fireproof door and step inside the String Chamber .
The Main Chamber is the upper of the two chambers. From the ladder platform outside the String Chamber, you must climb up the vertical steel chamber ladder, through an opening in the upper platform (watch your head), step from the ladder to the platform, and then swing open the steel fireproof door and step inside the Main Chamber .