Redeemer Church, Millstone Ford

A full restoration of a 1950s three-manual electro-pneumatic organ, preserving the original mid-century pipework and voicing exactly while replacing the aging electromechanical relay with a modern solid-state relay for long-term reliability.

Detail of an historic pipe rank with round tuning holes and aged metal surface

The project

The congregation's primary concern was preserving the specific tonal character of an instrument several long-serving members had grown up hearing, while solving genuine reliability problems — the original electromechanical relay had begun failing unpredictably, occasionally triggering wrong notes or silent keys mid-service. Every pipe was retained and re-voiced only where genuinely necessary to correct decades of minor drift, with no tonal redesign. The failing relay was replaced with a modern solid-state relay wired to preserve the exact original stop action and coupler behaviour, so the console's playing feel and the choir's familiar registrations were unaffected by the mechanical upgrade underneath.

Several longtime choir members were invited to a private preview before the first public service on the restored instrument specifically to confirm the tonal character matched their memory of the organ before its mechanical problems began.