Evolution of the David Tannenberg Organ

November 9, 1800
Installation completed by Bachman and organ dedicated

October, 1802
Bellows "changed so that they could be blown by treading in the organ gallery"
Pumping steps beside organ date from this period (?)
Slots in case side panels result from this modification

December, 1845
Tuning and repair of organ (required 38 days)by George J. Corrie
Swell boxes over treble pipes on Hinterwerk chest and control pedal mechanism from this period (?)

December, 1870
Organ repaired and modified by William Schwarze (rep. of Henry Erben of New York City (paid for 30 days and 22 half days(nights))
New manual keyboards (old keyframes retained)
Extensions added to Hinterwerk windchest and to Corrie's Swell boxes to allow the addition of Open Diapason 8' (pipes from 1798 Saal organ Quintadena 8' - (bass octave channeled from Flauto Amabile 8') and Picolo (sic) 2' to Swell division (pipes from Hauptwerk Quintadena 8' with 12 new pipes)
Additional stop action and 2 additional knobs necessary - stop order on the stop jambs substantially changed
Removal of rear wall and panels originally in place between Hinterwerk and Pedal divisions and modification of casework to support cornices with Swell boxes
Change Hauptwerk Quintadena 8' to Gamba 8'(bass octave unchanged - from tenor c, used Viola 8' pipes from 1798 Saal organ)
New stop knobs (with labels engraved in faces)
Releather pallets? (9 sheepskins)
New pallet springs (and pulldowns and wires?)
Removal of all pipes during repair work - Pitch lowered (?) "as it had been too high" - resulted in a=440hz
Casework grained (painted) in walnut "to correspond with the pulpit"
Windline moved inside case and additional ducts added to feed both manual pallet boxes - (necessitated by additional stops)
New bungboards on windchest pallet boxes
Gallery rail and gallery modified so that railing no longer projected around console
Console top moulding changed and console sides and scrollwork added

1880's?
Bellows releathered in 1885
Additional decoration of casework and façade pipes
Façade pipes stenciled, painted, and gilded
Lower case and console grained to resemble quarter-sawn oak (walnut graining retained on impost mouldings)
Upper case painted with various colors with cornice frieze stencils
Square wooden rods from pumping steps to bellows, (visible inside case in earlier photos) replaced by what appears to be iron rods, now outside case (cuts through cornice mouldings the result of this modification)

early 1900's
Alteration of the organ by Peterson - a local tuner/technician
Wooden bass pipes added to Great Viola 8'
Quintadena 8' bass pipes moved to bass of Quint 2 2/3'
Quint 2 2/3' pipes moved to share toeboard with Octave 2' as a sort of Rauschpfeiffe (not all pipes in bass octave would fit on toeboard with 2')
Pipes from Principal 4' (façade) from 1798 Saal organ added to organ on Quint 2 2/3' toeboard as Viola 8'
Swell to Pedal coupler added
New stop knobs for Viola 8' and Swell to Pedal

*1910*
Organ removed from Home Church to storage in various locations
Parts of organ floor frame, lower stop action bearing blocks and action tunnel parts possibly left attached to organ gallery floor and discarded when the gallery was removed

August, 1998
Organ reassembled in MESDA Gallery by Taylor and Boody Organbuilders for preliminary study for restoration

Summer, 1999
Organ moved to Taylor and Boody workshop to await complete restoration

19-Mar-04
The organ is rededicated in it's new home, the Old Salem Vistor's Center in Old Salem, North Carolina

At some point between the earliest photo of the organ (ca. 1860, where the tuning door on the left side is open) and the 1880's photo with the stenciled façade, the gallery floor was modified to have risers on the both sides of the organ. At this time, the tuning access door on the left side was shortened and it was re-hung to swing into the organ instead of out. The small tuning access door on the right side of the upper case is of a later construction than the rest of the case, although the case may have had the opening when originally constructed. If the rods outside the case connecting the pumping steps with the bellows in the attic were iron, the door would not have opened far (it has an indentation at its base from apparent contact with the rod). Allowing for the fact that the door is not centered on the walkboard between the manual windchests and that the swell shutters took up much of the walkboard space, this door was probably useless for access into the organ. If the opening was in the case from the beginning, it is a further corroboration that the bellows were originally pumped (treaded) in the church attic. Otherwise the door should have been built into the other side of the case to avoid the pumping steps and mechanism entirely. By the time the Swell boxes were in place, much of the tuner's workspace on the walkboard was inaccessible. Numerous complaints were lodged in the various church records as to the organ's constantly being out of tune. With little work space left on the walkboard, and the only access into the Swell boxes through the shutters, tuning the organ (by candlelight, remember) was probably next to impossible.