Greetings
Welcome to CombsOrgan.com
Download
a printable .pdf brochure of our products and services.
(733K)
Thank you for visiting the new website of Combs Organ Specialists,
a small group of very dedicated organ craftsman and technicians.
We do Rodgers Instruments sales
and service, pipe organ tuning and
maintenance, custom digital / pipe interface organs, pipe
organ rebuilding and additions, re-leathering, custom organ
facade construction, build windchests,
organist training and workshops, and church music consultation.
*Quick Tip - We encourage
you to click on some of the tabs below this box for a quick
overview of what we do, what you can find at this website,
and how to navigate the site easily.
Using our New Website
Finding Your Way Around
There are several ways to move from
page to page at this site:
Accordion Box - The boxes that expand and
contract, including the one this section is contained by
are called "Accordion Boxes". The 6 different boxes contain
general information and links which will lead you to anything
you want to know. You will find these available towards
the top of every page.
Navigation Bar - You will find a conventional
"Navigation Bar", or set of one word links, at the very
top of each page on the site.
Content Links - Within the text of an article or
headline, you will find links that will take you to more
information.
*Quick Tip - If you click
on most of the smaller images, a larger version will be
shown.
Site Content
Once you are comfortable getting
around the site, what types of things will you find here?
Products and Services - Read an overview
of what we do.
Contact Us - Use one of any methods provided:
Mailing Address, Directions to our Shop and Showroom, Phone
Numbers, Email Addresses, one of two contact
forms for sales inquiries or service / tuning requests.
Installations - Many pages of pictures
and detailed information about upcoming, ongoing, and completed
projects.
Testimonials - one of the new focuses of
our website is to include as much feedback from our clients
as possible. We will be adding more and more messages from
the organists, ministers, and others that we work with as
they come in. If you have worked with us and would like
to drop us a line to give us your thoughts, please
do!
Our Products and Services
What We Do
Download
a printable .pdf brochure of our products and services.
(733K)
Rodgers Sales and Service - We are an authorized
dealer for Rodgers Instruments of Hillsboro, Oregon. We
serve most of the state of Kansas, excluding the eastern
edge. Mike Combs started his work with Rodgers as a salesperson
for Mid-America Piano, the Rodgers Dealer at the time, nearly
20 years ago. In 2000, Combs Organ Specialists became the
Rodgers dealership for this area.
For more information about our Rodgers Installations, links
to Rodgers, etc., visit our Rodgers
page.
Pipe Organ Tuning and Service
- C.O.S. contracts with over 100 churches in Kansas, Oklahoma,
and Texas for the regular tuning and service of their pipe
organs. For information regarding pricing, frequently asked
tuning questions, etc., visit our pipes
page.
Custom Woodworking - By looking at the
pictures on the page below, it should be apparent that we
take a great deal of pride in how our installations look,
in addition to how they sound. This past year, our master
carpenter, Dan Miller, came board as a full-time employee.
He has been working for us, on a per-project basis, for
years. Our business has grown to the point where we now
keep him busy building custom casework, windchests, and
church furnishings, 5 days a week. Visit our wood
page for more information.
Pipe Organ Additions and
Rebuilding - Reasons for needing to rebuild an
organ can vary. Old pipe organs can have problems with their
electrical relay and switching systems causing dead notes,
problems with combination actions, etc. They can also have
leather that has decayed - causing dead notes, ciphers (notes
that always play), wind leaks and air noise, etc. Rebuilding
might also be needed to add new stops to an organ. We can
help in any of these situations. See our rebuilding page
to read more.
Organist Training and Workshops
- Much of our organist training happens every time we are
at a church. Whether the visit is a scheduled tuning, sales
meeting, or we are just dropping by to say "hello",
organ talk invariably comes up. Each conversation is an
opportunity for us to teach about the inner workings of
the organ and learn from the organists we work with as well.
More extensive, formal training happens when we install
a new or newly rebuilt organ. Each organist is given ample,
hands-on instruction regarding the operation of a new system.
In addition, we plan and present workshops periodically
to cover more general organ related topics such as registration,
and the organ's place in contemporary worship services.
*Quick Tip - Join our Mailing
List to stay informed of workshops near you. Also, if you
would like to host a workshop at your church, please contact
us. We'd love to come.
Contact Us
At Your Service
Phone Numbers -
Sales Inquiries: (316)-283-6588 Tuning & Service Requests:
(316)-281-4855
Addresses - Mailing
Address: 410 E. 6th St., Newton, KS. 67114 Shop
/ Showroom: Map
of 304 N Main St Newton, KS 67114-3417, US (open by
appointment only)
Email - Mike Combs:
mikecombs@combsorgan.com
Jeff Combs: jcombs@combsorgan.com
Contact Form - Submit
a quick sales inquiry or tuning / service request using
our contact form
Email Newsletter
Stay Informed
We will begin sending 1 emailed newsletter
per month as part of our website update. Join our list to
find out about dedications, concerts, workshops, and more.
*Quick Tip - If you have an event
scheduled, please let us know so we can help you publicize
it.
Upcoming Events
The Latest
Happy New Year! Welcome 2010! - We are starting off the New Year with several new projects. For the next few weeks, we will be working on a new Rodgers / Pipe Combination organ at St. John's Lutheran Church, Ellinwood, Kansas.
*Quick
Tip - Make sure you join our mailing list to hear about
dedications, concerts, new installations and more!
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Combs
Organ Specialists Provide Care for Over 100 Organs in Kansas.
Pipe Organ Tuning and Maintenance
We provide the regular tuning and maintenance for the pipe organs
at over 100 churches in Kansas and a few more in Oklahoma and Texas.
For most organs it is ideal to tune the instrument twice per year.
We try to tune once in the Spring when churches switch from heating
to cooling systems and again in the Fall when they go back to heat.
In addition, we will also do "touch-up" tunings as requested
/ needed prior to special occasions or holiday services.
Click Here to Request a Tuning Quote.
Pipe Organ Rebuilding and Additions
As organs age, certain parts tend to deteriorate. The electrical
relay system is one of the most problematic parts of older organs.
Electrical contacts become corroded, pitted, and break leading
to dead notes, ciphers, dead stops and couplers, and combination
action problems.
When repairing these problems one at a time is becoming impractical
and expensive, the best solution is to install a new, solid-state
relay. We only use relay systems from Peterson
Electro Musical Products, the best relay systems available,
and the standard for quality in the organ industry.
In addition to relay problems, pipe organs can develop
problems within the wind-chests. Cracked toe-boards, bad leather,
corroded direct-electric magnets, etc are problems that we have
addressed before which called for the organ to be partially rebuilt.
A third reason for rebuilding parts of a pipe-organ would
be to make it bigger (add more stops). Most of the time, adding
stops isn't as easy as just putting more pipes in the chamber. Unless
prepared for in advance, most organs can't handle new stops being
added without the control mechanisms for the whole organ being updated.
Organ Re-leathering
As mentioned above, one type of organ rebuilding that we
do is to "re-leather" the organ. There are actually several
places on an organ that could have leather. Sometimes all these
places need replacing simultaneously, sometimes not.
Pouch Leather - Organs that have pneumatic action, of one kind
or another, have small, leather pouches under each pipe that hold
air pressure thereby keeping a pallet under the pipe whole closed
and not sounding until played. This leather has a useable life expectance
of around 50 years under normal conditions. Extreme humidity or
other harsh conditions could shorten this time. When the leather
wears out, it becomes dry and brittle and starts to crack and tear.
This manifests as dead notes and ciphers. The only solution is replacing
the leather. Since even the smallest of pipe organs can have 300
leather pouches or more, replacing them one at a time is much more
expensive in the long run. After a few trips caused by bad leather,
we usually submit a proposal to re-leather the entire action.
Bellows Leather - The second
place you will find leather is the seams of the bellows. Bellows
are wood boxes which store and maintain air pressure for the windchests.
These boxes must expand and collapse depending on how much air is
being used. To allow the bellows to change shape, flexible seams
are made out of leather. Just like pouch leather, bellows leather
wears out over time and needs to be replaced.
Stopper
Leather - Some pipes have stoppers contained in one end. These
stoppers are sometimes held tight in place by pieces of leather
that are wrapped around them. If the leather wears out, the stoppers
will not stay in place and subsequently will not stay in tune.
Pipe Organ Cleaning
As you can see to the right, pipe organ can become very dirty. Years
and years if not decades of dust and crud accumulates in the one
part of the church where nobody every goes - the pipe chambers.
When pipe organs become this dirty, they need an extensive cleaning.
The dirt can get sucked into the internal mechanisms of the organ,
becoming lodged in the pipe mouths and causing dead notes. Dirt
can also cause valves to not work properly and even increase repair
costs.
There is not standard recommended time interval regarding how often
to clean a pipe organ. However, if no one at your church can remember
the last time it was done, it probably looks like these pictures
and probably needs to be cleaned.
Click Here for a Quote to Clean your Pipe Organ.
Organist Training and Workshops
Comprehensive training is a standard part of the service
that comes with every Rodgers organ installation. Mike spends as
much time as needed with all the church musicians to insure they
can get as much out of the instrument as they want to.
In addition, we put on workshops open to the general public from
time to time that cover topics from basic organ registration (stop
selection), traditional and contemporary organ literature, using
MIDI and sound modules, to the organ's place in blended worship
settings.
Click Here to find out about our
next workshop or schedule one at your church.
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All
the pictures above are from different pipe organ rebuilding projects
or additions we have done. Click below for more information on these
and other installations. |
Some of Our Pipe
Organ Projects
1st United Methodist, Great Bend
1st Presbyterian, Hutchinson
Christian Congregational, Eureka
1st Presbyterian, Salina
Calvary United Methodist, Wichita
ASC Provence Center, Wichita
Trinity Episcopal Church, Arkansas City
Mennonite Church of Christian, Moundridge
St. Matthew's Episcopal, Newton
St. Michael's Episcopal, Hays
Presbyterian Church, Ashland
Immanuel Lutheran, Norton
Trinity United Methodist, Jewell
1st Presbyterian, Beloit |
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Above - 1. Mike installing a Peterson
Relay System. 2. Peterson Direct Electric Magnets.
Below -
1. Before a cleaning. 2. After a cleaning. |
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