I've mentioned this subject before, but wanted to update you all on our
local historical society.  They restored a 1856 Hook tracker pipe organ
with a very strange 14-pedal arrangement of design I have never
encountered:  Low C is placed about where one would find A on an AGO
pedalboard.

The cost of the restoration was in the thousands of dollars.  Everything
was kept original (ethical).  Oh yes, nothing was to be updated --
except that an electric blower was attached.  Why did they not keep
the old hand pumped bellows and hire boys to pump it?  Not ethical!

Because the pedals are not a standard layout, an organist with any
degree of training cannot play the pedals.  (Think of touch typing, and
then someone wants you to type on a keyboard with keys in a different
position.)  To add insult, the restorer tuned the organ to Werkmeister
temperament.  The only person who will play the organ is a "Mrs.
Miller" type who bangs on it like she is playing a piano, and has no
idea what the pedals are for, and claims that the swell pedal is a good
foot rest!

We have a beautifully restored organ that no one can play, but the
restoration was "ethical"!

Bruce Clark