Practical Organ Building — Inside the Classic

The Vocabulary of Organ Action

Dickson devotes careful attention to defining the basic mechanical elements of organ action, each with precise dimensions and materials. A backfall is a lever of clean wood, ⅜ inch or less in thickness, turning on a wire fulcrum; backfalls are arranged side by side in notches cut into a mahogany or oak balk called a bridge. Squares may be metal or wood, with two arms at a right angle, turning on a wire axis. Stickers are slender rods of light wood, no larger than a common cedar pencil. Trackers are flat ribands of pine, about ⅜ inch wide and less than ⅛ inch thick, though now often round rods. Tapped wires—formerly brass, then tinned iron, now phosphor-bronze—are cut with a screw-thread on half their length. Buttons are round nuts of thick leather or a gutta-percha composition. Cloths are little discs of woollen cloth, mostly red, used as mufflers to prevent rattling. Rollers are light-wood shafts with two arms, turning on wire pivots, arranged on a roller-board. Dickson's terminology is exact, and his descriptions assume the reader has access to the materials and tools needed to produce these parts.

A Rudimentary Action in Motion

To illustrate how these components combine, Dickson presents a simple example (Fig. 32). The key is balanced on a pin-rail; at its tail, a sticker with a wire at each end connects to a backfall working in its bridge. The other end of the backfall connects to the pull-down of the pallet via a tapped wire and button. Pressing the key raises its hinder end, pushing up the back end of the backfall, which draws down the pallet. By reversing the backfalls' position, the builder can pull down pallets in a wind-chest placed under the back of the sound-board. Dickson stresses that this rudimentary layout underlies all systems of organ action. He does not assume prior knowledge; instead, he walks through each connection, noting where cloths are slipped on wires to prevent rattling. The description is procedural, almost like a recipe, and the accompanying figure (not reproduced here) is essential to following the text.

Materials and Workmanship

Throughout the excerpts, Dickson reveals a craftsman's attention to material properties. Backfalls are made of clean wood; stickers of light wood; trackers of pine. Tapped wires have evolved from brass to tinned iron to phosphor-bronze, reflecting practical improvements in durability and corrosion resistance. Buttons have shifted from thick leather to a gutta-percha composition. Cloths are consistently red woollen discs—a small but telling detail that suggests a standardized workshop practice. Dickson also notes that metal squares are now screwed separately in their places, whereas wooden squares were once arranged in a bridge. These observations indicate a living tradition of incremental refinement. The author does not merely list parts; he records the materials and methods current in his time, making the book a snapshot of late-19th-century English organ-building practice. For the modern reader, these specifics offer insight into the tactile, material world of the Victorian workshop.

Dickson's manual rewards a slow, diagram-in-hand reading. The excerpts show a writer who expects his reader to be building, not just reading. Pay close attention to the dimensions and materials given for each part—they are not incidental but central to the work's practical purpose. The figures, though not included here, are integral to the text; seek them out in the original edition. This is a book to be used at the bench, not merely studied.

Leafing through Dickson’s precise diagrams of trackers and rollers, I felt the quiet patience of a craftsman’s hands—each wire and square placed with intent. That same unhurried reverence for structure came back to me later, while idly turning pages of The Appreciation of Music - Vol. 1 (of 3) — Themes and Context. One builds organs, the other hears them; both simply notice how things fit together.