A comprehensive dictionary of organ stops - Allen Organ Studio of ...

128 DICTIONARY OF ORGAN STOPS.
top. In many organs all sorts of solid matter is constantly
indrawn by the bellows feeders and thence circulated through
the internal system of the instrument. It would be quite
Fig. D—
"Hooded"
Reed.
worth adopting this obstructive gauze
system in the interior of the organ in
cases where it is impossible to plant the
bellows work at an altitude sufficiently
remote from the ground. In order to
reduce their length, large pipes are generally curved
round in their lower part, in the form of an elongated
loop, somewhat similarly to some orchestral brass
instruments. .
This
process is known as "mitreing"
the pipe, from the fact that the latter is caused to
assume rudely the form of a mitre.* It is frequently
said that mitreing improves the tone of reed pipes.
It is not unlikely that it had the effect of subduing
something of the harshness of the old-fashioned
type of reed; but it cannot with any semblance of
verity be said to improve the modern reed, nor
yet, howbeit, appreciably to deteriorate it. The
bass of double reeds is frequently made of half-
length pipes. By dint of careful treatment the
effect may be rendered quite satisfactory in the
case of enclosed reeds. The practice is not one
generally to be commended, as the tone is apt to
be harsh and rough.
Reeds are tuned by a wire crook, of which one
end, accessible to the tuning knife, protrudes from
the boot and the other bears on the tongue. By
moving this in an upward or downward direction
the arc of gyration of the tongue can be extended
or curtailed, the pitch flattened or sharpened. The
tight-fitting of these crooks is a sine qua non, wide-
spread neglect on this point being a fruitful source
of the instability of pitch of individual reed pipes,
which is so frequently encountered. The secret of
successful reed voicing consists in imparting to the
tongue such a degree of curvature as shall cause it
to roll down rather than strike against the shallot,
or, maybe, against the pneumatic buffer which is
commonly supposed to intervene. Should a "flat"
occur in the reed by reason of an imperfect curve,
The word is sometimes used synonymously with " hooding."
Fig. E-
" Mitred'
Reed.