Manual Chest

The windchests that carry the main portion of the pipework in a given rank – the remainder being carried on offnote chests. Most manual chests are 88 inches long, and between 4 1/2 and 11 inches wide per rank. On Wurlitzers, the manual chests are grouped so that one chest may contain as many as eight ranks; these chests can form very large assemblies up to several feet wide. On other makes, there is usually one chest per rank.

Also known as ‘Unit chests‘ (Compton terminology).

Windchest-W

Wind chest movie

 

Windchests are built up in many different designs, but almost all the sub-components are similar in function and used throughout the instrument including in percussion units. These basic building-blocks are described here.

See further:

Pipe stay

Rack pillar

Rack board

Top-board

Bottom-board

Valve

Motor

Pallet

Magnet