First Presbyterian Church’s Aeolian-Skinner is ideally situated in a sanctuary with excellent acoustics.

Even though the basic design was appropriate, the execution of the tonal scheme produced overly loud and bright sounds for this particular environment. Attempts at quick fixes by other firms were undertaken to soften some of the more offensive stops, but these in turn detrimentally affected the tonal sonority of the organ. Likewise after some thirty years, cracks had appeared in some pipes and one windchest, and while some mechanical improvements had been initiated several years ago, the work was incomplete.

The thrust of the Goulding and Wood renovation was two-fold. First was to put the mechanical systems of the organ in top condition employing the latest in solid-state control systems. The second was to address the tonal scheme in accordance with earlier models employed by the Skinner firm that were compatible with the existing design. This primarily involved restoring original wind pressures, revoicing most of the existing pipework, supplying new principal chorus structures, and adding some new voices including a 4′ Clarion and an 8′ Harmonic Flute stops that were a hallmark of traditional Aeolian-Skinner organs.

The current stoplist with new pipework noted: