Grote Kerk, Papendrecht (2024)

The German company Steinmeyer & Co. built for the Grote Kerk in Papendrecht. a new organ in 1923. It was given its current place in the church, above the pulpit, in 1929, after an enlargement and renovation of the church.

In the 1950s, on the initiative of organist Jan Koppenol, it was decided to have the organ overhauled and expanded by the company Pels & Zn. The dispositionstoplist was radically changed. Of the old main manual, only the Principal 8', the Concert Flute and the Octaaf 4' have been preserved. The Mixtuur was expanded with one rank, the Trumpet was renewed and four new registers were installed. On the swell, the Bourdon 16', the Terts and the Hobo were replaced by a Principal 4', a Scherp and a Dulciaan. The Quint was renamed to Nasard. The Violon 16 pedal was removed, as was the transmission of the Bourdon 16'. A Gedekt 8' was made using the pipework from this Bourdon. Pels also placed two electrical units on the pedal. (Octaafbas 8/Koraalbas 4 and Fagot 16/Trompet 8/Klaroen 4) The new instrument was put into use on May 27, 1958 with a performance by Koppenol. In 1985 Pels & Van Leeuwen carried out a restoration. Advisor on the work was Mr. A. Fonteijn from Rotterdam. A new electric action and new sliderchests for manuals were installed. A new organ case with pipes was also supplied, with the old zinc display pipes being reused. However, the stoplist has remained completely the same as in 1958. On September 3, 1985, the organ was put into use again with Jan Bonefaas playing.

In 2024, a renovation proved necessary: ​​several registers no longer worked, three of the four bellows were in poor condition and the electric action proved to be very unreliable.

All the pipework has been removed from the windchests and the slider and engines have been made working normal again. The register engines are now mounted in such a way that disassembly is possible without removing all the pipework and toeboards. The windsupply has been completely restored, with the sheep leather of the bellows of the Hoofdwerk, Swellwerk and Pedal being completely replaced by cow leather. The electronics installed by Pels & Van Leeuwen (1985 and 1992) have been replaced by new ones.