reed organ - Stops

A musical instrument in which reeds, brought into play by means of one or more keyboards, are made to vibrate freely by air under pressure from bellows. Smaller models, such as the harmonium, have only one manual, and the bellows are powered by a foot treadle; larger ones may have two manuals and a pedalboard, the bellows being operated by a separate lever or by an electric motor. Reed organs were at one time popular as domestic instruments and also in small churches, being less expensive and requiring less space than pipe organs. In the 20th-c the demand gradually switched to electronic organs.

A reed organ, also called parlor organ, pump organ, cabinet organ, cottage organ, is an organ that generates its sounds using free metal reeds. So as for the generation of its tones, a reed organ is similar to an accordion, but not in its installation, as an accordion is held in both hands whereas a reed organ is usually positioned on the floor in a wooden casing (which might make it mistakable for a piano at the very first glimpse). Smaller, cheaper and more portable than pipe organs, reed organs were widely used in smaller churches and in private homes, but their volume and tonal range is limited, and they were generally confined to one or two manuals, pedalboards being extremely rare.

Reed organs are operated either with pressure or with suction bellows. In North America, a reed organ with pressure bellows is referred to as a harmonium, whereas in Europe, any reed organ is called a harmonium unregarded if it has pressure or suction bellows. As reed organs with pressure bellows were more difficult to produce and therefore more expensive, North American reed organs and melodions almost generally use suction bellows and operate on vacuum.

The reed organ was popular in the late 19th century, replacing the melodeon. They were also used in many pioneer churches in the U.S., where the reed organ was used for accompaniment of congregational singing instead of an organ.

Advances in piano manufacturing technology in the early 1900s made pianos more affordable, causing reed organs to fall out of favor. Other reasons for the replacement of reed organs were their wavering status somewhere between a sacred pipe organ surrogate and a secular home instrument and the lack of original compositions for reed organs.

Reed organs have been largely replaced by electronic organs, but there remain a number of enthusiasts.

Stops

Reed organs of European and U.S. design nearly always have a split keyboard, with one set of stop controls for the bass register at E3 and below and another for the treble.

The standard European configuration of stops included five numbered drawknobs for each register:

An 8' foundation rank A 16' foundation rank A 4' reedlike rank An 8' reedlike rank A 16' soft, salacional-like rank U.S. made reed organs varied considerably in their stoplists, with the most common instruments having two complete sets of reeds and ten or more drawknobs controlling various couplers and expression features.