CUSTOMIZED DESIGN
Structural, Visual and Tonal
In developing a fresh design concept for each new instrument, numerous factors are carefully considered. Among these factors are the acoustical properties of the room which will house the organ, the available location for the organ and its shape, the seating capacity of the room and any budgetary limitations. Once these factors have been determined and weighed, a tonal design and its specification, together with the physical arrangement, then emerge.
Economy is not incorporated at the cost of elegance, however. In consultation with the church's architect and music committee, experienced draftsmen at W. Zimmer & Sons thoughtfully design the organ, resulting in an instrument which provides not only musical pleasure but visual delight as well. Fine materials and workmanship are meaningless without a design which exactly fits the situation.

FLEXIBLE SPACE REQUIREMENTS
Since the organ will be a permanent integral part of the church, not to be replaced for decades, if ever, the physical appearance of each W. Zimmer organ is carefully designed to fit the particular room or situation. Where practical, W. Zimmer & Sons prefers to build the organ in its own free-standing case because of the tonal blending, focusing and projecting effect of the case. Other arrangements are possible where a free-standing case is not feasible.

CABINETRY
Each piece of custom cabinetry - consoles, windchests, casework is designed and built on the premises in our wood shop by highly skilled cabinetmakers. Utilizing both the most modern machines, and time-honored simple hand tools, our craftsmen fashion the numerous precision wood parts each organ requires.
In components which are susceptible to fluctuating temperatures and humidity, we use stable laminates. Elsewhere, only the finest kiln-dried select woods are used, much of it from our own standing timber. Hand rubbed finishes, with emphasis on beautiful wood grains, lend a distinctive elegance to W. Zimmer organs.
The placement of the pipe case is more crucial than the type of action. Wherever appropriate, and for all action types, W. Zimmer & Sons prefers to build a freestanding, complete case to house the organ. The acoustical benefits of such a case are more important actually than whether the organ has mechanical or electric key action. If at all possible, the entire organ should be placed within the walls of the room in which it is to be heard, and a reflective case built to house it, designed so that it fits the situation both visually and tonally.

CONSTRUCTION
Efficiency in design and execution is an important characteristic of our instruments. All the essential components are in place and accessible but superfluous or redundant parts are eliminated. The resulting action is both durable and reliable and is musically responsive as well. This is "elegant simplicity" in its best sense.
Each organ is completely assembled in the erecting room. Only then can the process of adjusting and testing begin. By completely testing the organ in our shop, valuable time can be saved during the installation in the church. No organ is ever dismantled for shipment until the shop manager gives his final approval.

SHIPPING AND INSTALLATION
After approval by the shop manager, each organ is painstakingly dismantled, packed and loaded for shipment in our company truck. Utmost care is exercised to prevent damage in loading and unloading as well as in transit.
Upon arrival at the final destination, the organ is carefully unpacked and assembled in the organ space by some of the same personnel who built, assembled, dismantled and packed the organ for shipment. Each part is again checked as assembly takes place.

REBUILDING?
What about rebuilding? This is not usually a viable or economic approach. To completely rebuild an existing organ action, many expensive man-hours are required, resulting in an expensively rebuilt system which may not be compatible with modern voicing methods. In some instances, it may be possible to utilize some existing pipework, suitably revoiced. With an otherwise "new" organ, there will be little long-term maintenance. This sort of instrument may sometimes be built for about the same cost as that charged by some other builders for a "factory rebuilt" organ using most of the old action parts.

PIPE ORGANS VERSUS ELECTRONICS
The time will come when your Music and Worship Committee is face to face with the responsibility of acquiring a new musical instrument for your institution. With that responsibility will come the choice between acquiring an electronic organ or a fine pipe organ with centuries of tradition behind it. At first glance, the case for an electronic organ may seem strong, but after some informed investigation it will become clear that it is no longterm competitor for the pipe organ.
The following points are worth consideration:
Unification
Electronic organs make use of the principle of unification, carrying it, however, much too far. In a dollar for dollar comparison, the electronics have fewer independent tone sources than equivalent pipe organs. This deficiency becomes painfully obvious when comparing the musical effect of various stop combinations with those of a W. Zimmer pipe organ. While some electronic stops may not be objectionable, the "chorus" effect result when several appropriate stops are combined is noticeably deficient. This chorus effect in pipe organs is a matter of natural acoustic synthesis and blending of sounds. This effect is necessary to adequately support congregational singing, accompany choirs and soloists and to produce the clarity and breadth of tone needed for the works of the great organ composers.
A Sound Reason
The sound of an electronic organ is "synthetic", clashing with the "natural" sound of the human voice. Of necessity, electronically generated tones must be amplified and broadcast through loudspeakers, which tends to make the resulting sound blatant and the projection highly directional rather than naturally diffusing throughout a building. This situation may be improved by adding numerous speakers, but this adds to the cost of the electronic and is infrequently done. The pipe organ solves this by having a separate pipe for each pitch, making possible a degree of diffusion and blend that just does not occur with an electronic.
Individual Design
While the electronic organ for a certain church is a production line model with few variables, each pipe organ built by Zimmer is an individual instrument custom designed and built for a particular place, tailored to the acoustical situation and music program of that particular church.
A Sound Investment
Any fine pipe organ, regardless of size, should be considered as a permanent investment which a
church can look forward to enjoying from one generation to the next.
With a W. Zimmer pipe organ, the only servicing involved is an annual or semi-annual tuning visit. This work may be done by a qualified local technician. Because of the use of electro-mechanical note valves, instead of membrane leather valves and micro-voltages in keying and switching, only a nominal amount of service should be required for many decades. On the other hand, electronics seem to require little tuning, but experience shows that after a few years of use deterioration begins and service calls become more frequent, more expensive and more complex. In fact, a point is frequently reached after a number of years at which some parts are no longer available. The electronic organ becomes a victim of planned obsolescence at a time that the pipe organ is merely mellowing into maturity.
Temperature and Tuning
A popular misconception holds that a pipe organ must be kept at a constant temperature in order to stay in tune. With the increasing cost of energy, Zimmer recommends that churches be kept above freezing in winter and below 100 F in summer. When the organist or choir practices in mid-week at an abnormal temperature, some parts of the organ may indeed sound out of tune. But when the normal stable Sunday temperature is restored, the organ will come back in tune with itself.