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Rickett Residence - 3/18 Wurlitzer
Portland, Oregon
 
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Bob Rickett's 3/18 Wurlitzer
 
Detailed stoplist information

Over the years, Bob Rickett owned six different theatre pipe organs:

  • 1938 - a small Photoplayer from the Rex (Roundup) Theatre
  • 1940 - 2/4 Wicks from the Granada Theatre, LaGrande Oregon
  • 1940 - 2/9 William Wood organ from Portland Radio Station KXL
  • 1946 - 2/13 Page organ from Athena Theatre, Athens Ohio
  • 1953 - 3/10 Wurlitzer from Vancouver's Castle Theatre
  • 1958 - 3/12 Wurlitzer from Loew's Century Theatre in Baltimore
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Bob Rickett Rickett living room
 
The earlier instruments were sold and a final "ultimate" 3/18 Wurlitzer instrument was installed which combined parts from the two three-manual Wurlitzers and additional parts from the Los Angeles Boulevard Theatre and Shea's Toronto Theatre Wurlitzers. The completed instrument was featured in the Summer 1963 issue of Theatre Organ magazine.
 
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Various chamber views of the Rickett installation. Click on any image for a larger version.
 
The pipes were installed in a large bedroom above the living room and spoke through grills in the ceiling from tone chutes on each side.
 
Gerald Duffy supplied a custom made diode-matrix relay for the 3/18 instrument.
 
From the Century Theatre instrument, Bob used the Brass Trumpet, Brass Sax, Salicional, Quintadena, Horn Diapason and Kinura. The remaining nine ranks with chests, regulators and trems were sold to
Dick Chase of Corvallis, Oregon.
 
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Rickett console, c.1970s
 
After Bob Rickett's death, Andy Crow of Olympia, Washington owned the instrument for many years. The diode-matrix relay was sold to Jack & Mary Lou Becvar of Kent, Washington. The remainder has recently been sold to Bob MacNeur of Portland.


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