By ASHLEY BAKER
The inscription above the organ bench reads '... for my soul delighteth in the song of the heart ...' D&C 25:12. Glittering metal pipes rise to the inscription 'Glory to God in the highest.' Located in the Provo Central Stake Center of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, this is opus 16, or the sixteenth organ built by M. L. Bigelow and Co., Organ Builders, based in American Fork.
Mike Bigelow has been building organs since 1978. Bigelow said he was drawn to organs at an early age.
'I think I was a frustrated power seeker. I think all organists are frustrated power seekers,' Bigelow said.
Bigelow is a self-described nonconformist.
'There are stresses,' Bigelow said. 'The business world is a cold, cruel world, but I know that Heavenly Father confirmed this what I am supposed to do. So I don't have any deep-seeded fear that there won't be any work. At one point, after a year or two of marriage, my wife and I weren't making a lot of money, and we had to decide if this was what I was going to do -- and the answer came.'
Bigelow lives in an old church he adapted for doing his work. The former cultural hall is now a cabinet shop, where casework, wooden pipes, windchests and bellows are built. Woodworking tools include saws, jointers, a planer, a shaper and drill presses.
The former chapel is where the organ is fully assembled and tested.
Bigelow's organs are unique. Instead using an electrical signal to connect the individual keys to the pipes, Bigelow uses a intricate system of trackers and rods.
Until the discovery of electricity, all organs had to be built in this way. Because of the complexity of building these types of organs, most organ builders now choose the electrical key action.
The advantage of Bigelow's system is it allows the player to be more expressive because the keys are more sensitive to touch.
Tonal Director David Chamberlin has been working with Bigelow for 12 years.
'When people stand up and praise God, and it's my instrument making that possible, I feel happy, to put it mildly,' Chamberlin said.
Chamberlin became interested in the organ through his father, who fell in love with the organ when he attended his first organ recital at age 8.
His father took a few private lessons and developed into a fairly good organist. He also tried to build an organ, using old pipes he would purchase when an organ was taken out of a church.
Chamberlin graduated from BYU with a bachelor's degree in organ performance, and obtained a master's from Utah State University, again in organ performance.
After receiving his master's, Chamberlin decided to make organ building his profession.
'Organ building is a disease you either inherit or contract,' Chamberlin said.
'I enjoy the creative aspect, I like to make things,' Chamberlin said. 'I feared that spending all my time performing would lead me to despise that,' Chamberlin said. 'With building, it's multifaceted, it could keep me interested every day, five days a week.'
Chamberlin plays the organ for the weekly Sunday services at Zion Lutheran Church in Salt Lake City.
'My job here (at Bigelow) is the bread, playing for the Lutherans is the butter. You can't live by bread alone,' Chamberlin said.