Tonal Groups
Flue pipes generally belong to one of three tonal families: flutes, diapasons (or principals), and strings. The basic "foundation" (from the French term fonds) sound of an organ is composed of varying combinations of these three tonal groups, depending upon the particular organ and the repertory being played.
The end of the pipe opposite the mouth may be either open or closed (also known as "Gedecked" or stopped). A closed pipe sounds an octave lower than an open pipe of the same length. Also, an open pipe produces a tone in which both the even-numbered and the odd-numbered partials are present, while a stopped pipe produces a tone with odd-numbered partials. The tone of a stopped pipe tends to be gentler and sweeter than that of an open pipe, though this is largely at the discretion of the voicer.
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