Common Stop Face Names - Pump Organ Restorations

Commonly Used Pump Organ Stop Face Names

From about 1840 to the early 1920s, American pump organ manufacturers (which would eventually be numbered in the hundreds) used approximately 90 different names to identify a wide variety of different musical tones and pitches.

These names would then be placed on the front of an organs draw knobs, or stops, indicating the sound that would be created if that stop was activated. These name labels (usually printed in Old English) were known as “stop faces.”

Below are approximately 40 different stop face names that were commonly used by American pump organ makers. It’s important to point out that not all single rank pump organs (those having only one row of keys) had the same number of stops. Some might have just a few, while others might have as many as 19. The more stops an organ had, the wider variety of sounds it was capable to making.

Harp Aeolienne
Horn
Melodia
Oboe
Octave Couple
Orchestral Forte
Piano
Piccolo
Principal
Principal Forte
Sub Bass
Swell
Treble Coupler
Treble Forte
Tremolo
Trumpet

Viola
Viola Dulce
Violin
Vox Celeste
Vox Humana
Vox Jubilante
Bass Coupler
Bass Forte
Bassoon
Bellows Signal
Bourdon
Celeste
Celestina
Cello
Clarabella
Clarinet

Cor Anglais
Cornet
Coupler
Cremona
Diapason
Diapason Bass
Diapason Forte
Diapason Treble
Dolce
Dulcet
Dulciana
Echo
Echo Horn
Flute
Flute Forte
Aeoline Forte