Stop Lists

An organ stop is a knob or tab on a pipe organ console that controls the admission of pressurized air, often called wind, into one or more specified sets of pipes.

Each set of pipes has a unique tonal character and specific roles within the tonal design of the organ. By adding or subtracting stops and thus combining different sets of pipes to create sounds of varying complexities, an organist exercises precise control over the timbre, pitch, and volume of the music to be played.

 A stop list, like those below, identifies all of the stops in an organ, detailing the sounds it can make and in which division the various pipes are found. This information is used to describe the size, tonal character, and capabilities of the instrument. It is a summary of the total mechanical and tonal resources of the organ and can assist organists in planning the sounds they will use for a piece of music (a process called registration) in advance. The stop list of an organ is sometimes called its specification.

Opus 414, 2026

Scheduled to be reinstalled in the late fall of 2026, the restored Opus 414 will use 70 stops to control 4,941 pipes.

Schantz Organ Company’s Specification (Stop List) for the Revised Opus 414 (PDF)

Opus 414, 1982

The repairs and expansion of Opus 414 in 1982 resulted in an instrument with 91 stops controlling 5,589 pipes.

View Full Stop List

Opus 414, 1924

The original Opus 414, as installed in 1924, used 59 stops to control 3,904 pipes.

View Full Stop List