Tim Lyons, below, a member of the board at St. Paul Lutheran Church in Zelienople, hands an organ pipe to repair technician Robert Copeland as he rehabilitates the 88-year-old pipe organ at the church. The $30,000 project will take nine months to complete as each of the organ's 1,142 pipes must be removed and cleaned. A new magnetic switch is then installed for each pipe to replace the old leather switches, which wear over time. The switches open the valve on the pipes, allowing air to pass through.

ZELIENOPLE — Inside of St. Paul Lutheran Church, organ music blares.

But the harmonic sounds that fill the Main Street church aren't coming from the 88-year-old instrument that leads the congregation each Sunday. They're coming from a stereo.

That's because the church's organ, although still playable, is partially dismantled.

Faced with an aging instrument with occasional dead notes, the church decided to refurbish the organ in May.

The nine-month project will give the church not only a new console, but an electro-pneumatic organ, which uses an electric current operated by the keys to open and close the pipe valves.

Before, the switches that allow air through the pipes used electricity, but were made from leather. Because of that, they wore over time.

The new switches are magnetic, making the entire process — from the moment the organist plays the note to when the sound comes through the pipe — electric.

Originally installed when the church was rebuilt in 1913, the 88-year-old organ has filled the church with music ever since.

But, because the leather switches that release the air into the pipes began to wear, the church was faced with the costly project of repairing or replacing the instrument.

The project's length and some of the initial quotes to repair the organ were daunting.

With estimates as high as $150,000, the church resisted the cheaper option of electronic instruments that both organ repair technician Robert Copeland and church board member Tim Lyons detest.

Copeland, of Penn Township, said electronic music — that is, electric keyboards and organs — detract from the music.

"There's nothing like the harmony of pipe organ with other instruments," Copeland said.

Not only do electronic instruments fail to match the pipe organ in sound, they also fail to attract the top-tiered talent that typically plays on Sundays, Copeland said.

Copeland, along with the Lyon's help, is working to preserve that and add to the organ's 1,142 pipes, which makes it one of the largest in the area. The organ is also among the area's oldest, he said.

"It's a big project," Lyons said.

Over the course of the nearly $30,000 project, Lyons and Copeland have refurbished a second-hand Moeller console — they bought it in York and drove it back here, working to make it look like new — removed the pipes and switches, and are considering adding a few more to help enhance the sound.During the project, the church's organ has continued to play for services.But on weekdays, the organ's inner workings are exposed.Under the pipes, Copeland and Lyons step over air tubes and duck below the ceiling to reach each switch that allows the air to bellow through the pipes on Sunday mornings.There the two install the electric workings that connect the console to the 3-story-tall instrument.Copeland said the project is not as difficult as it is tedious: Each pipe is removed and cleaned, each switch is replaced, and the entire organ is rewired."It's very time consuming," Copeland said.Once the project is finished, likely by January, Lyons said the church hopes to hold a dedication concert, which it will announce sometime in the spring.To help cover the cost of the project, the church is selling organ keys.For $100, a key can be purchased in someone's memory or honor.To do so, contact the church at 724-452-8832.

Technician Robert Copeland, who is refurbishing the pipe organ at St. Paul Lutheran Church, shows some of the switches that open the valves on the pipes. The project, which began in May, will likely be done by January.