One other thing that kind of drives me nuts is the fact that out of SO MANY sets now available, there are so few offering a really good lineup of strings, and this is yet another set having that issue for me. If it were to have an additional amount of strings I'd be in line with check in hand to purchase without hesitation.
Savaria actually has - by European standards - a good number of strings with 6 ranks: Great Salice 16' and Gamba 8', Swell Vox Coelestis 8' and Violoktav 4', Positive Salizional 8' and Pedal Violonbass 16'.
I've not personally felt any lack, but it clearly can't compete with an American classic such as the Reuter or extended SP Aeolian-Skinner. However, if you want more strings than Savaria at an even more affordable price you might also consider (if you have not already done so) Augustine's extraordinary 1860/1899 Buckow-Rieger 51/III.
You may not like it - I am not even sure I do. Unrestored and in poor condition when sampled, it has a distinctive antique dark tone quite unlike anything else in the HW canon. But it does offer perhaps 10 string stops (and some internal extensions beyond that) in a wonderful 4 to 5 second acoustic.
It was the first of Augustine's efforts that I bought, and at the time I did so in part because I liked the fact that he donates a full 20% of the purchase price to the organ's restoration. Unlike some other sets I have spent much more on and now rarely touch, I find myself repeatedly drawn back to the melancholy Buckow-Rieger for midnight headphone sessions. Perhaps because it brings back a nostalgic memory of youthful winter nights, practicing an ill-tuned organ while locked alone in some vast cold, dark, echoing church!
- Adrian.