After a lot of thought, I decided against an all oak console because it was ultimately going to end up being a little too dark colour wise. Instead after consulting my partner as to what he thinks (after all, he's losing a spare bedroom too), I decided on maple veneered MDF.
The MDF was bought for a total price of less than £200 for the lot.
I didn't use any plans for the build whatsoever. I was, however, inspired by the console of Organorak who is a Hauptwerk user as well as a member of the website PCOrgan. He sent me some details which were very handy primarily so that I knew how much MDF to buy. His console can be seen here
As you'll see by the pictures, he has the pipe towers either side of the console. Currently space doesn't allow that for me but there will be some eventually.
Above is my attempt at a music desk. The edges are prepared to receive the ebony stringing I wanted to install to heighten the features in the wood grain.
Below is how it is put together although the biscuit placing was somewhat more accurate when it came to glueing up!
This picture below, shows the stringing being placed just to see what it will look like. I was rather pleased.
As I didn't particularly make any proper measurements per se, it made for a somewhat interesting build. If I'm being completely honest, perhaps the whole console is possibly 5% too large but hey, if you're going to build something to your own wishes you might as well overdo it a bit. All I needed to know was how wide the pedalboard was, how wide each manual was, how high the lowest manual should be above the pedals. The playing surface of the middle key should, according to the RCO specifications, be 29.5" to the playing surface of the pedal note D below it. Plus, I needed to know the dimensions of the touchscreen monitors so I knew how big a hole I needed to leave.
After lots of playing with power tools in the garage I came up with this...
It's the music desk in the middle and the stop jambs either side. I was rather pleased.
As time went on I became even braver and started playing with a router. This enabled me to make a lot of progress as until then practically everything had been done with a cheap and cheerful table saw. The picture below shows the top and bottom attached with tracks routered into them which enabled the stop jambs to fit into them... In the middle of our living room floor!
I'd placed three of the four manuals in there just to see how it'd look. Plus, at the time the fourth manual was in dozens of bits awaiting me to veneer the key cheeks.
Speaking of veneering...
It's dead easy. I bought as much veneer as I needed online, ironed on a glue backing at the same time as glueing that to the surface to be veneered. Very simple process. It meant the four mismatched wooden manuals I'd managed to find would all look the same with enough work.
For those of you that don't know, because the organ is digital, you don't need to have proper stops like you see on old organs. Instead you can use screens that you touch to draw the stops instead. Good, eh?
I needed to fit the screens which proved to be very easy. I removed them from their stands and made a very basic but sturdy frame for them to sit in. Hopefully the following photo shows it better than I can explain it...
Where the screen would normally attach to a VESA bracket, instead I screwed that to the back wooden panel. I really wanted the screens to have zero movement when pressed and this has definitely succeeded in stopping that from happening. Yes, you can see daylight across the top. That's 'cos the frame isn't installed as yet.
So, yet another picture of the top half of the console but this time with the screens installed and my ugly mug leaning on it to give an idea of scale. I'm 6ft tall but leaning forward and resting on the instrument to prove that it won't collapse!
"AH-HA!" I hear you cry. "There's a toe piston rail there. You never mentioned that!"
Yes, that's true. The piston rail was built with a bit of hope and a prayer. Considering I'm an atheist, it was best just to stick with the hope! I knew that it had to span across the width of the pedalboard plus a little spacer down either side to make sure there was a bit of room for the electronic gubbins to have somewhere to languish. I wanted the rail to be at a 45 degree angle as it was a very easy angle to work with and it felt comfortable when I was testing it from the organ bench. As the pedalboard has a flat, level box at the back of it rather than the concave shape some people have had to work around, it was simple enough to make the whole rig just slide over the pedalboard.
How lucky am I to have so many toe pistons?!?!?!?! I'd wanted a lot and had priced them up to buy new. It would have cost me around £800 for the 21 I have so discounted that idea. I've seen on many blogs and sites that lots of clever and imaginative folks have made very effective toe studs with all sorts of things including plumber's copper pipe and lids off jam jars. I however, wanted mine to look like it was built with no expense spared yet in actual fact having been built on a budget of sorts. Eventually, after a long wait and hunt on eBay, these pistons appeared, along with the little tags that go with them. I won the auction and, in hindsight probably paid more than I should have done. I think including shipping from the US as well as import duty, it came to £400 instead.
You can also see clearly the space I'd left for the three expression pedals I had knocking around.
Here's an arty shot of the pistons on the rail done by my beloved. Lots of lovely bocha (if that's how you spell it).
Next up was building a table for the console to sit on. Two sides both the same size, brace them together with a couple of 2x2s lots of brackets and screws and you're pretty much there to be honest. Clearly the pictures are out of sync a bit now because of the magically disappearing toe studs. This was just a dry fit to ensure it all did fit. And it did! Not only that but it was a lovely snug fit to boot!
Now I knew that it was correct in width and height (remember I wanted the bottom keyboard to be a certain height over the pedals? Well, this is where you do the sums to make sure it's the right height) I wanted to do a decorative bottom panel that would match the top. This would add significantly more stability to the table too. In the following picture you can see the panel in place but the stringing is still to be done. Also I'd started to assemble the top too. Have a gander..
You may notice that there's a bar across the underside of the table. Well, that's one of the 2x2 braces but it also conveniently (serendipitously more like) hides the light that I fitted there to illuminate the pedals etc.
Something I've not discussed yet is the hinge situation. There are loads of them. I'm very aware that as this is home built, the likelihood of needing internal access to do tweaks or whatever is quite high. With that in mind, the two stop jambs hinge forward allowing access to the back of the screens. This is also where I've hidden the computer and lots of the electronics as there's quite a lot of room. I'm also going to install a shelf or two on either side to take some of the speakers. I'm making panels to cover the sides that will allow the sound to escape unimpeded. Think of a radiator cover and the pretty patters that are cut out and you're not far wrong. The music desk is also hinged upwards. I'm not quite sure why to be honest but I guess it'll be advantageous if I need to get to the back of the manuals although they slide forward too if need be. The other thing is that the whole instrument is 'knockdownable'. By no means does that mean it's a portable organ but I know that there will be a time when it'll need to be removed from that room. It comes apart in either three separate sections of top, base and pedalboard to say decorate the room and just move it enough to get behind it or it comes apart into six pieces but also needs to have the electronics and manuals removed. That situation is really only in the eventuality of a house move though.
The eagle-eyed amongst you will have spotted a gap between the top of the piston rail and the bottom of the panel. Don't worry, the top of the rail will be capped with a black lacquered piece of wood which will compliment the rest of the colour scheme.
So, the moment of truth as it is in its current state. I'm very pleased with how it looks but there's still a long way to go and it's actually unplayable at present as it's not properly wired up. You may also spot that the fourth manual is now in place but still not veneered.
Did you see the difference in colour between the top three manuals and the rest of the console? There is quite a marked difference. What I've done there is begun the lacquering. Thus far, none of the console has any finish on it (apart from the painted black shelves either side of the manuals). The whole thing is going to be coated with five or six layers of lacquer each sanded between and then gradually polished down using finer and finer grits until I get down to probably 2000 grit wet and dry. I'm hoping to go for a high gloss finish which will also include the black shelves. This will, though, take a LOT of elbow grease. It'll be worth it. So, the key cheeks are a different tone purely because I was playing with the lacquer. It looks really good.
You might just be able to see the carcass of the temporary expression pedal setup I had if you look to the right on the floor. I've now attached all three to the rail. Here it is.
There's also something else that hasn't been mentioned. Thumb pistons! Yay!
I've made four new, matching rails. They too have been spray painted black and will be lacquered to a gloss finish. I just used off cuts to make them. It's always worth keeping bits of wood that seem surplus to requirements. Here, have a look at a small section of one of the rails...
A drill press or, in my case, my mother's mortising drill press with the square chisel removed, did the drilling of the holes with no problems. The pistons are another set of eBay come-from-the-other-side-of-the-planet purchases. I got 100 buttons, including postage from China to the UK for £20. I'm planning on having 18-20 on each manual depending on the manual it is.
I've made a list of what I want each button to say and have found an engraver in a local jewellers who has the necessary machine to do the job very accurately and cheaply. The little plastic ends pop off with a little persuasion so that's an easy job for me for once! Pull 'em off, take 'em to the jeweller, pick 'em up and push 'em back on again. If only the rest had been so easy!
What I did discover a few days ago was that now the console is unrecognisable from the first one and significantly bigger, lots of the wires aren't long enough. VGA cables - too short, MIDI leads - too short, you get the picture. So, longer cables bought all round. I've now started to install those today. I'm trying to keep the wiring relatively neat but I am still only 'mocking up'. It'll all have to come apart down to the last screw anyway once I start lacquering...
No doubt there'll be more to follow in a year or so.
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