An age but immense progress

It has been almost a year since my last post about the virtual organ project.  Why?  Well, to be honest, other things in life took over and the organ took a bit of a back seat.  It ended up being completely dismantled for a long time.

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

http://forum.hauptwerk.com/viewtopic.php?f=21&t=10878

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.

Clearly you have to ignore the piles of crap that surround it!  

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.

I'm sure you've noticed how beautifully lit they are.  That's the light underneath the tabletop doing its thing.  I also particularly wanted you to see some rough edges that in time will be dealt with.  There is no frame around the recess, the pedals aren't boxed into their own enclosure, the crescendo pedal is too close to the bottom of the panel too.  That's totally fine.  Remember, it was all done without plans and instead was done by what feels right.  The bottom panel is in three pieces so the middle one just unscrews.  I'll take a couple of inches off the top of that section and it'll fit nicely.  I'm also going to get the pedals re-chromed and will replace the rubber.  I've no idea why the previous owner saw fit to stick holes in them but they had their reasons, I'm sure.

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.

Gradually getting there

Hello campers!

This week has been quite good regarding the development of the casework of the organ. As you'll already know from previous posts this month, I've started butchering the grade A quality oak I've got for the cabinet. The key cheeks for all four manuals are done(ish). They were all beautifully measured and amazingly it was correct even when I did it. The scrolling I did as a little decorative end was NOT easy. That took ages as it was my first time of using a scroll saw and putting oak that is quite thick through it with the wrong blade on (ahem) made for an interesting couple of evenings. I got there all I've got to do now is the glueing and screwing into place and then lots and lots of sanding to make it look lovely - which it will.

The next part of the project is to start on the cabinet. To be honest, I'm anticipating it being the easier part of the project. I've got most of the wood cut more or less to length so that's a start at least!

I've been doing a lot of research this week on using a router successfully. I borrowed my mother's as well as her router table (yes, my mother's, she's a funny girl!) and spent the other evening just getting a feel for them and just working out - without even turning it on - how it feels and how to attach the fence, bits and how to adjust the depth and things like that. I'm now the leading expert in the world when it comes to a router that's not been plugged in.

Youtube's fantastic for learning new skills. I've watched at least 3 hours' worth of tutorials on there which has been great - Very interesting indeed to be honest. It saves pratting about in the library for hours on end and then finding that the only reference book you can find was published in 1954 which would make it only slightly out of date in 1955.

Today's plans are to go out into the garage and have a few tentative attempts at using the router and if I'm really brave I might even knock up a side panel... if I'm REALLY brave AND LUCKY I might do two if they work out well. Well, there's nowt wrong whatsoever in optimism is there?

Wish me luck!

Hive of activity

It has been several months now since I wrote in my blog. For that I'm sorry. Why I'm sorry I've no idea as I'm pretty certain that I'm the only person out of 6,500,000,000 people on the planet who actually reads this. Ah, already I've digressed!

Anyway, I'm off work poorly bad (AWWWW). I've got Impetigo which is pretty minging but as I work in education and it is very infectious (the impetigo - not the education) I've been told to stay at home. It's the best illness in the world. You feel spotty and scabby and have to watch that you don't pick bits off yourself but you feel fine and are able to tackle some of the jobs you've been meaning to do for ages so that's a result then!

On the right, you can see the results of what I've been up to thus far this week. Yes, there's some extremely oversized key cheeks there, you're right. How high they look. Don't worry, I've not got an elastic tape-measure. I was playing.

The hawk-eyed readers amongst you will spot what looks like a different MIDI keyboard from the ones I've been using until now. It's absolutely right. I decided the other day that I wanted them all to match, to have no cracks in them and for them to actually have tidy wiring (Ahem) so I bit the bullet and bought four keyboards from Thomann, a German company that I can't recommend enough. They're the best company in the world. Fantastic quality, service, prices, the lot. I got four brand new midi keyboards, including delivery from Germany to the UK (3 days) for £236.00. Bargain or what? Anyway, I ripped them all to pieces so I could just have the keyboard and the midi bits rather than the bells and whistles and the little oompa rhythm section. Now, what you see above is the result of one of the recently gutted keyboards with a very rough-and-ready mock up of what the keyboard setup will look like. Impressive, I agree.

I looked all over to ensure the depth of the manuals would be right. Too deep and it would be too high (as in the picture) and too shallow and there'd not be enough space to get the keyboards in correctly thus forcing me to move each keyboard further back to accommodate. I'd end up stretching further than I need to if I did that. I measured my own (keyboards... dirty buggers), measured one or two other instruments I know and came to the conclusion that the correct height for a 'cheek' is 2.5" or 5cm whichever you prefer. With that in mind, I marked up the oak lengths I'd bought. Once that was done I decided that I wanted to have the cheeks thicker than they currently looked. They were only 1" thick which made them look a bit cheap so I doubled up each edge which made them look MUCH meatier. I'm glad I did that. As you can see to the left the cheeks do look much more butch now they're twice as thick.

You'll have seen lots of pencil marks and a pretty little drawing on the side of the cheek too. Well' I didn't just want a plain edge like most organs have, I like a bit of show. I looked around on the internet to find a design I liked. That took a LONG time as strangely, people don't seem to put close-up shots of the corners of their pipe organ keyboards on the 'web for the world to peruse. Eventually, I found a design that I like. If you look closely above the top bow outwards, there's a tiny step. That is to echo the top of the key so that the key can sit just a couple of millimetres below it and run parallel. How posh, eh?

The design looks a bit fiddly and to be honest it's dead easy. You've just got to be brave enough to trust your eye for detail. I actually got a bit of cardboard, a £2 coin and a £1 coin. I put them both on the card and drew round the £2 above the £1 coin and just followed the line around and ended up with that shape. Here, here's a picture that I hope will help. Also the template is 2.5" high... remember? Thought you did.

So, now I've got my cheeks and, as you can see from the money shot (ho, ho, oo, er) above, there's a step cut out of the bottom. There is but that's only on the inside one. The outside one goes along the entire bottom too (the save level as the foot at the front of the template). The reason is so that the keyboard can slide in on the little MDF base I've made but not told you about so that you'll not see it at all from the front. Clever, eh?

As I don't trust my freehand precision cutting with a jigsaw that's slightly less accurate than a blind man wielding an axe hoping to take the top off his boiled quail's egg, I decided that I'd best get a coping saw. After thinking further on the idea I opted for a scroll saw. I ordered one off eBay which cost me about £75 inc. P&P which I was very pleased with. I'll use it a lot as I'm planning on doing several fretwork projects in the future. Yes, indeed my grandmother is going be be receiving the world's worst attempt at a bit of fretwork on a manky panel that you hang on the wall for her Christmas present and she's going to like it too... or else!

Tomorrow's plan, therefore, is, presuming the saw arrives, to cut out the inside (stepped) cheeks, screw them to the outside cheeks and then cut the detailing for the ends on the scroll saw. Ideally, I'll be able to at least knock up the four keycheeks with maybe one keyboard attached. If I can I'll put up a piccy or two of the setup. I'm determined to get that part finished by the end of next week so I can transplant the new keyboard setup into the bedroom and demote the four keyboards I have been using to the garage in anticipation of a quick journey to eBayland... or maybe two of them can go to work in my office to practice with. We'll see. The former I'd guess. My boss has already told me that he doesn't like my harpsichord that I took in. Damnitt!

keyboards galore

So, after the last update I was thrilled to announce that I'd got the swell pedals to work as they should. I was a very happy bunny. I had a couple of days worth of playing the instrument which was marvellous. I'm saying lots of nice things about it and building it up aren't I? I bet you're expecting me to bring it crashing down with a comment about it all going pear-shaped after blowing up or something. Well, sorry to disappoint but it was still fine.

We had a couple of good friends over for dinner a couple of nights ago. As these friends are such good company (that is, they like to get plastered too) I dismantled the organ to take it out of the bedroom (that's what the room is in all honesty) so I could pull out the sofa bed in case they ended up with too much booze in their systems that they'd need to stay over... they did!

Oh, already I miss it. The poor little thing comes apart in several very large pieces. Two lots of two manuals, two touchscreen monitors, the desk the bench and the pedalboard. Not really difficult to dismantle but when you're still trying to get your hand strengthened after a carpal tunnel operation it's not quite so easy. I managed to get pretty much all of it out to the garage and it is now strewn across the grand piano in there.

There is some VERY exciting news about the organ though... I've actually bought the Hauptwerk software at last. HURRAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Hauptwerk are doing a very good special offer over the Christmas period which is a bit late for any of you to benefit from now. The version 3.3 has been reduced by about 20% with a free upgrade to the version 4.0 which is due out in a month or so. God knows how long it'll take for the product to arrive as it is winging its way from Canada I believe. I'm also certain that I'll be stung by the VAT increase from 17.5% to 20% in the next few days. We've got to get the national debt down somehow I suppose... those of us who've still got jobs that is! C'est la vie. I think that in total it'll cost me £420 or somewhere in that region. I'm not even putting that money into the British economy anyway if it's coming from Canada... Hmm, didn't think of that!

The organ will have to stay in the garage for a little while now which is really killing me. I start to build up the strength in my hand and start playing a bit more confidently with not a lot of trouble, I buy the software I've been coveting for months and then get an appointment for my second operation for the 4th January. That means at least the beginning of February before I can consider playing again. BUGGER! What irony is that for you?

I was rooting around on Ebay again tonight. I've seen another couple of keyboards that would be great to convert. We'll see... I've already got 6 now. Did I mention the wooden ones I bought a few months ago? They're very nice although I might have to re-list them. They cost me £90 which was a good price but it'll cost me about £500 for the necessary hardware to convert them. I might let them sit in the garage for a few months to see if anything comes up. Ideally they'll be part of the main organ for the home instrument. I'd rather add them and take the keyboards off the top off the current stack of four as the colour doesn't match (as shown on the picture in the first posting).

I'm still not happy with the organ though. The thumb pistons don't work at present. They're all wired up correctly; that I know as I did have them working a while ago but then had to dismantle it and then forgot how I'd configured it when I put it back together!

Do you know what thumb pistons are? Well, here, have a butcher's;-

Now you know what they look like I'd best explain what they do and where they are. To be honest,they're simply pre-programmed combinations. The easiest way to explain it is to compare it to your car radio. You have your favourite stations tuned in already so that you just push a button and there they are. These do exactly the same job - except you don't get 'The Archers' if you press number 4! They pull combinations of different stops out all at once instead of having to pull them out individually. The pistons are easily reached as they're positioned directly beneath the keys on each keyboard. If you closely look on the picture you'll see the black notes of the keyboard below and the underside of the keys above.

That's it for now. You know when you're sure there's something you've forgotten to say? Why am I getting that feeling very strongly at present?

Oh, and one other thing... While I've been writing this the clock has ticked past midnight. That means that we're into the very last day of 2010. I'm sure that my next post will be in 2011 so with that in mind HAPPY NEW YEAR! Hope it's a good 'un.

Christmas Presents

So, 'twas the night before Christmas when all through the house, not a creature was stirring... Except Stuart cheering 'cos he finally got the swell pedals to work! Yes, at last the big day arrived.

True, the big day of everything working well did arrive about 4 days ago but I've been so distracted by making sure it wasn't just a fluke and that it was totally reliable when it came to powering up, unplugging, plugging, powering down and the like that I didn't want to tempt fate by writing about it on here only to find it didn't work anymore!

The clocks have just started to strike midnight which does indeed mean that it is officially Christmas Day 2010. Merry Christmas everyone. I really do hope you didn't spend too much on my gift.

I'll post further photos sometime soon. Who knows, I might even manage to upload a sound file or even more excitingly a VIDEO! I'll be just like Norma Desmond "I'm ready for my close-up, Mr. De Mille!

S