Okay, You Asked For It!!!!!!!!!

Forgive me I have been celebrating the completion of my organ a little with a couple glasses of wine so I had Paul Newman stand in for me on the cranking, but here it is, the short version. Well it need just a little more tuning, but not too bad!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M4IT_KtC8z0&feature=em-upload_owner



I'm waiting for the obvious question!
 
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The OBVIOUS question is where the heck is the full on tooth bearing grin? A half-hearted 3 second upturn of one corner of the mouth is unacceptable!

You can get the hat and monkey later. Word on the silly smile first.
 
Like I wrote, I'd had a few, two or three + glasses of wine. Don't expect too much. Besides that was Paul Newman he didn't build it!! And part of me is real sad, I did it, what do I do now? Building this was my enjoyment for the past 7 months, I feel lost!

But your were right, I was looking for the "where is the hat" question..
 
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Outstanding

Paul, what a great accomplishment! Great job.

A question for you and the others - I am starting to voice and tune my pipes, and I was wondering when you actually cut them to size? I built them all over-length, as described in the plans. But now it seems that to tune them properly, they need to be at the correct length. And the length, I'm supposing, is the actual length of the pipe, as measured from the foot to the top, including the air compartment where the hose goes in?

Also, have you experienced any real need to adjust the lower cap? John shows in the video keeping it under rubber bands through the voicing, but I'm finding that if I align the top of the lower cap with the top of the languid, there is not any appreciable change to the sound by moving the cap a bit one way or the other. I would like to glue on the lower cap, then do the voicing with just the upper cap. What do you think?

Again, good work on your organ. If I can get these pipes sounding good, it shouldn't be but a couple of weeks until I'm finished (famous last words).
 
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Paul - Looks and sounds great, job well done. You can't describe the feeling when you hear it for the first time.

Are you ready to take on the Topsy 3?
 
Paul, what a great accomplishment! Great job.

A question for you and the others - I am starting to voice and tune my pipes, and I was wondering when you actually cut them to size? I built them all over-length, as described in the plans. But now it seems that to tune them properly, they need to be at the correct length. And the length, I'm supposing, is the actual length of the pipe, as measured from the foot to the top, including the air compartment where the hose goes in?

Also, have you experienced any real need to adjust the lower cap? John shows in the video keeping it under rubber bands through the voicing, but I'm finding that if I align the top of the lower cap with the top of the languid, there is not any appreciable change to the sound by moving the cap a bit one way or the other. I would like to glue on the lower cap, then do the voicing with just the upper cap. What do you think?

Again, good work on your organ. If I can get these pipes sounding good, it shouldn't be but a couple of weeks until I'm finished (famous last words).

John go ahead and glue them on I set mine so I can just feel them to be above the languid. The most important thing is to use the organ to voice do not do it by blowing into the pipes.
As far as when to cut the pipes to length I do it after voicing and just before I install the pipes length will only cause a problem if they are to short.......DAMHINT :rofl:
 
One thing I would do next time, I mitered my pipes to the dimensions specified in the plans and it worked, but I wish I had looked more closely at the inside of the organ and where the tubes were going to be connected, I would have varied it a little. Would had made it easier to attach the tubing when in the organ. Each pressure box must vary a little and some of my pipes' tubing connectors could have been a little into the opening to connect to the tracker easier.... make any sense?
 
Paul - Looks and sounds great, job well done. You can't describe the feeling when you hear it for the first time.

Are you ready to take on the Topsy 3?

I'm thinking the topsy is out of my price range and skill range. Next will be a Busker or a Universal or maybe the Hoffle (what a nice set of plans that one has).

Sure make my little workshop seem awful empty with the organ out of there. I feel lost!:eek:

Thanks for all the nice comments and again thanks for the help.

My wife will kill me if she knew i posted this one, it was meant for family only. Okay after a couple more glasses of celebration wine....:

http://s27.photobucket.com/user/grinchman/media/MVI_1344.mp4.html
 
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I'm thinking the topsy is out of my price range and skill range. Next will be a Busker or a Universal or maybe the Hoffle (what a nice set of plans that one has).

Sure make my little workshop seem awful empty with the organ out of there. I feel lost!:eek:

Thanks for all the nice comments and again thanks for the help.

My wife will kill me if she knew i posted this one, it was meant for family only. Okay after a couple more glasses of celebration wine....:

http://s27.photobucket.com/user/grinchman/media/MVI_1344.mp4.html

Now thats more like it :rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl:
 
Paul, the organ looks great! Thank you for the video. Its always so cool to see someone who has just finished building one of these. I think their may be a couple pipes that might still need to be tweeked, but I'm really proud of you for staying on track with this to the end. Well done Sir....Well done!
 
OK, time for some progress pics:
0 Pipe Jig.jpg1 Poplar Cases.jpg2 With Walnut Fronts.jpg
I built the cases using the pipe jig suggested by Jay -- it worked very well, keeping everything square. The cases are poplar, with walnut fronts.

3 Bathing in Shallac.jpg4 Drip Dry.jpg
My wife is in the AGO (American Guild of Organists), and we have been on several pipe organ factory tours. I noticed that at one of them (Otto Hoffman Organs, Austin, TX) they were using shellac to seal the pipes. I decided that would make a good seal for my pipes, so I used it. I found some clear shellac, which kept the pipes from getting the characteristic shellac orange color. I also decided to seal them well, so I bathed them in the stuff. I knew I was going to touch up each of the languids later, so I didn't worry about them getting "shellacked" ;) I just put them in an old soda carton, where they dried nicely in an hour or so. Tooting on them later seems to prove the point, as they sound pretty good.

5 Mitered Pipes.jpg6 Manometer.jpg
I built my manometer, which seems to work well. I tried it out, and was able to get a smooth 6-7 inches. I think I will voice the pipes there. I mitered the three largest pipes, which went well. I used the shellac-bath method on them, which should assure a good seal inside.

I have laid out the pipes in the way I want to mount them -- all 17 of the smaller pipes for show across the front of the organ, spaced on their centers. Jay has done this before, and is looking for some pictures to give me some ideas on how he did it. Side to side they fit, but I think some accommodation has to be made for the height of the larger pipes -- we shall see.

I guess all this is getting to be old hat by now for all you guys who have been there before, but it's exciting to get near the point where it should make some noise.
 

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You must be setting a record for quickest build. And it is really looking good. You sure this is your first try at this?! I guess what took me so long was I thought about each phase for two or three weeks before I'd build up the nerve and get at it. Sure feels strange not having that organ sitting there waiting for me. I did make a new pipe to replace the one that I can't seem to get much sound out of. I didn't need to build a new pipe, but I just wanted to. Next time I will try shellac. I think Jay uses it also. I used varnish, because it was what I had left from my kayak build.
 
I've got all my pipes voiced, and it seems to have gone well. A question about cutting to length. I am planning to tune the pipes, then trim them to one inch higher than the stopper. Is there any reason to leave more length to the pipes? Have you found that the tuning point changes over time, which might lead to a need to have the pipes a bit longer?

I want to make the pipes as short as possible, but of course don't want to interfere with the ability to tune them.

Thanks.
 
John, I've had my organ playing for two years now and have not needed to move my stoppers much if any. I have rechecked the tuning but find it to stay pretty good 99 percent of the time. I'll bet I have never moved a stopper more than 1/4 of an inch. So I think you should be ok with a full inch on top. I have read that some people use wax to seal the stoppers in place after tuning so I don't think anyone ever has to move them much. Just make sure that the tuning is correct.
 
John, I've had my organ playing for two years now and have not needed to move my stoppers much if any. I have rechecked the tuning but find it to stay pretty good 99 percent of the time. I'll bet I have never moved a stopper more than 1/4 of an inch. So I think you should be ok with a full inch on top. I have read that some people use wax to seal the stoppers in place after tuning so I don't think anyone ever has to move them much. Just make sure that the tuning is correct.

I received a e-mail suggestion from an COAA member with a tip about using the wax. It is beeswax that he recommended, which he said was what a wax toilet seal is made from. I don't know if they are made of beeswax, but I just got home from the store and bought one when I was there. Going to give it a try. I agree that you should be okay with the 1". Some of my pipes are not quite in tune and I know I won't have to move the stopper far.
 
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