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Hello, folks,

I have read this entire thread with interest, over the past several days. It has been quite enjoyable to "get to know you" via this journal. However, reading these compressed years seems almost voyeuristic, so I thought I should introduce myself and let you know I've been peeking in through the kitchen window. :wave:

I bought my busker plans toward the end of 2002, if memory serves. Life seemed to keep getting in the way, though, and I'm just now getting around to making a legitimate start on the project. The downside, of course, is that I have missed out on those years of pleasure. On the other hand, you folks have saved me the pain of pioneering. :D

When I say "legitimate start," I mean I have completed my sheet-cut layout work for the pipes and, now I'm drawing the bellows assemblies. (For the curious, I use TurboCAD.) I have obtained one 60x60" sheet each of 1/8" and 1/4" Baltic Birch. (No easy access to half sheets.) I plan to start cutting pipe parts right away while, hopefully, staying ahead with the drafting. I should just go ahead and admit that I often enjoy the drafting part of these projects as much as the actual building. It must be the OCD part of my makeup...

Well, I don't want, "My, but he does blather on," to be my first impression; so, I'll let this serve as my introduction.

Oh, BTW, it looks like Paul Douglass is my nearest neighbor, at a couple-hundred miles: Howdy, Paul!

Nice meeting y'all,

Jim
(No, not the same Jim Shockey you might have seen on TV.)
 
Hey, Jim Great to meet you. We may have to start a NW Organ Builders Group. There are three here in the Tri-cities that I have become acquainted with and I understand there are a couple more that I haven't become acquainted with yet. Then there are several others over on the west side, two of which I have personally met and spent some time with. We had a get together this Spring here in the Tri-Cities and two of the west side guys attended. We had a very fun day and shared knowledge, and compared organs. Had a great variety of organs represented.

Hopefully will have another next Spring with even more coming. That is the plan anyway. You can see the pictures I took of the get together here:

http://s27.photobucket.com/user/grinchman/library/Organ Jam Session 6-21-2013?sort=9&page=1

Maybe you could join us with your newly built Busker next Spring.

Jay is correct, pictures, pictures, pictures. And if you need any help, this is the place to get answers. They got me through the build of my Senior 20. I could not have done without their help.
 
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Welcome Jim glad to see someone who likes to do drawings. I use AutoSketch myself. I built the Busker Junior last year and got hooked. I went on to build a Topsy 3.
Look forward to pictures. I did some drawings of the Busker if you are interested.

We are all here to help and give advise, between all of us we have made every possible mistake.

ed
 
Welcome to the forum Jim. It's always fun to watch someone build these. I completed mine a few years ago and have really enjoyed it. Like the others have said.....take lots of pictures....if not for us but you will want to have a record of it for yourself. Have fun.
 
Thanks for the welcome!

Jay: Your generosity and patience has been the glue in this deal. I kinda picked up on the "take lotsa pictures" theme. :D

Paul: Ups, downs, moves, frustration - in the end, none of it deterred you. Very cool. Good job. :thumb: I hope I can join you in the spring.

Ed: I can almost feel your enthusiasm for building these things. If it's not too much trouble, I'd love to get some ideas from your drawings. Maybe .DXF? And, you shouldn't sell short my capacity for discovering novel ways to mess things up. ;)

Tom: Your pictures have been really informative. I especially get a big dose of happy when I watch that first video you made. :)

All who have contributed to this thread have made life easier and provided encouragement for those follow. I will be delighted if I can, in some small way, add to this.

Regards,

Jim
 
I've been doodling with the tracker bar layout and I thought I'd ask you experienced organ builders something that's made me wonder for a while. Some people lay out their tracker bars with the holes all on the centerline. Others line up the leading edge of the holes, large and small, all on the the same line. I assume that the theory is that the "key" starts to open at the same time for all notes, regardless of hole size. I.e. The big-hole notes don't get the jump on the others. But, if we're looking at ~70mm per second paper speed, does that two-hundredths of a second, or so, make any practical difference? Maybe to Quincy Jones or someone. But, I'd be stunned if most of us can hear it.

The only reason I can think of to line up the tangents would be 'cause it looks kinda cool. Wha'da'ya think? Is there a practical reason beside looks?
 
Jim, I bought my tracker bar pre-made so I did not make mine. However I think I follow what your asking and I think all holes should be centered on the same line. Therefore the larger holes do open before the smaller holes. Here is a really bad photo but it was taken in a dark room with a phone but it shows how the holes are lined up on my tracker bar. You can clearly see that the leading edge of the larger holes start before the smaller holes. So each hole is drilled on the same center line. Again....please excuse the poor quality photo.

tracker bar (Small).jpg
 
Thanks, Tom, for the picture and the comments. (I was only half-serious with the question. I have been accused of over-thinking stuff.) :) I have a copy of just about all the photos that have been included in this thread and while most do put all holes on the CL, some have lined up the edges. I also noticed that some of the bars have two hole sizes (like in my plans) and some have three: three large, two medium, and 15 small holes. Was that an update for the Senior that should be incorporated into a Busker?

Thanks, Jim
 
My senior 20 has the same holes as the Busker, 3 big and the rest small. All on CL. That is what the plans called for, so if there is an update, it is after I received my plans. I've had mind about 4 years if I remember correctly.
 
HA! Be fun except I'm a warm weather player!

Thought of something else you might want to consider. The Senior 20 is easier to build than the busker. Same organ but more room inside to work on it. A friend here has the Busker, and we have compared. I don't know he got those hoses for the pipes inside that Busker. Very tight in there.
 
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Well, Paul, I have been thinking about some sort of Senior 20 upgrade. Not sure I want to spend another 70 bucks on plans. If I get through this build with happy results, I can see myself thinking about a Universal 26, down the road. I suppose I could just go ahead and order those plans, now. Seeing as how collecting plans appears to be a subset of this group... :whistling:

I can see how a little more room would be handy. And, should be easy to obtain by making a bit more distance between the bottom of the pressure box and the reservoir. It had also occurred to me that the pipe mounting board might be on a hinge or otherwise easy to get behind. (So long as it doesn't rattle.) Do you see a problem with this?

The bigger question, to me, would be the issue of needing more wind. Your Senior 20 has a similar dual bellows and reservoir design as the Busker, if I'm not mistaken. Are those components simply scaled up? If it's basically the same unit made x% larger, I wouldn't be afraid of doing that. (I realize I'd have to adjust the crank-throws, con rods and some clearances accordingly.) I believe you've heard a Busker and a Senior side-by-side. Big difference? Especially on arrangements with a lot of bass? Would it be out of bounds to ask what the primary dimensions are on your wind system? Length, width, and open height.

These and the rapid rewind are the primary upgrades, aren't they?

I also wanted to ask how happy you are with the gear system, now that you've used it for a while.

Thanks! -Jim

Actually, I think those bellows dimensions appear in an image from Jay, about this time last year.
 
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Jim, when I get a few minutes I'll look up some of the dimensions and post them, in the middle of something right now and just took a short break. As for the gears, most happy with them. They work great, look great, and I get a lot of comments on them. They were made by a good friend here on the forum. I hesitate to mention him by name, because I don't have his permission. If he wants others to know he will speak up or gives me permission to speak up on his behalf.
 
Hi Guys, having finished the Christmas presents I'm ready to get back to the senior build. I do have the pipes done, ready to start the bellows. On a follow thru of the last post, I seem to remember seeing the "gears" and glad to hear they are working as planned. Sure would be nice if that "someone" would offer the gears for sale. seems like that would be a better way and speed the build along.
 
Jay got the crank parts but have to ask why two size holes? I used the same size shaft the first time (failure) and will now need to get a real small length of what looks like 3/8" haven't measured it yet but that's what it looks like by eye. I'll have to get a 3 ft rod for 3" of material sounds odd to have to do that. If you wouldn't mind letting me know why the large hole then I can understand why. Look good none the less.
 
ed sautter said:
Jay got the crank parts but have to ask why two size holes? I used the same size shaft the first time (failure) and will now need to get a real small length of what looks like 3/8" haven't measured it yet but that's what it looks like by eye. I'll have to get a 3 ft rod for 3" of material sounds odd to have to do that. If you wouldn't mind letting me know why the large hole then I can understand why. Look good none the less.
Click to expand...

If you need a small length of 3/8" could you cut it off the shaft of a 3/8" bolt. Be cheaper than buying a 3' rod.
 
ed sautter said:
Jay got the crank parts but have to ask why two size holes? I used the same size shaft the first time (failure) and will now need to get a real small length of what looks like 3/8" haven't measured it yet but that's what it looks like by eye. I'll have to get a 3 ft rod for 3" of material sounds odd to have to do that. If you wouldn't mind letting me know why the large hole then I can understand why. Look good none the less.
Click to expand...

Ed the small hole is 1/4" and the large one is 5/16" if you use a large shaft for the conrods the heads would need to be bigger and cause clearance problems and if you use anything smaller that the 5/16 you run into problems with getting enough for the crank to hold onto and cause more of a slipping problem and also shaft flex. Paul's idea of cutting off bolts for the small shafts is a good idea I think.
 
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