Tom's 31 note organ build

Tom Baugues

Member
Messages
2,790
Location
Lafayette, Indiana
Tom's 31 note organ build.....Finished at last. Video at end.

Thought I would start a separate thread to keep all my posts together as I go along.
Spring has sprung and the shop is warmer so now I have finally gotten a real start to building my new 31 note organ.
I've had this Cherry wood laying around in my shop for quite a few years with no real plan for it so I decided to cut it up to see what it looks like. It was pretty rough sawn lumber when I got it with many twists in the boards. Probably not good for any project very large but thought it might make for some nice looking pipes for this organ.
IMG_2878-2 (Medium).jpg
Once cut up it looked like it might have some pretty wood inside.
IMG_2696-2 (Medium).jpg
Started re-sawing some of the boards to thickness last week.
IMG_2864-2 (Medium).jpg
Ended up with a pretty good little pile ready to run through the thickness planer to get them down to just 1/8" thick.
100_1710-2 (Medium).jpg
Got the stack run through the planer tonight. Next will be to get them cut to the appropriate widths for each pipe size.
I'm only getting about 1 hour each evening to work on this but I'm committed to doing something each night to help me move forward on this project. More to come.
 
Last edited:
I was able to spend an extra hour out in the shop tonight and was able to finish cutting all the wood for each pipe to the correct depth and width and bundled them together until I start gluing them together. I left them long for now but will cut to correct length as I assemble each pipe.
All pipe wood (Medium).jpg
 
I've not followed the organ build threads very closely, so pardon the rookie question: How does a 31-note organ compare to the average street organ? More pipes? Fewer pipes? Two and a half octaves seems like a pretty wide range of notes.
 
I've not followed the organ build threads very closely, so pardon the rookie question: How does a 31-note organ compare to the average street organ? More pipes? Fewer pipes? Two and a half octaves seems like a pretty wide range of notes.

Heck Vaughn, I don't know. I just turn the crank and it makes noise! LOL
Actually this organ has only 27 pipes. The other organ I built had 20 pipes. However those extra 7 pipes add so much more to the overall sound. Honestly, I don't know anything about music and scales and octaves.
 
Last edited:
I was able to spend an extra hour out in the shop tonight and was able to finish cutting all the wood for each pipe to the correct depth and width and bundled them together until I start gluing them together. I left them long for now but will cut to correct length as I assemble each pipe.
View attachment 95562

When I started my organ I left it at that stage, having so many different pieces lying around disorients me, I have to retake it some day as it is a project that I do want to finish but...
 
When I started my organ I left it at that stage, having so many different pieces lying around disorients me, I have to retake it some day as it is a project that I do want to finish but...
I completely understand Tony. Time...is the main ingredient when it comes to building these. I'm not the fastest when it comes to woodworking. I probably have about 10 hours in this already just getting the wood for the pipes cut up. I'm in no hurry.
 
Tonight I had to go back and do some reading on how to build pipes and try to remember how the process is best done. I started on the two smallest pipes. Just got them glued up. These look pretty rough but when done will be nice and square. Lots of sanding, shaping and fitting of the mouth pieces yet to do......oh and 35 more to go.
2879 (Medium).jpg
 
Last edited:
Progress is slow but moving forward. Got the Melody pipes glued up and starting to work on the accompaniment pipes tonight. Still thinking about what kind of wood to use for the "mouth's of the pipes. I was thinking maple but afraid it might be too plain.
IMG_2936 (Medium).jpg
 
I've been down for awhile but I'm not out of the game. Working on my physical therapy and I've been able to stand on my feet again (since my accident) and am looking forward to getting this project back on track. Here is a photo of my pipes that I haven't posted yet.
IMG_3057 (Medium).jpg
 
I've been much more active over the past several weeks and am walking around with my cane. I've been able to spend more time out in the shop and have been getting more parts built. Here is a few shots of the pressure box and some of its components. This box is what all the pipes will fit onto. The air will come up through this pressure box and into the pipes.
The first picture is of the "steps" that get mounted to the pressure box. There are two rows of pipes that will be mounted to these. I had to get creative on how to groove out the bottoms since the parts are pretty small to hold by hand. I set up my router table and held the parts tight with a wood clamp and worked the piece across the bit. Wood is cherry so it burned pretty easy but is not a problem for this application. Once the bottom section was routed then I could glue on the top section and drill them to accept the pipes. Once glued up they get mounted to the pressure box.
100_1718.jpg100_1721.jpg100_1722.jpg100_1725.jpgIMG_3076.jpgIMG_3077.jpg
 
It's been quite a while since I posted any further details of my organ build and I was recently asked about it so thought I better get busy. I left off building the pressure box. Once all the pipe steps were built it was time to flip the pressure box over and start mounting the electro-magnet valves. These valves will open and close to allow the air pressure to flow up to each pipe when needed. Running the wires and soldering all the valves in took a few evenings to do but just took my time and kept moving forward.
IMG_3081 (Medium).jpg100_1795 (Medium).jpg100_1798 (Medium).jpgIMG_3233 (Medium).jpg100_1838 (Medium).jpg
 
Once all the valves were wired up I put a lid (actually a bottom) on the box and sealed it up tight. No air leaks is important. After this it was time to move onto the bellows. The bellows for this organ are much different than what I built for my Senior 20 organ. They function much the same way but there are three sections to these. Building them is pretty straight forward. Build a frame, cover it, drill some holes, install leather flaps, add a hinge and cover with leather. Sounds pretty simple huh? Well after a few weeks I finally had a working set of bellows that I could start to mount.
100_1731 (Medium).jpg100_1732 (Medium).jpg100_1780 (Medium).jpg100_1787 (Medium).jpg100_1791 (Medium).jpgIMG_3213 (Medium).jpg
 
Wow, looks well organized. Is the electronics/wiring part of it a kit or are you designing your own?

Thanks Darren, this organ uses many of the same components designed by John Smith however the pipe/valve layout was designed by Ed Ricci. Ed documented his build of this design here on our forum about 2 years ago and has been my mentor as I build one for myself. I've had the pleasure to get to know Ed and he has been a huge help. There are no "kits" for these organs. They are mostly a "custom" build.
 
Once I had the pressure box and my bellows built it was time to build a cabinet for everything to fit in. Takes a lot of trial fitting and a little bit of guess work but eventually I decided on the size. I built this little aluminum bracket to attach to the bellows to give the crank arm something to attach to.
100_1827 (Medium).jpg100_1828 (Medium).jpg100_1829 (Medium).jpgbracket.jpg
 
Top