Tom's 31 note organ build

Mounted under the bellows is where the battery and MIDI control board is mounted. I mounted them on a slide out tray for easy access. All the wires from the pipe valves feed into this control board. Each wire has a specific place on the board according to which note it controls. Once that was wired up I built a shelf for the MIDI controller to sit on and added a rear panel. I wanted my organ to have a back side crank arm as apposed to Ed's organ where he mounted his on the side on his. So I was completely on my own to figure out how that was going to fit but I think I finally came up with a solution that is going to work out nicely.IMG_3224 (Medium).jpgIMG_3223 (Medium).jpgIMG_3291 (Medium).jpgIMG_3288 (Medium).jpgIMG_3302 (Medium).jpgIMG_3263 (Medium).jpg
 
Last edited:
Thanks for the tour to date Tom, been away so had to catch up on all your posts. Looks like a neat organ you got going there. You sure been busy, great therapy and glad to see you back at it.
Btw nice shop clock you have there 😉
Can't wait to hear the first video of the organ and thats a nice crank handle you came up with.
 
Thanks for the tour to date Tom, been away so had to catch up on all your posts. Looks like a neat organ you got going there. You sure been busy, great therapy and glad to see you back at it.
Btw nice shop clock you have there ��
Can't wait to hear the first video of the organ and thats a nice crank handle you came up with.

Thanks Rob. That clock is actually a clock that came out of my wife's grandparents home. It does not run. I'm hoping to look into that and get it back into working order one day.
 
After the bellows were installed I made a wooden connector rod to connect to the handle. Then I needed to set all the pipes in place and see if they were going to all fit as planned. I made some brackets to hold the rows of pipes together. With the pipes in place it was time to see if I had wired all the solenoids up correctly to the correct pipes. I used a electronic keyboard and connected it to the MIDI control board. By pressing the correct key on the keyboard the corresponding solenoid valve should operate. Good thing I double checked this because I had two of them crossed. :eek: Once I was sure the wiring was correct I could start to close up the organ by adding the sides of the case. I added a couple access doors in the back side to allow access to the Midi reader and below for the control board and battery. Next was the facade of the organ. Up to this point I still had no idea how I wanted the front of the organ to look like. Without a clear plan I decided to use some cardboard to cut out several different designs until I came up with one I liked. I think I made about 5 or 6 before deciding on this one. After cutting out the front in baltic birch plywood I knew that I was going to need to add some trim to make it stand out. So to give the opening some depth I trimmed the opening with cherry just like the pipes. Once the front was complete I made a top that is hinged so that the front can be raised to help allow the sound of the pipes out. After all the outside trim was added I gave everything a couple coats of clear shellac.
 

Attachments

  • IMG_3681 (Medium).jpg
    IMG_3681 (Medium).jpg
    64.2 KB · Views: 54
  • IMG_3668 (Medium).jpg
    IMG_3668 (Medium).jpg
    73.5 KB · Views: 56
  • IMG_3665 (Medium).jpg
    IMG_3665 (Medium).jpg
    72.4 KB · Views: 57
  • IMG_3302 (Medium).jpg
    IMG_3302 (Medium).jpg
    69.2 KB · Views: 53
  • IMG_3287 (Medium).jpg
    IMG_3287 (Medium).jpg
    63.5 KB · Views: 53
  • IMG_3684 (Medium).jpg
    IMG_3684 (Medium).jpg
    79.6 KB · Views: 52
  • IMG_3720 (Medium).jpg
    IMG_3720 (Medium).jpg
    52.8 KB · Views: 38
  • IMG_3728 (Medium).jpg
    IMG_3728 (Medium).jpg
    57.6 KB · Views: 39
  • 1005 (Medium).jpg
    1005 (Medium).jpg
    43.6 KB · Views: 49
Last edited:

Attachments

  • IMG_3730 (Medium).jpg
    IMG_3730 (Medium).jpg
    66 KB · Views: 31
  • IMG_3731 (Medium).jpg
    IMG_3731 (Medium).jpg
    57.9 KB · Views: 39
  • IMG_3732 (Medium).jpg
    IMG_3732 (Medium).jpg
    68.5 KB · Views: 38
  • IMG_3786 (Medium).jpg
    IMG_3786 (Medium).jpg
    49.6 KB · Views: 40
  • IMG_3793 (Medium).jpg
    IMG_3793 (Medium).jpg
    61.7 KB · Views: 43
  • IMG_3824 (Medium).jpg
    IMG_3824 (Medium).jpg
    68.6 KB · Views: 40
  • 1006 (Medium).jpg
    1006 (Medium).jpg
    75.8 KB · Views: 43
This project has taken me about 1 1/2 years to complete.
I want to thank Ed for all his help on this project because it would not have happened without him. He has become a good friend as well and I value that very much. I got to go out east this summer and meet with him and his wife for a couple days.
Along the way I have also gotten to know Peter in the UK through Skype. His advise and help has been inspiring to me and I hope to use his help to bring this music to another generation of organ listeners.
Thank you Jay for helping me with supplies and electronics.
These organs are fun to build. Yes, they take time...but very rewarding.
 
Thoroughly impressed. Having seen your other version in person I can appreciate all the work that goes into building one of these. Well done!
 
Oh boy another great instrument. Sounds great Tom. You took me back at least 30 years with that tune. Can i ask what made you choose that particular song. It was a very popular tune where i came from. Linda says they even played it in her school band and i know my units army band played and was played on radio when radio was what it was before talk radio.
 
That came out looking and sounding great, Tom! Glad to see you're back in the swing of things after the accident, too. :thumb:

Since this is MIDI controlled, does that mean you could connect a keyboard and use that to trigger the notes? (Assuming, of course, you had trained the monkey to turn the crank.)
 
Thank you all for your comments. I appreciate your feedback.

Oh boy another great instrument. Sounds great Tom. You took me back at least 30 years with that tune. Can i ask what made you choose that particular song. It was a very popular tune where i came from. Linda says they even played it in her school band and i know my units army band played and was played on radio when radio was what it was before talk radio.
No special reason Rob, I only have a handful of MIDI files right now and this is one that I had not played on the organ before. I was getting ready to make the video and started to play it and just liked how it sounded. I had long forgotten that this was the tune from the movie "The Singing Nun" (1963).


That came out looking and sounding great, Tom! Glad to see you're back in the swing of things after the accident, too. :thumb:

Since this is MIDI controlled, does that mean you could connect a keyboard and use that to trigger the notes? (Assuming, of course, you had trained the monkey to turn the crank.)
Yes, Vaughn. In fact that is how to tune the organ. I connect a midi cord from the keyboard to the organ, then when I press the key on the keyboard it opens that valve on the organ. So when I crank the organ then just that one note will play and I check it against my tuner. Also, someone could play a tune on the keyboard (using only the same notes the organ plays) and record it directly to a midi file, then the organ would be able to play that tune. Unfortunately I do not know how to play the keyboard. So I'm hoping to learn how to take existing midi files found on the internet and adapt them to fit the scale of the organ. I'm working with a gentleman in the UK right now through Skype who has graciously offered to help teach me how to work with MIDI files. Its another big learning curve but I hope I can catch on.
 
...I had long forgotten that this was the tune from the movie "The Singing Nun" (1963)...

Years ago I was working as an inspector on a construction project at the Albuquerque airport. My fellow inspector (who happened to be my brother-in-law Jim) and I were standing on the elevated roadway that was being built as part of the project. As we watched the comings and goings of passengers below us, a taxi pulled up and a nun got out of the back seat, carrying her guitar. Jim saw this and started softly singing "Dominique, nique, nique..." Well, apparently it was not quite soft enough, as the sister looked up at both of us and busted Jim with a scowl only a nun can muster. I was about to jump for cover, as I halfway expected a bolt of lightning to come down from the sky and take Jim out. :rofl:
 
She looks and sounds great Tom. Glad to hear you are talking with Peter I do so miss our chats but I just cant seem to get skype to work fer crap on this win10 laptop and the speed out in the shop is just to slow and poor to do it. You are also right about Ed he is one supper guy. Again Tom GREAT JOB :clap::clap:
 
She looks and sounds great Tom. Glad to hear you are talking with Peter I do so miss our chats but I just cant seem to get skype to work fer crap on this win10 laptop and the speed out in the shop is just to slow and poor to do it. You are also right about Ed he is one supper guy. Again Tom GREAT JOB :clap::clap:
Thank you Jay, I appreciate the comments.
 
Time to make the cart for this organ.
I thought that I would continue with the same thread to keep it all together.
On my first organ I used some small bicycle rims for the wheels and simply cut some round walnut inserts to take place of the spokes. I like having the inflatable tires as they absorb some of the shock when moving the organ from the truck to where I set up to play. This especially came into play this summer when I was asked to play at an event but had to park several blocks away. So with that in mind I knew I wanted to use them again but really wanted to make the wheels look a little nicer. I found a guy on YouTube https://youtu.be/MU8QSCyenKw who made some wheels just like I wanted so his method is the inspiration to make mine as well.

I started out by cutting out the spokes and then measuring the rim. I then drew out the rim on some cardboard (wished I was better with Sketchup). Once I had my design drawn out I took some measurements and began to cut out some scrap walnut parts as a "prototype" just to see if I liked the overall look of it. My wheels are much smaller (16") than the ones the guy used in his video so I'm hoping the spokes wont end up looking too "stumpy".
Today I started cutting up some cherry for the parts. Since the rim is pretty wide I'm having to do so gluing up of the spokes to get them thick enough so today was mostly waiting for glue to dry.
 

Attachments

  • IMG_4506.jpg
    IMG_4506.jpg
    80.5 KB · Views: 20
  • IMG_4507.jpg
    IMG_4507.jpg
    124.7 KB · Views: 19
  • IMG_4504.jpg
    IMG_4504.jpg
    123.6 KB · Views: 19
Rob, that is just the rim. It came from a small child’s bicycle. Black rubber tires will still go on the rim once I get the wooden parts made.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
 
Well as usual, I am moving along at a snail's pace. Although I do have most all the parts cut for all 4 wheels. I mocked up a trial fit with the center hub and bearings tonight to test the fit. The center hub is a piece of 1-1/4" plastic drain pipe. I used it because my bearings were a perfect snug fit inside of it. Rim will get painted black (although I hope it wont even be seen. Spokes will get a screw and glued to it then a center wooden hub glued over it. Thinking of using "Gorilla Glue" for the wood to plastic and wood to metal rim joints. I've never used it before but have been told it holds pretty tightly to many different materials.
IMG_4553.jpgIMG_4554.jpgIMG_4559.jpgIMG_4560.jpg
 
Top