Been Converted

Group

Amateur

Builders

Organ

Welcome to the A.O.B.G.

Not in any religious sense you understand,but from being a “dyed-in-the–wool” paper roll man to a MIDI cartridge man! It all started at the Rollcutter Rendezvous in 2006 when John Smith gave a talk in a somewhat wind-blown marquee about his MIDI conversion of the 20 note Busker. It all looked so easy (doesn’t it always when John does it!) and the organ sounded so good that the thought crept into my mind that maybe getting rid of the paper rolls wasn’t such a bad idea after all.

I had already built a Busker and a Universal and was looking for the next challenge anyway, so I took lots of photo’s of John assembling his MIDI Busker (photo) during his talk and later got from him a leaflet about the Alan Pell Harmonette organ player kit.– that was the first shock - £400+ for the kit!

Now as it happens I was approaching a milestone birthday (I refuse to say which one!) and using that as an excuse I persuaded my ever-tolerant wife that the kit would make an ideal Birthday present. So, four months or so later the kit arrived. A PCB,-20 pallet magnet valves, switch, sockets, wiring, crank motion sensor, door open sensor, battery and charger, music cartridge and an alarmingly simple set of instructions. In the meantime I had started to build the double-acting compact bellows (photo) which John Smith

had demonstrated at the 2005 Rollcutter event, the plans for which had been languishing in my file for 12 months or more I bought the leather for the bellows from Russells. (Unit 1 Bluntswood Hall, Throcking, Buntingford, Herts. SG9 9RN. 01763 218430. Email: office @russels.com Website: www.russels.com (NOTE only one L, if you use two L’s you get a Real Estate Agent in America!) Russells were really helpful, particularly as this was the first time I had bought leather direct from the supplier. I told them what I was building, and they told me what I needed,- excellent service. The leather for the bellows and flap valves cost £56.

The construction of the bellows was a bit tricky, especially the transfer block taking air from the bottom section up to the reservoir, but a bit of careful marking out and drilling worked out OK in the end. John’s plan was fine (once you get used to Johns way of drawing things! - no offence John!) and I successfully completed my first fully functioning set of double acting bellows. The base board was slightly longer and wider than the bottom bellows which, I was sure, would enable me to fit it somehow into an organ case. Next I started on a box to contain the Harmonette organ player items and battery. (photo) I mounted the PCB on a board which became the top of the box, in which I cut apertures with hinged covers for access to the battery and cartridge. The music cartridge socket was attached to a block which was secured firmly to the bottom of the box, and the cartridge access door was fitted with the magnetic switch to isolate the PCB when the door is opened. A hole in the back of the box allowed the cables

cables for the Pallet valves and for the crank motion sensor to pass through. In retrospect, making a separate box for the electronics is probably not necessary, but at the time I had no idea how the organ case was going to be designed, so I built the box as a modular unit which could be easily incorporated into an organ case. Next I started on the pipes, for which I obtained some 1/8th thick planed cedar. (there’s another story here, - but not now!) The pipes were constructed using John Smith’s drawings saved from my original Busker organ. No real problems here, except that I wasn’t quite sure at this stage how I was going to support them in the organ case. The other consideration was that the air entry port had to be in the base of each pipe in order to mount them on the top of the wind chest. Also the three bass pipes were mitred to lay one on top of the other, (photo) The front row pipes were not mitred.

I’ve been Converted