Attempting to Build My First Pipe Organ

[drewworthen]

Hi, folks.

I recently started a different thread asking about DE actions and got some great information. You can find that info here.

In the interest of a fresh start and resetting my bearings a bit, I thought it best to start a new thread, outlining what I have, what I'm working with, and what I'm trying to accomplish, and let others - very likely much more knowledgable than I - contribute their input to my project.

First, a little background. I am the organist and Music Director at Greenwood UMC and I built a very large and very well-received Hauptwerk VPO there. You can find more info on that on the Hauptwerk Forum or on the church website.

Many years back, I acquired a Kilgen petit ensemble, but unfortunately, at the time I was broke, in college, and had absolutely no time to work on it - so I gave it away. It has sense moved to Ohio and been fully restored. Now, 10 years later, with Hauptwerk successfully under my belt, I am ready to tackle a real pipe organ again - this time with a bit more knowledge, a proper workshop, and a full-time career that can afford me the ability to make this happen - God willing.

I recently acquired 3 ranks of Hutchings, Plaisted, & Co. pipework - 16'. Bourdon, 8' Melodia, and 4' Stopped Diapason. I am planning to use only wood pipes, and these fit the bill VERY nicely because of their very soft, mellow voicing - which should fit the venue very well.

I am planning to install this organ in the chapel of our church (pictured), along the wall in the photo. The space is quite small, holding only about 30 people. The ceiling is quite high (wood slat) and the walls are mostly brick, with a large stained glass window mural behind the altar. I plan to encase the entire organ, with cabinet-style doors on the front that can be opened or closed as needed. The instrument will be a single manual and pedal. The color-theme will be Walnut and Maple.



I have already made my key-coverings....





I originally set out to build the organ as a tracker - for two reasons: 1.) It seems like so much fun to try and build. 2.) The pipes still have their original voicing - a tracker instrument - complete with wooden inserts in the pipe feet.

At one point I thought I might just do a DE instrument, since the amount of tedious work would be cut down tremendously. However, after talking to a few folks, and receiving the information from other forum members (at the link at the top of this post), I am leaning back to just building the tracker.

I have no set time-frame for completing this instrument. This is a labor of love and as such, I am footing the bill entirely, without assistance from the church. I'm sure they would be more than willing to jump in and help, but truthfully, I don't feel it would be fair to expect them to pay for something that I'm not 100% certain I can deliver. They also did not ask for this. I want to build one, and this happens to be a good home for it. Win win.

I have thoroughly studied (and even blatantly copied) some of Raphi Giangiulio's magnificent work. I have also read, skimmed, or studied to various degrees Mark Wicks's "Organ Building for Amateurs" which has some great illustrations, as well as the Audsley Art of Organ Building.

As far as wood working and tools, I have a decent setup and I'd consider myself merely proficient - definitely an amateur, but I'm not completely inept, either. I have a good table saw, drill press, band saw, orbital sander, belt sander, detail sander, a nice wood lathe, finish nailers, a brand new Dewalt DW735 planer, and perhaps most helpful to me in this, a Shapeoko3 XXL CNC machine. The CNC will only handle a working area up to 32x32 inches. However, you can do longer material by sliding it out the back (or front) of that machine. Making the topboards, rackboards, sliders, etc on this, I think, would be "relatively" easy, assuming I get the CAD drawings done correctly. It certainly removes one more layer of human error. It would certainly make the task of drilling all of the individual holes a lot simpler. Now, here's where my knowledge begins to quickly roll off. I've obviously never built an organ - I've obviously never built a pallet-slider chest. And truth be told, I've never touched one. I really wish I could find one, put my hands on it, and study how it's built, and then just copy it. Finding a "ready made" plan online would be awesome, but I haven't been able to do that. The best I've seen is Raphi's.

Input is welcome here. I would also like to know what the recommended slider material should be. I've seen pictures where builders are using a plastic-like material, some are using thick hardwood, and others are using what looks like some kind of 1/8" hardboard??? Something like this? But that is me merely trying to discern what I'm seeing in pictures.

This week, I built my reservoir on nothing more than blind ambition....







I have a friend who is supplying me with an adequate blower, though I do not have it on hand, yet.

This box is based on Raphi's design. He doesn't provide dimensions or measurements but I bet it's within a few inches of his design. I do believe this one is larger. I sketched most of it out in SketchUp and then set to work building it. I didn't draw the pantograph. That was improvised. I am currently waiting for my "leather" (which is actually vinyl) to finish drying on the frame. (I did use hide glue.). I couldn't find leather locally and I wasn't really sure what to get. In short, there is a wood frame, with vinyl fit loosely over it, with probably 1.5-2" of "inflatability" (is that a word?). That wood frame will go on top of the box, under the pantograph. (Again, very similar to Raphi's design.). By adjusting the tension on the springs, I hope to be able to achieve the desired pressure. The "stopper" valve buried in the center of the box will close when the pantograph raises, and open as it drops. Everything is adjustable and I made one side of the box from acrylic so I could see inside. Once I get everything regulated, I figure I can seal it up for good? The entire box is glued, and screwed together with about 50 3 1/2" long GRK torx screws.

Any input is appreciated, here. All of the components, with the exception of the outer walls of the enclosure, were cut on the CNC machine from either solid Maple or 3/4" Maple plywood. The threaded rod is all 3/8". I worry that the pantograph may be too heavy, but honestly, I just have no idea until I get a blower and test it out. (Again, this is ALL new to me..... I'm sure there's a formula somewhere for figuring out the pressure you need, but as far as I can work out, similar to amperage, it's better to have more than you need.)

I would appreciate any input, here.

I also got myself a Magnehelic wind pressure gauge and CNC'd a little mount for it.



I also started turning my stop knobs. I did a couple in Maple, but I'm thinking I'm going to do the knob in Walnut, and do a Maple disk that will inlay into the face of the knob. In that Maple disk, I will engrave the stop name, and fill it with black resin, then sand the whole thing smooth. All of this, except the turning of the actual knob, can be done on the CNC machine relatively easily.



Ok, I think that covers where I am currently. If anyone has any suggestions, input, and ideas, I'm all ears. I did this same sort of thing over on the Hauptwerk forum for the GUMC instrument and it was immensely helpful to me. I got a lot of information - some useful, some not - but it was invaluable to be able to just discuss openly. I have no background in organ building, so I rely heavily on open dialogue.

Thanks, everyone! Looking forward to what the future holds!

[drewworthen]

I could only attach 5 photos, so here are some more...

[voet]

Drew, thank you for sharing your project with the forum. Unfortunately I cannot provide anything to you other than encouragement. I look forward to learning of your progress.

[myorgan]

Great work so far, Drew! The only thing I would mention regards your intent to put doors on the organ, which can be opened and closed. Just be very careful uniform temperatures can be maintained between the pipes inside and those outside, as well as the air supply. If the temperature (or humidity) varies greatly, it can lead to no end of problems-not the least of which would be unstable tuning.

You are ambitious! I enjoy seeing your work.

Michael

[edkennedy]

If you haven't done so, download the Organ Supply Industries catalog. It includes drawings of slider chest construction and modern tracker actions. That company does not sell to individuals, but the catalog is a wealth of information.

[voet]

Ed's post reminds me a while ago I needed a part for my console that is made by Syndyne, Because Syndyne does not sell to private parties, I contacted a local organ technician who kindly offered to order the part for me. You may want to check with organ techs in your area to see if one of them would be willing to oblige you.

[toodles]

Here's a set of 2 ranks on DE chests, as made by Rodgers; it's been converted to MIDI, but would be easy to "unconvert" and just use them as DE ranks. A bit far from you, but who knows--maybe you are up for a road trip. Note it includes the blower, which is probably worth the whole cost of the setup.

https://seattle.craigslist.org/see/m...193083527.html

[drewworthen]

Well, I started drawing my windchest, and after I got the entire soundboard drawn out, I realized that I failed to take the lowest pipe dimensions into consideration!!! GRRRR!!!! I'm so sleepy, after a long day at work. Such is life. I will trash this and start over tomorrow evening.

All that said, I think I've worked out how I'm going to do this. I plan on using 1/4" x 3" poplar boards for the channels. I drew the winchest to be 29" deep, but I may make that smaller, depending on how the pipes end up laying out. I am also considering preparing the chest for a 3rd rank, just in case I decide to add another rank.

I also plan to use my CNC machine to route 1/8" deep, 1/4" wide grooves into the bottom board, as well as the front and back boards, that will hold all the channel strips into place. (Of course they will be glued.)

I have some questions .....

IS THERE SOME SORT OF RULE ABOUT HOW LONG CONVEYANCE TUBES SHOULD/SHOULD NOT BE?

IS THERE SOME TYPE OF TUBE THAT CAN BE PURCHASED AT A HARDWARE STORE THAT WORKS WELL FOR THIS PURPOSE.

Bill, I have spoken to a few organ builder friends who are willing to order from OSI for me, should I need to do that. I'm really trying to do this as much on my own as I can, and since I'm not sure what exactly I need, I don't like pestering other people. Ha. So far, I feel pretty confident I can make most, if not all of the components on my own. The conveyance tube, seems to me like you could use just about anything, but I'm sure someone will chime in reasons why you can't.

Though I had initially planned on just putting the pipes directly on the windchest, in chromatic order (to avoid all the extra rollers), I wonder if it would be wiser to put a few on offset chests with conveyance tubes to keep the overall footprint of the organ smaller. I have plenty of vertical space, so the organ can always be taller.

Thank you for the input, folks.

[myorgan]

Drew,

You are correct, in that all the channels need to be sized appropriately for the pipe to be placed upon it. I think you were trying to put the smaller pipes in the middle, and the larger at the ends. In that case, the channels should be graduated to accommodate the size of the pipe toes as they get larger.

Good work, though!

Michael

[Larason2]

I'm not an expert, but I've read about different aspects of organ design, so I have written a bit about it, in case it would be of help to you.

By conveyance tube, I believe you're talking about the wind trunk, the conduit that moves air from the blower/bellows assembly to the wind chest. There is no rule as to how long a wind trunk can be, however depending on the bellows pressure and how wide the wind trunk is, there will be a distance where the wind chest starts to be under winded. There is no minimum distance, so I would put the blower and bellows as close to the wind chest as possible. How wide the wind trunk should be depends on how you want the organ to sound. CB Fisk wrote a very interesting article about "articulation" where he talks about winding (you can read it here). Basically, if the diameter of the wind trunk is too small, you will have winding problems similar to if it is too long. However, the larger you make the wind trunk the more expensive it will be. CB Fisk also argues that a wind trunk that is too big causes the articulation of the organ to suffer (with articulation being related to causing a small shortage of wind in already open pipes when a new pipe is opened). Therefore, he argues that you want to wind the organ just enough, but not too much, and he argues that the classic diameter of wind trunks is the best (I don't remember the exact diameter, but somewhere in the realm of 7-8 inches square). On the other hand though, the high pressures of Romantic era organs obviates this difference, since at high pressures you are unlikely to have good Baroque style articulation, even with a wind trunk of the standard diameter, if your wind pressures are high. Most modern builders therefore use traditional style wind trunks that I have seen, given this.

Any solid sided wind conveyance you can get at the hardware store will work for a wind trunk, and there have been some builders I have read about who used copper tubing. Given the discussion above though, I would say that standard central heating ducts will be too big, and to get a copper tube of the right dimensions would be very expensive. Given that, most modern builders make custom wooden sided wind trunks. If you could get central heating ducts and cut them to size, that would be another, relatively inexpensive option.

Given this, I would figure out what wind pressure your existing pipes were designed to be winded at. If they were close to Baroque pressures, and you would like some Baroque style articulation, I would use classic size wind trunks. If they were winded at really high pressures, you could still use classic wind trunks, however you could probably also get away with a fairly wide gauge copper tube, or standard heating ducts. The trickiest part with standard heating ducts would be to couple them to the wind chest and blower, I would think.

[myorgan]

A follow-up to the above. For the reasons described above, on larger organs many builders are using a combination of pressures depending on the various needs for certain ranks. For example, a Festival Trumpet will most certainly require a higher wind pressure than a String chest. Same organ, but differing requirements for different divisions.

Michael

[drewworthen]

Thank you, Larason2. I was referring to conveyance tubes that would attach from the windchest to the foot of the pipe - such as a facade pipe. I was curious about the potential of putting an octave of pipes or so in the facade.

Anyway, your response is very much appreciated. I will certainly be reading that Fisk article.

I have redesigned my windchest, but I think I'm going to try a THIRD time. As it is now, it's almost 90" long, and I am pretty sure I can drastically reduce that size by moving the upper 30ish pipes a little closer together, as it moves up the compass. For the 1st and 2nd versions, I tried to take the notion that decent pallet size would yield better results. That seems to be the gist of what Colin Pykett was getting at in this article. I must admit, I'm terrible at formulas. I skimmed the article and basically, my take away was don't skimp on pallet size.

That said, I think version 3 will be the Goldilox.

I am also wrapping up my stop knobs. I will show pictures of those in a day or two.

Thanks, folks!!

[myorgan]

Check out 6:48 in this video link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1DqAPg6G5lA. It's an option you may wish to consider.

Michael

[drewworthen]

One more thing.... I'd really like an 8' Stopped Diapason. This currently has a 4'. (61 notes)

The original organ borrowed their bottom octave of the Melodia (which is stopped).

If I wanted to do an 8' and 4', how in the world do you pull that off? Do you have conveyance tubes that come up and out of the lower octave, then run into the channel an octave up?

I need pictures. This is fascinating stuff.

[Larason2]

Ah, I see what you mean now. I'm not sure what the specific name of the conveyance tubes from the wind chest to the facade pipes is. Traditionally they were made of lead, and the joints hand soldered. Usually their diameter was identical to the width of the foot hole, and I wouldn't make them any smaller. There is no set maximum length, but as with the wind trunk, I would make them as short as necessary. Too long and you start to under wind the pipe. You can buy copper tubes at the hardware store that are the the diameter of the foot hole or larger, but this could quickly become an expensive proposition. You could potentially use stiff sided PVC pipes, but I would be concerned about their longevity, as they are pretty brittle.

Another technique that was popular in Spain was to cut grooves into a big wooden board the diameter of the toe hole. They would then glue a leather hide onto the surface of the board. This has the advantage of being faster and cheaper than the tubes, but it only lasts as long as the leather. I would suspect that the compliance of the leather would add some latency to the pipe speech, as well.

For the wind chest design, remember that one rank of pipes is traditionally staggered, with the mouth of the pipe facing out. The plan you have of all the low pipes on one end and all the high pipes on the other end is fine for a small organ, however at some point the low end becomes too heavy compared to the high end. This might be a problem even for you, if your 8 foot wooden pipes are full length. Traditionally roll boards are placed above the keys, but you could place a roll board beneath the keyboard, or at the back end of the organ. A wind chest that alternates notes on either one of the wind chest has a more even sound in the room, the weight distribution is more balanced, and it accommodates a more symmetrical facade layout, which is more pleasing to the eye. Just some things to consider.

[drewworthen]

Hi Larson2,

Modern organs use flexible tubing - I've seen it sold by OSI, etc. I know someone near me who has some old tube for sale, but I'd rather not deal with that. I was wondering if something similar to that was readily available at hardware stores since OSI won't sell to individuals.

As for the windchest staggering, yes, that is what I've done - two rows (per rank), staggered.

But I'm wondering if it's possible to do 3 rows, staggered. See the attached sketch....



The problem is obviously the width of the pipes - square and wooden - so they eat up a decent amount of space.

My other question that I'd love some input on..... How does one go about borrowing pipes for unification on a tracker? I would really like an 8' Stopped Diapason in addition to my 4', but the original organ does not have a true 8', it borrows the bottom octave from the Melodia (which is a stopped pipe). Does someone have a sketch or something that they could share that shows how to do this?

Andy yes, the thought has occurred to me to do a C / C# split arrangement on the windchest. Seems to me like the rollerboard would be a bit complicated. In my novice-ness, I was hoping to avoid that. I may just have to bight the bullet and give it a shot.

[edkennedy]

Borrowing pipes - Are you planning on using the 4' stopped diapason rank as a 4' stop or as an 8' stop? If you want to use it as an 8' stop with the Melodia supplying the bottom octave, then you can give the Melodia's bottom octave its own slider which is opened if either the Melodia or the Stopped Diapason is selected.
Question; Since the Melodia is an open flute stop, is the bottom octave done with stopped pipes? (just curious)
Second Question; Do the same notes on the Melodia and the Stopped Diapason sound noticeably different? The reason I ask is if your organ has only two 8' manual stops, you want there to be a fairly significant difference in their sound. If there's not a great difference in their sounds, then you might be better served by leaving the 4' Stopped Diapason as a 4' stop, if that was how it was originally used.

[drewworthen]

Thank you for the reply!

I would like to use the Stopped Diapason at 8' and 4'.

Yes, the bottom octave of the Melodia is stopped.

Yes, the Melodia and Stopped Diapason are noticeably different in timbre. The Melodia is very mellow and lush. The St. Diapason, though still quite mellow, does have a bit more definition, especially in the attack. Hence, using it for an 8' and 4' would be nice in simple contrapuntal music.

I am just completely lost in the mechanics of how to go about making that work on a tracker setup. I've never had a tracker organ at my disposal to study in order to figure out how this could be done.

[Larason2]

You're right that OSI sells flexible tubing for wind provision to the pipes from the wind chest, but it looks pretty specialized. It might be hard to find something comparable at the hardware store. One thought is to try using vacuum tubing, however you would have to be careful with the bends. Just as in a pipe, air flow doesn't do well around elbows because of laminar flow. You need pretty stiff sided tubing, and either use some kind of mitre joints for corners as per OSI tubing, or have very gradual bends in the tube.

For duplication on a tracker action, you need some way to trigger both stops separately with a slider, and some way to trigger both pipes separately with the keyboard. Ed Kennedy has a good idea about triggering the slider for the bottom octave by pulling either 8 foot stop. To be able to play both the 4 foot and 8 foot flute together, however, you need a separate tracker going from each key to the appropriate pipes, which can be accomplished by a roll bar. For the pipes that will be played by both the 4 foot and the 8 foot stop, you need two separate slider channels, and two separate tracker valves (one played by the keyboard an octave above or below the other) but then both foot holes go to the same pipe, with a special valve that closes the other side when one plays, but can reverse (there is an illustration of this in the wicks, he uses a similar technique to allow the same stop on two different manuals). Given this, you would have to design the wind chest to accommodate this arrangement.

I don't think a 3 pipe staggering is as effective as a 2 pipe stagger, because it is hard to orient the middle pipes so there is a good way for sound to egress. Also, you aren't saving much more room, because there is still a minimum size the channels In the wind chest must be to properly wind the pipe.