My "Part-Time" Job

[Uncle Al]

Here are a few pictures of the pipe organ I'm helping to bring
back to life. The church almost scrapped it but my friend, who
I'm helping, was able to give them a restoration price well under
the cost of a replacement instrument.

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The Vox driver card was the easiest to complete. Only took
1 hour and 45 minutes to wire as the wire bundle was not
tied tight. The other 2 wired boards took an average of
3 minutes per wire from 'bundle' to 'board' WITH 61 and 73
wires per board. after working with these small wires
and getting hand/finger-spasms
I'm Tired

Uncle Al

[skirted_in_SF]

RS232 - that brings back the old days.
Just curious, are the wires soldered to the terminals or punched down like phone connections?

[Tor]

Well now there's a project indeed. I can imagine you are tired after dealing with that many ornery wires - I certainly would be. I've liked the sound of organs as long as I can remember, though reportedly there was a time when I didn't:) Hope you, your friend, and the church all end up very satisfied with the end result.

[Uncle Al]

Hi Stuart

Just curious, are the wires soldered to the
terminals or punched down like phone connections?

Neither one - - Each wire 'socket' has a push-button that you press,
then insert the stripped wire and release the button. I use a very
small flat-head/blade screwdriver, about 2 or 3 mm, to press the
button on the board. The wire is around 22 gauge.

This control system, when completed, will be about the 5th installation
of a new wire-less system. The ONLY wire coming out of the console
will the the 110V power cord. A similar installation is in a huge
auditorium/convention center near Seattle The console has been moved
500' + away from the receiver and the organ spoke as if it was 'direct-wired'
into the pipe chamber WIN

Uncle Al

[Kilted Musician]

Nice project Al! I'm a pipe organ technician in the San Francisco bay area and can relate to what you're doing. Great pics!

--Rick

[phathack]

If I understand what that conversion is doing you are basically converting a hardwired Pipe organ into a Midi controlled system.
That lends itself to all sorts of interesting things in the future.
That would be a fun and interesting project.

I remember as a kid seeing them install a pipe organ in the church where my boy scout troop meet. It was quite a project to get all the pipes and wiring installed.

[Kirbstone]

Great lot of pics. Uncle Al, and what a project! I bet you'll have a lot of fun testing that thing when you do get it all together. Mind blowing to someone like me.

Tom K.

[skirted_in_SF]

Thanks for the information Uncle Al.
For the past couple of years I've been attending an organ concert series provided by the San Francisco Symphony. Their organ is 8,264 pipes in 147 ranks. But I don't see a big cable leading from the console. I've always wondered how it controlled the organ, since it is movable.

[Uncle Al]

Hi Rick,

Has your hands/fingers ever gone into spasms and cramps

My left hand has done this several times and I didn't know that my
fingers could go into so many different directions at the same time
and the pain level is unbelievably extreme

Hi phathack - yes, the console will have a 'MIDI' stop for each manual.
Additional digital voices will be available on this stop. We are taking
the console from about 44 stops up to 92 stops. Still the same 17 ranks
including chimes, just more unification and getting rid of 90% of the
existing 'couplers'. The unification will allow greater flexibility in utilizing
the original 17 ranks. The new control system 'is like' a MIDI system
yet the signals from the console to the pipe chamber are transmitted
wirelessly instead of using a MIDI cable.

Rick can verify this info - The original wiring bundle from a organ console
to the pipe chamber was around 8-10 inches(on average) in diameter.
With a digital control system the 'cable' is about the diameter of a
regular/standard microphone cable with XLR connectors. No more need
for the thousands of #22 gauge wires going 'everywhere' in a console, bundled
together going to the pipe chambers and spread throughout the pipe chambers.

We've pulled the console out of the church to be rebuilt at 'The Shop'(my partners
garage). He's working on that while I'm wrestling with the bloody wire

Uncle Al

[Jack Williams]

That system of connecting is used on many speaker cabinets and is always really good as it cuts through any oxidation build-up.