Gaudete - Rejoice!

Indeed we must all rejoice! Christmas is just around the corner and so much has been completed on this project. I admit, I was not all "gung-ho" this weekend when it came to Opus 1 when compared to past weekends. Still, progress was made.

This weekend's progress involved painting the Hauptwerk sections 1 and 3. This includes the box as well as their respected pipes. There are some issues with section 2 that I need to take care of some other time. However, I glued those pipes together. Seen below are the finished pipes for sections 1 and 3. You may need to turn you head 180º for this picture...they were drying when I took the picture.

The center pipes which fit into section 3 were the thorn in my side last weekend. Thankfully, the base which they fit into and keep their shape fits snug into its case. This will help straighten this pipes out.

Hauptwerk Division

That's pretty much the extent of this weekend's work. I now end with some pictures. Below, you'll see one of the angels placed around the area where it will be located. It's just to give us all an idea what these angle would look like on the model.

The following photos are just me having fun with some of my favorite TV characters. All this silliness will, hopefully, culminate into a movie. If time permits and all goes well, I will put together a film of the entire design and construction of Opus 1. The fun (and difficult) part is that it will be shot in front of a green screen. I can then place myself and other characters within the model. So, yes, all this siliness doe shave some sort of purpose.

His Grace (the Pope from Family Guy) came to see the progress of Opus 1. He met with it's curator, Prof. Hubert James Farnsworth (from Futurama).

Oh my, you are much bigger in person!

His Grace was pleased with it's construction and looked forward to it's prospective completion date, which should be around the beginning of March 2013. He will be present to give the organ it's blessing.

Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice! 

(Phil 4:4 RSV)

An International Affair

This model really kicked my but this weekend, but more on that in a second. The good thing is that all my shipments arrived by Friday. I realized something - this model has an international component to it. Yes, it is designed similar to an 18th century German Baroque pipe organ. However, the various tools and aesthetics of this model comes from "distant lands" as well.

The most obvious are the four angels from Italy. I didn't get a good picture of all four, so you may want to refer to the photo in my previous post which came from the maker in Italy. Still, the pictures do not serve them justice. I'm very happy with them. The next step would be creating a fixture to mount them to their specific locations. That will be a challenge for another time.

One of four. You can get a little better idea of the size thanks to my hand.

Another aesthetic to this model comes from Nova Scotia. I wanted to find a book of music to place on the music rest. I found a beautiful 1:12 scale book of Gregorian Chant that was made by an artist in Nova Scotia.

To get an idea of size...

Final resting place. A great touch and an awesome find!

So that's Italy, Canada, and all the components that I had to buy for my Dremel table saw (i.e., saw blades, belt, and lubricant) has come from a company in Hawaii. This is not to mention that this little blog of mine has been viewed by people all across the world. According to Blogger, the top 3 countries that have stumbled across my blog are the US of A (666 views), Russia (49 views) and Germany (18 views). Thanks again to everyone who takes the time and looks at my progress. I surprise myself every time take a step back and look what I have made.


Some other progress this weekend includes the pipe work for the Huptwerk. The two "pointed" sections were somewhat painless. However, the center section gave me hell today. Without getting into a lot of detail, which isn't like me, I fixed a few problems and pleased with how it came out.

Section 3 of the Hauptwerk Division

The other components to this section were also created and have been glued.

Last but not least, the dreaded molding. I decided to piece some the top molding for the Oberwerk together first before gluing it to the model. The first half came great. However, I ran into a problem when i started gluing the other half. You should be able to tell in the photo below. It's fixable and you will not be able to tell once it is all glued in place and painted. The small molding which will connect the Oberwerk and console area as also been cut. All that needs to be done is the mid section.

Another week now begins and I leave you with the current song that is playing from my iTunes, Chopin's Polonaise in A-flat major. (Yes, I actually have non-organ music)

The Hevenly Choir of Angels

Although I got a step ahead this weekend with the construction of the first two sections of the Hauptwerk division, I feel that not much was accomplished. Be that as it may, there are several little things that need mentioning. First, to reiterate, I went ahead and made the first two sections of the Hauptwerk division.

Section one (LT) and Section 2 (RT)

I was starting on section 3, which is the middle section, but I've been noticing that my blade is becoming more dull. It goes to show how much I've been using it. I'm at the same point before I bought this one, I'm pushing the wood through instead of the blade doing all the work. There are burn marks on the wood (which you can sort of see in the above picture). So, I went ahead and placed an order for another blade as well as some lubricant to preserve the life of the blade. I'm sure it will allow me to complete all my cutting for Opus 1.

Section 3 will reside in the center

I actually had to change my design slightly which affected this division. The reason is for the four angels that will go in the four "pockets"created between the top of the Oberwerk box and the bottom of the Hauptwerk division. The far left (LL) is created from the left pedal case, the top of the Oberwerk and the left side of the Hauptwerk (Section 1). The center left (CL) and center right (CR) are created from the Hauptwerk and the center section of the Oberwerk. The far right (RR) is created in a similar fasion as LL. You can sort of see them in the below picture.

Point two concerns the angels. Due to the specific size of these "compartments," it has been difficult to find angles that I like and are modeled after the ones on the Müller organ at St. Bavo. I found a company in Italy that does very nice woodworking. I've been communicating with him for the past week, seeing which ones would fit. I first ordered two 10cm angels for the CL and CR spots and 6cm angels for the LL and RR.

After looking at them, I love the 10cm angels, but not that comfortable with the 6cm. I had my reasoning behind the height difference, but went to look through the website again to see if there are other options. After asking for some actual photos of several options, I decided on four angles that are "flying," meaning they have no base. After getting the picture of the artist today, I was happy and they should be shipped in the next day or so.

How, you may ask, will I be mounting these angels if they are supposed to hang from something? Where there is a will there is a way. I'll know a better answer when I have them in my hand, but it will be comprised of a mounting block and a connecting dowel set at an angle. So, they will still look as if suspended in each compartment.

That's all there is for now. I received my shipment of the large molding. However, I'm now waiting for the small molding and that small book of Gregorian Chant which will be placed on the music rack. I forget if I brought that up in my previous posts. Either way, when it comes, you'll see it!


Let's enjoy some Bach at St.Bavo's Church, Haarlem (The Netherlands)

The Results of Tryptophan

Amidst all the turkey, stuffing, sweet potatoes and lots of pies that came with this Thanksgiving weekend, much progress with Opus 1 are sprang up! First, I decided to re-design the sides of the bench. The first design i made was based off of a template. The second and current design I made so that I did not need a pattern but just standard tools to draw out and cut. I was pleased with the result.

My hand should give you an idea of it's actual size. (1.50 x 0.75)

I finished cutting, sealing, priming and painting both grills for the center pipes of the Oberwerk division. I also started cutting a few of the grills for the flat pipes. There are still a few that need to be cut, but below is a general idea.

See the center grills below

I now leave the rest of the progress in the good hands of our tour guide for this model, Professor Hubert James Farnsworth.

GOOD NEWS EVERYONE! We have the bench!

GOOD NEWS EVERYONE! We have the assembled keydesk with it's various stops!

GOOD NEWS EVERYONE! The grills are attached to the center pipes!
BAD NEWS EVERYONE! His blasted thumb is in the picture!!

OH YES, this is a better picture of the center pipes.

GOOD NEWS EVERYONE! That's the end of the tour!

Back with a Vengeance!

After having a set back last week with my cold, I did a lot of catching up this weekend with some very good results. I focused on three areas: the overall keydesk assembly, gluing the pipes in the Oberwerk, and painting the bottom molding on the pedal boxes.

The next step for the manual assembly was to add the accidentals. I went ahead and painted a long 1/16in square stock and then cut a bunch of 1/4in pieces. Using a small amount of glue and tweezers, I went ahead and placed each one on their respective manuals.

1.5 Octaves - just enough to play the music of J.S. Bach!

Setting that sub-assembly aside, I went ahead and re-drilled the holes in the stop jam as the paint clogged most of them. Afterward, I was able to glue the jam to its respected side and add all the stops. 10 of the 24 stops are "activated" whereas the other 14 are "canceled." Both are evenly divided and symmetric between the two stop jams.

The "canceled" stops are show here glued in place

Following this, I was able to complete the assemble by gluing the stop jams to the manual assembly, along with the sheet music rest.

Seen without the music rest backing

 

Seen with the music rest backing along with the "granite" base plate that will hold this entire middle section

I also got around to cutting and painting the foundation of this middle section. This consists of a base, which was painted a "granite" color. There are then two sides, a back plate, and two front plates that will flank the key desk assembly. At this point, I'm ready to assemble these parts.

Second goal was to place all the pipes in the Oberwerk box. All but two of the "flat pipes" were able to be press fit in. This means there was no need for glue as I really had to press them into their respective box, which was a very tight fit.

The grill work would be the next step. The grill shapes / patterns, detailed in the last post, will go with the "flow" of the pipe mouth direction.

The last goal was painting the bottom molding on the pedal boxes. Though i didn't take a picture of the finished product, it is exactly that...finished! I can safely say that both pedal boxes are 100% COMPLETE! Maybe one more coat of paint on the molding...but...COMPLETE nevertheless.


As Thanksgiving approaches, I have so much to be thankful. One on the list is for all those viewers out in cyberspace that might stumble on to this blog and take a look at what it's all about. Likewise, for those viewers who are regular, or even semi-regular, who check back now and again to see the progress. In the spirit of Thanksgiving, I always enjoy watching America's favorite beagle this time of year. Happy Thanksgiving to all and to all a good night!

Road Block

Unfortunately, this weekend was 98% unproductive concerning the status of Opus 1. I took this weekend to relax and try and get over a nasty cough. The 2% productivity came with the design and plan for some of the grill work.

Top Center Oberwerk Grill Design - Dimensions: 3.25in x 1.75in

It took a few tries but I think I came up with some ideas. Above is the design for the top grill work for the center pipes in the Oberwerk facade. The bottom grill for those same center pipes will follow this same design but 1/2in of the bottom design has been removed. This is for the top grill to be a little longer than its corresponding bottom grill.

Small Flat Grill Pattern - Dimensions - 1in x 1in

The above pattern will be used for the 1 inch wide flat pipes. It will be angled accordingly to each box. For the wider flat pipes, I took this same design a stretched by 5/8 of an inch. For the split between the two boxes, two of these patterns will "but-up" against each other along the horizontal axis. All this may or may not make sense without a visual. Let's hope I can kick this cold 100% by next weekend and I'll be up and running to continue "The Great Organ Project!"


I feel like a great fugue. So I present Bach's Fugue in g-minor "the great" (BWV 542)

Good News Everyone!

I cannot believe how things are just moving along! Since the Oberwerk box was all glued together, I went ahead and sanded the entire box down so everything was smooth and flush with each other. The next step was to start painting the inside chambers black.

While painting, I set my eyes on the key desk. Thinking about how I'm going to make the manuals, I decided not to simply paint a solid piece of wood while and call that a keyboard. Instead, I cut about 26 1/16in square pieces of wood to size for each manual and glued them together.

This adds a better effect for displaying the individual keys. All I need to do now is paint and cut more strips for the accidental keys. I went ahead and made most of the parts for the key desk assembly. That includes the stop jams, the sides and other parts. I also went ahead and painted all the stops which i turned on the lathe weeks ago.

Notice the stop placed in the stop jam.

Still need to do some more painting, add the accidental keys and glue in the stops

The pedal board was also put together. It's not much, but will do the job.

As promised last week, I not only cut all the small molding for the pedal boxes, I have glued them on to their respected boxes! All i need to do now is add some putty here and there, sand and paint it. Afterwards, I can say that the pedal division is 100% complete! Right not....about 98%.

During the week, I started to design the top grill word for the center pipes of the Oberwerk division. Still not completely done and there is a lot of various grills that will be placed throughout this division that still need to be designed and then cut out.

So there it is. Good News indeed! Moving right along and a very good pace.

Prof. Hubert James Farnsworth from the TV show Futurama. His catchphrase, "Good News Everyone!"

I Can't Believe My Eye's

The Oberwerk is really moving forward and it is starting to bring Opus 1 together. With that said, it should be no surprise that I spent this weekend moving forward on the Oberwerk box. As I started piecing everything together, I did run into some issues that I had to work around.

Gluing the two pedal boxes to the main case

After I created the two pedal boxes for the "pointed" pipe set, I noticed that the triangle shapes were not lining up with the pipes. I decided to cut off those triangles and make separate ones that I will glue on later, making sure that everything lines up. You can notice this in the above picture. You may also notice that the dowel support proved to be a success rather than using wooden planks.

Completed Box

Of course I was multitasking while piecing this box together. I went ahead and made the pipe guides for the "pointed pipes" as well as for the "round" pipes. I was running into a similar problem that I faced when making the guide for the pedal pipes. This time, the holes are SO close together, the guide ended up breaking. So, I decided to keep the drilled holes to the lowest common diameter, which was 1/4in. For those pipe diameters bigger than that, I went ahead and sanded down the ends to fit such a hole. Once in place, I poured glue on the top and let it dry.

After all this was complete, I started sealing all the Oberwerk pipes with sanding sealer. They now have enough coats on them to start priming and painting the pipes. However, I do need to shave down some wood on the guide for the "flat" pipes so to fit in their respected area in the case.

Overall View

Close Up

The above pictures shows a very dry fit of the pipes. You can tell, even from the empty spaces, that I need to do some custom fitting for those flat pipes. The larger molding, like the pedal boxes, will be attached flush with the top box. That is why there is such a big gap from the top of the big case to the actual pipes. As for the two side wings, the large molding will rest on top. The smaller molding will be flush up against the bottom of the case, thus connecting the bottom keydesk section to the Oberwerk.

The only thing I neglected is the bottom molding for the two pedal cases. I don't know what it is with the molding that makes me a little hesitant. Maybe because each and every piece is custom fit that it takes a little more time and patience. Either way, its safe to say that I'll need to buy another pack of small molding and another long piece of the large molding to finish the overall project.

This week, I plan to start designing the grill work for the Oberwerk division. At the same time, I hope to fit those flat pipes into their respected area of the Oberwerk case. Like the subject says, I cannot believe my eyes. This project is really starting to take shape which leaves me very excited and optimistic about the rest of the project.

Since Halloween is approaching, I end this post with one of Bach's famous compositions that is typically played during this time. Yes, his Toccata and Fugue in d-minor. The toccata is more famous that the fugue as it is played more. Since the toccata is so overplayed, I don't care for it that much. For those who know me well, they would think that I just blasphemed by saying I don't care for one of Bach's pieces. It's nice, but I'd rather listen to others. The fugue, however, is beautiful and I would much rather listen to the fugue than the toccata.



The piece is played on the Great Organ in the Town Hall of Sydney, Australia. This is one of only two organs in the world with a full length 64ft pipe, the Contra Trombone. (Check it out!)This organ is certainly on my "bucket list" of organs to play before I die. To find out more about this beautiful instrument, visit my website!

A Step in the Right Direction

This past weekend was completely free and devoted to the project. Due to this, I have made some great progress! During this past week, I went ahead and painted the top molding. This was just to get it some sort of base coat as I will have to repaint it once they are glued onto the pedal boxes. On Friday, I glued them to their respective pedal boxes

Left and Right Top Moldings Respectively

Now, onto the fun stuff. I planned on continuing with the construction of the Oberwerk division. Looking at all the pieces, I decided to start by gluing the center box together that will hold the 10in pipes.

The side and it's center support

Completed resting on the base that it will be attached to

At the same time, I decided to make a sheet to cover the top of the molding. I was not going to do this as I already put on on when the box was put together. However, seeing the top of the molding and all the pieces, I thought it would be best.

Gluing the top skin to the left pedal case

A before and after with and without the top skin

I did a lot of multitasking. So, amidst all this, i glued the small pipes for the Oberwerk division. I originally was going to make a flat guide with holes in it to insert the pipes. However, since the pipes are so close together, the guide broke every time. So, I decided to glue them against a 1/16in thick piece of wood. I will probably glue a thicker piece of wood onto that, which would then get "wedged" in place and glued.

"Flat" pipes for the Obwerwerk division

Last but certainly not least, I continued piecing together the Oberwerk box.I'm up to the point where I need to glue the sides to it. Afterward, I can go ahead and make the individual chambers for the above pipes.

After I make the console area, the Oberwerk will be slightly higher than how it is positioned in this photograph.

Indeed, I would say that it was a VERY PRODUCTIVE weekend. I'm excited and pleased with how everything is coming out. During the week, I will paint the top molding and skin. Next weekend, I will begin cutting the bottom molding for the pedal division and hopefully paint and glue them in place. Not to mention continuing with the construction of the Oberwerk division.

Also, a small change in how I will construct the small chambers for the Oberwerk. Currently, I have 1/4 think wood that will support the horizontal "floor" for the small pipes. However, I thought it would be easier to cut thick dowel's and use that as support. I had some spare 1/2in diameter dowel's that I have cut to length. Once I finish the overall construction, I will get the final dimensions for each small chamber and glue them in place.

Thanks again for taking the time to check up on my status. 436 views from people all accros the globe! The joys of the internet! Thank you.