The Great Organ Project

Upon looking at a small organ console model that a friend of mine gave me as a gift, I started to think, "What if I designed a pipe facade around this console?" Little did I know that this thought, around August 2012, would turn into a year-long project with four 1:12 scale pipe organ models completely designed and built by me! Of course I did have help.

First and foremost from my dad with his knowledge as well as allowing me to completely take over the work bench in the garage for a full year. Second, from various co-workers at the company where I worked as a Draftsman/Design Engineer. It is there that I was taught how to use a lathe, which is how I created each and every organ pipe. Plus, having access to a CNC machine would come in handy with my last model.

It should be no surprise that all were designed with the use of CAD software - more specifically, SolidWorks. Still, once I hit the ground running, there was certainly a lot of "trial and error" if you will. Each model, which I have appropriately categorized by opus numbers, brought on a new identity. This blog is principally dedicated to the documentation of these organ models.

Below are just a short description of each model. Please explore this blog for much more information about each model.

OPUS 1

This model was inspired by the grand organ at St. Bavokerk in Haarlem, The Netherlands. There in that church houses the beautiful Christiaan Müller organ which, it is said, that a young Mozart played upon. I had an overall idea of how this model would look. However, since it was my first one, there were changes and even additions along the way. In the end, like the organ that inspired it, it was a huge model. Overall dimensions are roughly two feet square by one foot deep. To start from the first blog post for Opus 1, please click here.

Descriptions of my other works coming soon!