The Base

I originally thought of this organ as a table-top instrument. As construction continued, it occurred to me that I overlooked one important fact: I don't own a suitable TABLE on top of which to put it! Furthermore, I had failed to consider the problem of where to locate the power supply, the blower, the pressure regulator, and MIDI cards. Building a base for the organ was the natural solution. Scope creep!

It was easy to build: the design was pretty well established by the dimensions of the organ, and the character of the decoration already done. You will notice the decorative pattern of the keyboard cheeks is repeated in the feet.

The finished base looks like it is PANELED, but these are all FALSE PANELS. I started with a simple square box of 1/2 inch cherry plywood over a pine frame. (see above) Construction of this part was simple, and I was able to complete this much in 2 evenings.

Then, I glued the "frame" on as though I were making a picture frame, or mounting baseboard on the walls of a house. The result looks very much like paneled construction, but with half the effort, and (because the organ's weight is borne edge-on by the plywood) twice the strength. (that's the theory, anyway! )

Also, the elimination of the need for a large, STRUCTURAL frame inside the base meant there was more room for the blower, etc. See the Rear View photo, bottom of this page.

The joints were made on the mill. Here I rabbet out two frame rails clamped back-to-back in the vise.

It is hard to see in this picture, but, since only the EDGES of the top will be visible when the organ is assembled, the center of the top is just (inexpensive) birch plywood -- not cherry.. If you look closely in the second picture at the top of this page, you can see the holes in the top for the air pipes and the electric connections to the windchests.

The corners were done with a decorative bead. Here, I am setting up the router with a scrap of 2 by 2.

Rear View