HELP - Homemade Pipe Organ

Just wanted to give everyone an update on my homemade pipe organ. Constructive questions and comments would be greatly appreciated. Two minor questions are where to find springs and why my mouth heights are so "awkward" to produce the loudest, but good quality tone.

[@Antenna300-gr5pk]

Awesome video man! I took a similar challenge to build a pipe organ made from paper and cardboard at a full scale. Paper can be difficult to tune and or speak because it usually has to do with how the languid is directing air into the pipe. If the languid was thicker, it would allow the air to stick to it more resulting in a better/cleaner sound.

[@TheAMboom]

I salute you on how far you have got! making a pipe organ is very hard!

[@CoolNick107]

Thanks Mr. Ryan!! Wow, I am behind on reading my video comments!! Good to hear from you again!!

[@bigPianist99]

Heres a suggestion: i too tried to build the pipes out of cardboard at first, but i wouldnt do that because you can maybe use them a few days/weeks but in my opinion cardboard isnt strong enough. Im also about to build a little organ with two stops and i was searching for good and cheap pipes as well. Furtunelyi got to know an organist in my region (germany; thats the reason for my terrible english :D) anyway, he could sell me teo nice organ stops from f to g3 one opened and the other one

[@CoolNick107]

Thanks!! And the site looks like a great help!:) I've also had GREAT results rolling paper with glue on a mandrel (made of rolled-up paper). It makes a nice hard round tube too.

[@CoolNick107]

Thanks for all the constructive comments, everyone!! To address a couple comments, I might try making strings myself and/or I'll look online first for tension springs and the cone on the bottom of the pipe is called the foot and only directs air from the whole in the bottom of it into the pipe [there is no reed or "valve" inside]. I am planning on adding a homemade version of direct electric action to the organ. I do plan on continuing to make the pipes out of paper towel tubes since they seem sturdy enough and because one of the things that makes the organ so fascinating is the fact that the pipes are made from paper towel tubes.

[@Jorge_Organero1684]

In case your'e interested: There is a website called archive.org/ where you can download plenty a lot of books about organbuilding which can be helpful. There exist also a book called "heimorgelbau" in which the author gives a step by step guide about building cardboard organ pipes, maybe someone in a forum could scan this part for you? Wish you good luck, hope we'll see soon a video of your finished project :)

[@pierre5325]

Hi Mr. Capone, I find your Homemade pipe organ MOST exciting! I have subscribed for further updates. Blessings, pierre from New Mexico

[@Offshoreorganbuilder]

If you wish to make your own springs (smaller versions than the ones on your pedalboard) you can do this from 1mm diameter phosphor bronze wire, Take a 1/4" rod or dowel (I use a brass rod) and fix it in a drill with a speed control. (I use a carpenter's 'brace' - as in 'brace and bit,' which can be turned by hand.) The drill must be capable of being turned very slowly. Trap one end of the wire in the chuck of the drill, or brace, and turn it slowly, whilst your thumb forces the wire onto the rod, at the same time keeping the coils of the forming spring tightly together. Do this, until you have several inches of spring made, then stop and remove. You now need some snicks to clip off lengths of springs, the end coils of which can be turned out at right-angles to form the rings you will need to attach the springs to round-head screws (or similar) on the backs of the keys. As a professional organ-builder, I occasionally need bronze or steel coil springs, and this is how I make them. (I use piano wire for steel springs, but it is much harder to control.) I, also, have Mark Wicks book. It's interesting, but impractical, in my opinion, though I *have* made paper pipes, just once, when I needed a couple of dummy case pipes in a small organ. Painted gold, they looked absolutely fine. I'm afraid your cardboard tube idea is not likely to work for a whole set, if only because you will not be able to make the pipes small enough for the trebles or big enough for the basses. It's fun, though, and very instructive to make pipes like this. The tone is dreadful (usually) because - amongst other reasons - the pipe walls are not firm enough to resist the vibrations of the air inside. 1/4" mdf makes truly excellent pipes (3/8" in the bass) but you need a woodworking workshop and the right tools. Hence my advice to acquire some good, second-hand wooden pipes. Good luck to you, and anyone else trying to make their own pipe-organ. It is a worthy idea, but almost bound to fail. I know. Before taking up the craft, over 30 years ago, I, too, made such attempts. With the benefit of experience I can now see just why I could never have made it work. I now know what it takes to make a tiny pipe-organ from scratch, having done it. Good luck! You may or may not succeed, but you'll have fun trying. (I stand in awe of Mathius Wandel's various woodworking ideas. He is a genius, But his attempt at a pipe-organ is dreadful!)

[@michaelmaternowski6910]

No easy task Sir, but I applaud your willingness to create music. You have a lot of battles in front of you. Firstly, math math math and more math. The object of the pipe is not so much the reproduction of the looks, but the physics behind it. Some people have mentioned cutup and that is something that takes years to master. Best advice is to produce a Diapason. this will be a less abstract scale for you to follow and I recommend for you to follow a pre-calculated scale from any technical organ book. Don't try and reinvent the wheel. If you are set on using paper, then there is literature on paper pipes that were made by many organ builders in the past. The name of the game is that you copy exactly what your charts say. This will mean a lot of re-doing but thats part of the process. As for organ building in general, learn to assemble pre-manufactured parts. This can get costly, but there is always an organ builder that is looking to slim down especially if a young eager man says "I want to build an organ". Once you can piece things together and do simple wood work then you are ready to learn how to tune. By this time you have an old chest and a rank of already made pipes thats connected to some kind of key system and blower. Tuning takes years to master, but is gratifying on two front. The first is that you are making a bread and butter job for your self, second is that voicing, cut up, toe voicing and scale design will become clear on many levels. Building instruments is the love of my life, but it takes time. I have been servicing/building instruments since I was 11 and I feel there is so much more to learn. The best builders and technicians are ones who have 30 plus years in the field and say "I learn things about the organ every day". While you dream and practice building your instrument find a guy or gall that can say that and stick to them like glue and learn from them. There is some awesome advice in the comments, but you are not quite there yet. This is not a bad thing at all. Learn the basics, copy, and then take what you hear people say ( With your practice and knowledge ) and build the best rank of pipes and a good organ to go with it. Best Wishes, Forte Organ Co.

[@Jorge_Organero1684]

1) Springs you can buy from some chinese importers in packages for a couple of bucks. I sugest you to get in contact with someone who will have an electronic part suply shop as for they sell the ones used in tape decks and CD players. Other option is simply to get them used from tape players, VCRs, CD players ans stuff like that which you may get for free from your aquintances, but they will rather be all of them different so you will have to modify them. Another option is to make your own "V" shaped springs and set them over or under the keyboard like the ones in the Harmonium windchests (you may find plenty a lot of videos here so you can get an idea what i mean) and this spring wire you actually can buy quite cheap. 2) For the pipes: The bes would be if you paste the cone of the foot with the languid with normal white glue and don't paste the cilindric part till it will get dry, then after paste the pipe itself (the cilyndric part) and till the end paste the upper and lower lips. This will let you to adjust finely all the parts as you are building the pipes and finely set them in the right place. Paste the uper lip at a heigt of about a little bit less than 1/4 the wide of the under lip, and when it will all be dry you can experiment twisting it a little bit or cutting a little more to get it higher. Is a difficult matter to explain this with words but there are also many forums and videos explaining this ini a more clear way. I promess you that if you do this well your pipes will be solid, streight and well sounding alotugh they are not made from metal at all. Congratulations for all your work, i hope first that you'll end up with a nice own instrument but at most that you will have a lot of fun building it and of course then playing it Best Regards Jorge from Mexico

[@ccoraxfan]

Also, check out Raphi Giangiulio's channel, "raphig", for info on organ building. His website is listed in the info of his videos, and he has a lot of information on things like springs. You might also try some of the organ supply houses (websearch “organ supply”) for ready-made springs or materials for you to make your own.

[@MusicFan0136]

Get rid of the rubber bands, they'll turn to goo! I don't know what all they carry, but "organ supply industries" has been a supplier to builders for quite a while. eBay is another good resource, they sell old and new, do a search for "tension springs", I found plenty in bulk. Matthias Wandel has some good links, and he's inspired a lot of people to build their own. search 'homebrew pipe organ'. Raphi Giangiulio is another great source. I'm impressed with the PAPER pipes! WOW!

[@johnnicholson8442]

Amazing to find your video inspired by Mark Wicks. I built a large three manual pipe organ in my parents house in Kent as a teenager - 50 years ago, also inspired by Mark Wicks. This instrument was built from two real Victorian pipe organs, but I changed the positioning of the pipes to make the sound brighter and more relevant to playing Bach. So I added more upper work using home made paper pipes. I rolled the pipes from wetted paper and glued them on a glass madrel with polycell. When the pipes were dry I coated them with Joyglaze so the paper became very hard. I then burnished the mouth lips and glued the languid made from plastic or several layers of cereal packet. When voiced (with much lower mouths than you have used) I gave the pipes at least two more coats of glaze so they had a very clear bright sound. I think your languid angle is wrong. The smallest pipes for mixtures were made from drinking straws. I also used drinking straws to make the trackers so the action was very light indeed. Again they were coated with Joyglaze. The connections at the end of the trackers were made from opened up paper clips and were easily adjustable with a pair of pliers. It surprises me that more organs have not been made with paper pipes. It is a wonderful material. I have also made trumpet pipes with paper resonators which have the advantage that they are very light in weight and idea en-chamade.

[@Chopy61]

Can you show a video on it?

[@biopoweruk]

The organ was broken up when my father sold the house - 40 years ago! I also used paper drinking straws as trackers and paper clips as tracker ends.

[@333666666]

Keyboard springs are hand-wound from piano wire, which you can get from a specialty hardware store. Thicker gauge gives a stiffer spring.

[@ccoraxfan]

I think you’re the first person I’ve seen make paper pipes from the instructions in Mark Wickes’ book. I like the tone, it sounds like it could make a lovely sounding organ! Regarding the springs, I think most organ builders make their own out of suitably springy material, such as phosphor bronze wire wrapped around a mandrel several times with long ends that are used to support a key, or spring steel bars which are used to attach the back end of pedals to a support rail.

[@daphneblake7889]

What about using gravity/ weights?

[@Chopy61]

On your book, there is a place where it shows voicing tips.

[@CoolNick107]

That would be great!! And I designed the pedalboard myself. Nick :)

[@jordantrevayne]

What dimension springs u need? Try this website. They do bulk orders. U can request smaller numbers if u want. Gr8t job on this project tho! I started using this book as well, but this method didn't really work or maybe was doing it wrong. So I fiddled around and ended up using the fipple method and I did produce sound. I've resumed university now so the project has been put aside for now. youtube isn't allowing me to post the website so I will message it to u

[@SoggySandwich80]

Please make a follow up video

[@organbuilder272]

Organ SUpply COmpany - Erie Penn. The disk that is your languid is not situated correctly. Yes, the paint will effect the tone. The cut-up should be 1/4 of the width of the muth. Flute are about 1/3, Strings slightly less. The pipe diamater should diminish as the pitch increases and so should the length. Likely you would do well to worry less about expense and more about quality. You can purchase real pipes from various salvage firsms. and organ builders. Atlantic Organ Company in New Jersey is one such place. Either that or learn to make your own. The best book is the contemporary American Organ by WIlliam Barnes - modified by tracker builders to make you think that trackers are the best thing since sliced bread. It is available from Organ Supply. Find your local organ tuner and get some sound advice.

[@xx123musicxx]

Rubber bands won't last. I hope you can find springs. Your keyboard looks better than the keyboard on my homemade organ (see my video). I used counterweights on my keys, which has worked well. I tried to make standard tapered feet for my pipes--it didn't work for me. My pipes have a hose or tube coming out of the bottom of a flat-ended pipe. The tube attaches to the windchest. Unless your goal was to make pipes from cardboard, consider using PVC pipes. They work. Good luck with your project.

[@Offshoreorganbuilder]

You ask why you have to offset the foot so much, before your pipes will speak properly. The most likely reason you have had to do this concerns the height of the languid (pipe floor). If the front of the languid is too low, the windsheet will be directed too far inside the pipe, causing it to overblow very easily. If too far out (languid too high) the pipe will be slow to come onto speech. Extremes of these two cases will result in the pipe not sounding at all. Looking at your pipes, I would say you had the languids too low. The languid in a metal organ pipe is set so that its lower edge is just short of being visible as you look directly at it. (i.e. not looking down on it, nor looking up at it.) The top lip of the pipe should be straight and parallel with the lower lip. The flue should be fairly narrow (experience needed here) and parallel. Then the pipe is put on the wind, and very tiny adjustments made to create the optimum speech. Best advice: Buy some old wooden or metal organ pipes which work,and use those! (Good luck.)

[@CoolNick107]

Thanks for the advice!

[@davidknight3819]

Nice project, I've thought of putting together something like this with an old organ keyboard I have and some pipes I salvaged from a church that was about to be torn down. Did you design the pedalboard yourself or get blueprints online? As for keyboard springs, I'm not sure for how large you are looking for, but I may have enough laying around from an old Allen organ that no longer functioned as intended that you can have for the price of postage that should cover one keyboard.

[@connorbaisa1653]

How do you make the pipes? Just a curious question 😀

[@jrzzrj]

don't replace the rubberbands (takes away from your thriftiness & ingenuity)... for pipes, try working with pvc....maybe thin gauge sheet metal, rolled and soldered..........but again the paper tubes are cool....and they work!! my days are numbered, so I rely on Miditzer and Hauptwerk virtual pipe organs....keep building.....woo hoo !!

[@Chopy61]

There are some problems going with pvc actually... 1. The scaling of the pipes- pvc comes in fixed sizes. 2. Mouth cutups I can't find away to do anything aside from arches...

[@Alexanator28]

interesting that you use cardboard. I have been building my own and have been using pvc. I tried cardboard for prototypes but nothing further than that! Good job!

[@ssngai]

Regarding proper voicing, do you know about the Ising equation? And as for why your pipe bodies are offset from your feet, it's probably because your windsheet is coming off the feet tilted. I address this in one of my videos. You can check by blowing through your feet at a cold mirror and observing where the condensation forms.

[@alecring294]

what are the cones at the bottom of the pipe? are there reeds/valves to make the sound?

[@legofanguyvid]

teach me how to make the pipes!!

[@TSAR2010]

Don’t be rude bitch

[@stanleycarter6275]

If you create a wind chest and a pump you will not have to use your mouth

[@Chopy61]

He uses his mouth to show the sound.

[@bigPianist99]

gedackt for almost nothing. So in other words: dont use cardboard pipes. They arent solide enough. I would look up a website- there are many sites - where you can buy old organ stops unexpensively ;D