Home Made Pipe Organ

My daughter, Lilly, chose to make a pipe organ for her Year 8 project here in Sydney Australia. She worked for about 3 months to get it right and it turned out great!

[@virginiaorganbuilder]

I have been a pipe organ builder in America for 32 years. Great job Lilly!!!

[@minka866]

I would like see your works 👍

[@robertsutter2092]

@@minka866 pppppo pop pool p

[@James-en1ob]

How much does one cost???. I want to build a small one for our local church

[@finneganblack2038]

wow i read that wrong thought you were a pipe organ

[@virginiaorganbuilder]

@@James-en1ob Hmmm...Even a small pipe organ will easily cost $200,000. That's for a new organ. If you want to try, I encourage you!

[@frogandspanner]

What a wonderful choice for a project. Not only are practical skills required, but there are many Physics and Music theory learning opportunities. I note that this work was completed over 3 years ago, so now expect a 32ft pipe sticking out of your roof in place of a chimney.

[@classicaldeb]

Ha! Yes.

[@johniorio7951]

Well, you could probably use the main stack, not sure what sounds cast iron would make.

[@cetterus]

fun fact- where I come from organ builders were paid bonus in wine: as much as it fits in the largest pipe. This is what resulted in just one pipe being sometimes 128'.

[@frogandspanner]

@@cetterus Did they get double quantities for a _stopped_ diapason?

[@cetterus]

@@frogandspanner might check on that...practice makes perfect

[@kegginstructure]

A bit of history. Those wide keys are actually historically accurate. The first organs actually deserving of the name had old-style mechanical spring-and-counterweight actions that required extra pressure to play the notes. The first organists for that type of instrument were called "organ pounders" because they had to pound on the stiff-action keys.

[@Jasper_4444]

Also, they played with their fists.

[@franciscoobrequedote911]

Amazing how a young girl can get so interested in pipe organs in times when everything is digital! Congrats and keep the enthusiasm!

[@person8987]

amazing how anyone could get interested in pipe organs when everything is digital

[@TheCinderDude]

@@person8987 amazing how anyone could get interested in pipe organs

[@TheCinderDude]

For the record, i am also interested in pipe organs

[@m_uz1244]

@@person8987 Well not really. Although the process of making digital sound speakers is interesting in its own right, it's fairly bland as a topic compared to how the pipe organ and other wind instruments manipulate wind and sound and can be used as entire musical instruments.

[@person8987]

@@m_uz1244 yea but i meant that the newer generation doesnt find interest in classical music and only find interest in digital music stuff

[@brianbaird4573]

You really put a lot of work in that organ. For a young girl, that's priceless. Not afraid of shop work and thinking for herself. I know how time-consuming organ building is. I built my own pipe organ years ago. Took about a year and that was with pipes salvaged from an old church organ. I built a small one with 2 ranks of pipes- 8ft Rohrflute 61 pipes and 4ft Principle 72 pipes which gave me the option to use the Principles in 2ft pitch. Had a beautiful tone. The pipes were originally used to support the singing of a 150 seat church, so they were LOUD in my house.

[@composer1663]

My compliments! I just saw this video. I love how you went about designing the organ without getting hung up with the fine points of organ-building theory. If you ever want to pursue organ-building in a rigorous manner you absolutely must get the books: The Art of Organ Building by George Ashdown Audsley (Volumes I and II). Originally published in 1905 by Dover (New York), it has since been reprinted and published by Dover. The book is still the definitive work on organ-building, and requires no prior knowlege to understand. Audsley was an architect when he set about building a small organ. We had three daughters, and all studied music. However, none of them share my passion for BUILDING things, such as organs, and I was delighted to see that YOU did it.

[@btruj2507]

First off:mind blown! Second: I so love that she (with help from an amazing dad) dove into such a challenging project with enthusiasm, a prerequisite for a career as an engineer, a musician or both, and third: that she did all that wearing girly clothes instead of overalls or shop jumpsuit LOL!!! WELL DONE young lady and your dad must be super proud of you! He obviously raised you to believe there is nothing you cannot do! You are a success now and in the future, no doubt.

[@melkiorwiseman5234]

I hope she got an A+ for that. I think she deserved it for all that work. It turned out well too.

[@jesnemo2677]

this is incredible work and the detractors I think are completely missing the point of the craft involved in this endeavor, picking at adjustable details without considering the monumental effort that went involved to getting it to this AMAZING point. It's sad enough to go through life nitpicking in general but choosing to do it to someone who has obviously put in so much effort in a successful project just shows how out of touch they are. Instead of being negative on the internet, why don't you spend that time doing something constructive yourself and sharing it with the world? GREAT JOB! never let anyone hold you back!!!!! :)

[@davidli7752]

Great, but the lengths of the pipes need to be exponential rather than linear. This is why the higher notes tend to sound flat. I would suggest tweaking the length of every pipe using a tuner.

[@BenAtTheTube]

"real" organ pipes have a tuning mechanism. Sometimes a tube that slides in/over the main pipe to change its length.

[@bobjacobson858]

Excellent point.

[@happypanda6518]

She's building a musical instrument while I mess up IKEA furniture. Great job!

[@CorbyCave]

My family have been working with pipe organs for about a hundred years, so I just have to say this is AWESOME!!!

[@guscox9651]

when the church won't let you practice for more than an hour at a time... so you build an organ yourself

[@courag1]

Gus Cox The church does not have an idea what makes a musician. If you love the instrument, you just love to play music.

[@Ardjano234]

I kinda like the joke, but you can just buy a home organ.

[@billz4071]

@@Ardjano234 There are no home organ builders left in business today. Lowrey, who was #1 in the business, closed about 2 years ago. There are many keyboards around, but none of them play or sound like a real organ with 2 keyboards and pedals.

[@f4tboy99]

Or you buy an used Hammond organ! 😉

[@BenAtTheTube]

@@billz4071 Allen and Rodgers companies are still building electronic organs of varying sizes. Although buying one of these is not the same as a project making a pipe organ from plastic plumbing! I have an old 4 manual console, no pipes, would love to someday build a Miditzer computer and 4 extended ranks of pipes for it. Diapason, flute, trumpet, oboe - used ranks would be excellent! 16-ft diapason and flute will fit in a reasonable space if the low octave is stopped pipes, 8 ft actual length plus the foot. kzbin.info/www/bejne/gpSpdYGIa5KJjNU

[@AntonioVillamar]

Paul.. Here from Canada, I can see your dedication and love for Lilly. She is lucky to have such a dedicated father! A beautiful example of determination, persistency, patience and love. Congrats!

[@Michael-xv4zs]

That is terrific! I'm a classical organist in California and I am so very impressed. Congratulations!

[@jameslind1964]

48 year old guitar player here - this has inspired me to build something like this. Really loved how you built the valves yourself.

[@DewayneGore]

That must be the coolest project I have ever seen a kid create. Congratulations to her!

[@EVISEH]

Congratulations Lilly and my highest praise to you. Building a working Organ from scratch is a daunting task for anyone. That you chose to do so and that you succeeded in making such, deserves nothing less than the highest accolades.

[@jroar123]

You are a great dad to teach in such a practical way.

[@nickyork8901]

Loved this video. Having two musical daughters (now grown up) who liked building things, this took me back a bit...fantastic work by Lilly, and nice work on the recording of it too.

[@thomasciul8932]

I'm a professional harpsichord and piano builder. I've made 3 little portative hand pumped organs. They are almost as much work as a so how harpsichord! Wow what a girl! Keep up the good work!

[@WatchingPup]

I don't know anything about pipe organs, music theory, or building. Great job both of you

[@Herfinnur]

A lot of impressive ingenuity went into this!

[@benalder6781]

I am very astonishing what she could do. She should become an organ builder. Wow. Love it.

[@BobBlarneystone]

Good stuff! I had a friend in college who built pipe organs in his tiny dorm room in Philadelphia. Once I went with him on a scavenging mission to get a keyboard across town. We got the keyboard and we carried it on to the streetcars and then on the subway too. Back then, the transit workers and police weren't quite so uptight about such strange things.

[@davidschmidt6013]

I like the product, but I'm FAR more happy at the relationship the two of you have. I hope my daughter and I can do such projects in future. Great job, the both of you!! Thanks for making and sharing the video!

[@loamdelatam770]

The best part is that she uses international sistem.

[@billz4071]

Very interesting and exciting to see this being built. The mind is a great thing when it is used productively. This was not a small undertaking either. I service and tune pipe organs, as well as electronic ones, so that makes this one even more exciting to me. One thing you could add to this would be a small tin or plastic sleeve around the end of each tube/pipe and use it for tuning each pipe. You may have to trim each one shorter, but it would be interesting for you to also see how to refine your great work a little more. GREAT JOB, Lilly!!!

[@PurplePink-Roblox]

Super awesome! I had some PVC pipes in lengths 1, 2 and 4, blew into them and showed my 8 year-old octaves... but this project goes waaaaaayyyyyyy beyond! I'm gonna show this vid to him.

[@ThisIsNotAhnJieRen]

Damn! As an organ enthusiast, I find this video very satisfying.

[@NoName-zn1sb]

The keyboard is remarkably similar to the one I made for my "hammond" organ science project in hice kool. Abrasive wheel ground the tone wheels from steel discs, wound pick-up coils around magnets. Good job, you!

[@danw1955]

Nice job Lilly!! Now that you know the basics, you should go help the crew at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, NJ in the U.S. restoring the world's largest pipe organ, the mighty Midmer-Losh Opus 5550! Now *THAT'S* a project!😁👍🎵🎶🎵

[@raylew9937]

1-25-2021 what an accomplishment for an 8th grader to learn about musicology and the physics of music-making. Am sure the creators and instructors will be proud of this accomplishment. I just noted this program for the Science and Music classes at the Cathedral School for Boys in San Francisco, CA USA.

[@PleasantP]

This is amazing! It’s the perfect combination of engineering and music. love it

[@stupidgenius107]

Where were girls like this when I was her age?!? All the girls I knew I'm sure had never held a saw in their life, let alone calculated the approximate lengths of pipe required to make a diatonic scale! Actually, that goes for the guys too... Anyway, I'm glad being a nerd is cool now 😎 Great job!

[@the_angler_2]

I think that she's got a very good father. She must be proud of him.

[@TheGentleUncle]

To be fair, those lengths were far from accurate. But that's fine for her age nevertheless.

[@maxalaintwo3578]

@@TheGentleUncle I thought to myself, "I don't think adding 50 cms or so is mathematically corre-...... Yknow what I can't armchair judge I'm not building an organ here."

[@stupidgenius107]

Yeah, I think the problem was that by adding a constant value to each one, she ended up with a linear progression, while music notes follow a logarithmic progression (an octave up or down being double or half the frequency, respectively) so each increment should have been proportional to the one before. But then she played it and I thought "mmmmkay that sounds pretty good" 😅

[@gemavaliente7675]

Unnecessary sexism

[@mahonrymauigoa8049]

How talented! I love to see people make instruments from scratch!

[@ullinator1388]

Hey Paul, you can be proud of your daughter! Best greetings from Bachland (Deutschland)!

[@imfacebookpaul]

Very proud! Thank you

[@josefigueroamartinez1675]

Impressed by the hard work and final result. It shows a lot of creativity and joy. Bravo girl!

[@pascalcoole2725]

It's so great to see that thse days stil there are younsters that dive in to stuff the hard way and create themselve a skillset that the smartphone generation hardly possesses.

[@davekirby5052]

Great job Lily. A lot of original thinking went into this project, and it looks as though you had fun. Dave

[@matejsmetana3165]

Awesome creation. I took the liberty of correcting the lenghts of your pipe if you want to stay in tune with other instruments. Note A3: 220Hz, 720mm; Note A#3: 233Hz, 680mm; Note B3: 247Hz, 641mm; Note C4: 262Hz, 605mm; Note C#4: 277Hz, 571mm; Note D4: 294Hz, 539mm; Note D#4: 311Hz, 509mm; Note E4: 330Hz, 481mm; Note F4: 349Hz, 454mm; Note F#4: 370Hz, 428mm; Note G4: 392Hz, 404mm; Note G#4: 415Hz, 381mm; Note A4: 440Hz, 360mm; Note A#4: 466Hz, 340mm; Note B4: 494Hz, 321mm; Note C5: 523Hz, 303mm; Note C#5: 554Hz, 286mm; Note D5: 587Hz, 270mm; Note D#5: 622Hz, 255mm; Note E5: 659Hz, 240mm; Note F5: 698Hz, 227mm; Note F#5: 740Hz, 214mm; Note G5: 784Hz, 202mm; Note G#5: 831Hz, 191mm; Note A5: 880Hz, 180mm; Note A#5: 932Hz, 170mm; Note B5: 988Hz, 160mm; Note C6: 1047Hz, 151mm; Note C#6: 1109Hz, 143mm; Note D6: 1175Hz, 135mm; Note D#6: 1245Hz, 127mm; Note E6: 1319Hz, 120mm; Note F6: 1397Hz, 113mm; Note F#6: 1480Hz, 107mm; Note G6: 1568Hz, 101mm; Note G#6: 1661Hz, 95mm;

[@jobum1481]

Great job Lily! Just to mention, for the length of the different pipes, you show and talk about the length in cm (centimeter), and that's what your table shows as well. It should be instead mm (milimeter). Imagine, a pipe length of 410 cm would mean a pipe of 4.1 m (meter), as one meter is equal to 100 cm (centimeter) or 1 m (one meter). "Centi" means 100 and comes from the Latin language.

[@skateofmind6]

This is an incredible feat and it’s so happy to see you two do it together. You’re an awesome parent for providing the resources and time. Congratulations, how cool!

[@richardkallio3868]

This is mind-blowingly awesome, Lilly! From a professional organist with a diploma in the craft. I am very impressed by your efforts!

[@beaufighter245]

Absolutely brilliant! Good to see practical skills making something from scratch.

[@theyoungbarista6715]

Great work glad to see more young people like me interested in pipe organs!

[@Targoon_Music]

im happy to see that there are girls who are really enthusiastic about building stuff and working with tools

[@larryhagemann5548]

This is inspirational on many levels. Well done, Lilly. You are to be commended for your enthusiasm and dedication.

[@matthewnabil]

That was a year 8 project? Girl is literally soaring!

[@marvinmartian8746]

Great job Lilly! You have a lot of tenacity.

[@brianmckay1256]

Totally, utterly, Charming!!

[@WoodymC]

Organist here -- I'm pretty impressed by your work and your interest for the subject! I wish we would have done something like this in school here in Germany... Congrats and Hats off! for the outcome of this cool project.

[@SaxonSuccess]

Absolutely superb. Congratulations, Lilly!!

[@stephengwilt]

wow that is amazing, you must be so proud of your daughter, what a fantastic job. You have great ingenuity and vision to be able to solve some of the problems you faced and come up with the design from scratch. You have a great future ahead of you.

[@PsilentKnight19]

Wow! I am an avid organist. I love this video! As much as I love organs, I’ve never even thought about making my own! This is my new project for the 2021 year! Thanks for this video and congrats on your organ!

[@MattTheLizard]

Great job. She is going places.

[@Doeff8]

Very impressive project!

[@jairovilar]

Congratulations to both father and daughter! Cool!

[@MrGreencheetah]

Outstanding young lady and organ build!!!

[@sergekannon9048]

Oh, how utterly delightful!

[@marcossidoruk8033]

Nice build but you got tuning wrong. Its not just adding notes, but multiplying by 2^1/12. for example, let A=440hz, you can calculate A#=A*2^1/12, B=A*2^1/12, etc, etc.

[@ricardotejada111]

Thank god someone said it

[@MartinGaskellMusic]

Actually it's not that simple because there is something called an "end correction" to the length that depends on the width of the pipe.

[@marcossidoruk8033]

@@MartinGaskellMusic I was just talking about the frequency of the notes wich she got wrong.

[@landonellis8591]

Real quick, your example shows A# and B having the same equation, so be careful with that. Second, that is fantastic math, except that that shows us the measurement in Hz, not in length. She found a whole step to be +50 in length of her PVC pipes, and added them. She is not being 100% precise here so no one is too concerned if she her instrument isn't perfectly tuned to equal temperament. The only initial issue I see is not accounting for the half steps between E and F and C and B at first and measuring them as the same length as her whole step between C and D. HOWEVER, it is clear in the video that the tuning of the instrument is, while not perfect, absolutely serviceable. This is because, drum roll please, she corrected the mistake. If she hand't, every key past E would have been at least a semitone off. Listen and look again, she tuned her pipes as they were made. While the notes aren't entirely in tune, that can be from many issues (end correction, the temperature/humidity changed since she tuned it, the wood has "breathed" and settled, the paint dried it out/made it too moist ect. ect.). In other words, If you think her notes are full semitones wrong, then you don't know enough about the subject to be lecturing anyone. The math she showed earlier in the vid is obviously not the final math used in her instrument, and if you need any proof of that pause at 4:13 and tell me the size change in those tubes is linear.

[@Masterfighterx]

@@landonellis8591 She should maybe have cut them a bit shorter and then added a piece that can fit around that pipe to tune it with some tape to add friction (as you do organ pipes made out of lead, and maybe other variants of pipes)

[@TheSelfUnemployed]

This made me smile first thing in the morning! Thanks for sharing and what a fantastic job!

[@kamalbarshevich]

This girl really knows how to manipulate with organ. That's really exciting!

[@larsfrosznielsen3536]

Great work and I guess she lerned a lot during the process. Very well done

[@transformtransmitt]

So love this! What fun- and wonderful of you to share!

[@SkyQuest2K8]

Awesome! Great job, Lilly!

[@brianarotten2962]

sooooooo cooool, seriously. Awesome work Lilly

[@williamrich7638]

In the Middle Ages, the most technically advanced thing that humanity could do was build a pipe organ. Kind of like us going to the moon today.

[@Elhombresombra]

You are right. Pipe organs were the most complex machines that man could build until the Industrial Revolution and steam machines.

[@desktorp]

except people have actually built pipe organs

[@pavlus34]

@@desktorp no they didn't, I haven't seen one.

[@barbaraives4962]

I hope Lilly got a high distinction for that project! I hope she has a future in organ building.

[@HaloMashups]

This is so cool!! She has a very interesting accent that’s mostly American, but a tiny but Australian.

[@geoh7777]

The "American accent" is standard in Australia. The ones you hear (like Paul Hogan) are provincials jk

[@mwkoskamp1]

Amazing. So nice to see the effort and commitment.

[@brenki]

Excellent job, thank you for showing how pipe organs are made! ❤

[@rgarlinyc]

Very creative, imaginative and talented - congratulations Lilly!👏🏻👏🏻

[@edwardlogan7433]

You should constituter a career in Organ Building we need more Organ Builders in the world and Organists . Great Job Lilly form an Organ Builder in Northern Ireland

[@davidmorrison3697]

Have you ever heard a steam calliope in a circus wagon that had 39 whistles. The pressure on each key is about 80 lbs and the whistles were made from used artillery shells. Was built in 1955, it was only whistles, key board and air chamber with valves. Its in WDM Saskatoon Saskatchewan Canada 🇨🇦. There are air ones in USA, but there is one other in Ontario, Canada.

[@InnerPeaceSounds]

Awesome job!!

[@jonkino]

Wow , you are so talented. Incredible. Well done .

[@KevinFreist]

very cool. you now know how value is made of raw materials. nice job!

[@Masterfighterx]

410CM is 4.1M. I believe you mean 410MM or 41CM, the most correct to use since you're building is MM😉

[@MetalMike50]

If you want to be completely correct, use mm, not MM

[@hibahprice6887]

Perhaps this is happening in a parallel universe where everything is 10 times larger ..

[@Masterfighterx]

@@MetalMike50 It was to emphasize

[@dozog]

Probably the result of not being educated in the metric system. I wonder how many inches that pipe was.🤔

[@No1sonuk]

@@dozog They're in Australia, which primarily uses metric...

[@guybunce]

Brilliant work and what a great project to do! Congratulations.

[@Dogsnark]

Very impressive! Congratulations on this very challenging project.

[@JohnWaldron-cm7ce]

Excellent creation!-John in Texas

[@riccardo5104]

Very good job! I am an italian organ builder working in Barcelona. Congratulation!

[@cirrus2013]

Oh... my... god!!! Well done! Greets from Germany

[@derca.]

It's a capital G.god with small G means the fake gods.

[@murbella7]

Good job. Tip: use two hands on the saw. This makes it easier and more accurate.

[@damianoradaman]

Congrats! What a great job!

[@paulthelionheart4900]

Brilliant. Well done Lilly.

[@johniorio7951]

Really awesome....quite a duanting project

[@Karontrix04]

I was a year 8 project???? She is cute and smart!!! his smile is so frank!

[@southwedger]

Wow! What a great project! Congratulations.

[@davidherbert9601]

Wow that is just amazing. Great stuff

[@JulianMakes]

Totally awesome!!! So great when you made that first chord!!! Great job

[@jamesgriffin5965]

Absolutely brilliant effort! Fantastic skills. (Music Teacher in UK)

[@shingabiss]

A most impressive build Lilly!

[@Zer0Spinn]

I need to hear strawberry fields forever played on that.

[@nivlick]

Wrong instrument. You want the melotron.

[@Zer0Spinn]

@@nivlick no no no, I know it was played on a mellotron. But this reminds me a lot of that mellotron flute, with it's own weird twitst. It's just missing the tape worble lol

[@carloswheeldon2553]

How cool was that! Great job!👍

[@thalesvondasos]

I'm pretty sure the high A pipe should be half the length of the low A one and it's off by 10cm, which would explain why it's out of tune. But great build nonetheless

[@alpha_3148]

I agree, and in between one should divide the length of a pipe with the 12th root of 2 (that is around 1.0595 in case you want to try it out) to get to the next semitone instead of adding a fixed length... Still a cool project!

[@doctorpropain8902]

It's because she's adding lengths to get to the notes instead of exponentiating the lengths. Music has a self-similar pattern, in that a chord an octave lower should have the same harmony as that same chord an octave higher. This self similar nature is what makes music an exponential (or logarithmic, depending on how you look at it) system. Using equal temperament, the equation is basically L * (2)^(n/12), where L is whatever the length of the base note you're tuning it off of, and n is the number of half steps above (or below) that note. You will find that, with this equation, an octave below will be exactly 0.5 * L and an octave above will be exactly 2 * L, what it should be. Furthermore, the relative distances (not absolute distances) between C4, E4, G4 will be the exact same relative distances as C5, E5, G5, and so on.

[@createinside4613]

correct, but still a great project

[@robwilde855]

Yes, but that's from the ignorance of whichever adults were advising her. Not her fault. Apart from that, great work on her part [as you say].

[@Zavendea]

@@robwilde855 Eh, I mean, she could have researched it herself. When I was in 8th grade I knew the basics of harmonics etc (and if I was doing a project where I needed to know how they worked, I would’ve looked it up!)

[@rlwalker2]

I saw daddy smile as the sweat built up. Good job.

[@andreabregonzio7204]

Bravissima. Sono un appassionato di organi a canne e avrei sempre voluto costruirne uno come hai fatto tu!!! Yeah

[@GaragediAntonio177]

Great Job! I am currently attempting a project like yours. The pipes sound Great!

[@gilsonoi1188]

Parabéns jovem você é uma menina muito inteligente e muito talentosa. Deus abençoe sua vida.