Making a Wooden Pipe Organ

The making of a 42 note wooden pipe organ (range: C3 - F6 with a rank of Bourdon 4' pipes) with walnut and maple key tops and other mostly at-hand materials for the rest of the components, such as an old cabinet for the keyboard frame, leftover screws and spring steel from a scraper for the valves, paperclips for the key-to-valve links, and plastic irrigation tubing to connect the pipes to the windchest holes.
The design elements of this organ are a mixture of a variety of other organ designs. I wanted to create an organ with pipes sitting atop the organ for both aesthetics and sound quality but wanted to avoid using a tracker-style roller board to convey the action of the keys to the windchest as I felt it would be too complicated for a simple 1 rank organ. Because of this, I decided to create a variation on Matthias Wandel's organ windchest design by creating valves that stayed in place with a screw and were directly above each key, requiring only a simple linear key-to-valve linkage. Taking inspiration from more classical organ designs (specifically, what was described in Mark Wick's "Organ Building for Amateurs"), I decided to create a foot-pumped bellows to supply wind for the organ, replacing the sound of an electric blower with intermittent slams of the foot roller against the bellows. I might use an electric blower if I were to build something like this again.
Helpful resource for pipe dimensions:
www.rwgiangiulio.com/construct...
#pipeorgan #woodenpipeorgan #organbuilding

[@cas_creations]

Timestamps: 0:00 - Keyboard 3:38 - Windchest 6:23 - Key/Windchest valve action example 6:50 - Toeboard 9:20 - Pipes 16:00 - Music on finished instrument

[@eustachiodemarco]

Magnifico!!!!!!

[@trstquint7114]

Bach sounds good on every instrument built with love.

[@gordoncouger9648]

Your organ has few more pipes than the air calliopes that played for the circus in the 1950s but the adjustable stoped quarter-wave pipes sure sound a lot like they did. That is really impressive work.

[@cas_creations]

Thank you! I am pleased with the sound of the organ though I admit the draw of using stopped pipes was more towards saving space and using less material than it was towards sounding like a calliope per se.

[@otsoscars]

I'm trying to build a street organ and i almost gave up on it, but then i saw your video and your technique for making pipes. I tried to make pipes like you and just got the first sound out of it. Thanks for saving the project!

[@cas_creations]

Glad my video was helpful. Getting dimensions such as the windslot and mouth height accurate to within thousandths of an inch is important when making good organ pipes from my experience.

[@-peyat]

Bach's "Great" fugue in G minor! Beautiful on these wooden pipes!

[@yankee1219]

Now that's amazing! No only a master carpenter but an organist as well. And the voicing of the pipe are pretty good. Awesome job!

[@tommasopietropiccoli1135]

Respect!!! for what this guy is able to create: both hardware and software 👏👏👏👏

[@ondrejkhol5988]

For anyone wandering what that first piece he plays is, it's BWV 542 - Fantasia & Fugue in G Minor.

[@johanngunnarsson]

Nice work. Shows what can be done with simple tools and cheap material.

[@roberttapken1139]

W O W What a craftsman and musician. What a beautiful sound. I loved this video

[@cas_creations]

Thank you!

[@nivlick]

It certainly has a lovely voice. Well done.

[@_chary990]

this is epic, building something to sound that good with just what you have around you, and then -playing some Bach to top it off, wow, cheers mate! I also enjoyed the concertina videos, very impressed! I hope your still out there working on some more amazing garage masterpieces.

[@cas_creations]

Thank you! I'm glad you enjoyed my videos.

[@Leon-cd3fg]

Oh my!! Well done!!! It has an unbelievably gorgeous sound.

[@DanielGBenesScienceShows]

This is awesome! A complex instrument built from the ground up, even the keys. Very impressive!

[@witexdaw]

Organ from scrap can sounds beautifull! Congratulations!

[@imminentoutbreak7172]

That's a wondeful project!!! It results very placentful to me to listen an example of Bach's fugues. Congratulations!

[@cas_creations]

Thank you! I have another video on my channel of another bach prelude on the organ as well.

[@imminentoutbreak7172]

@@cas_creations I will watch it! Thanks! I'm trying to make a pipe organ because you've inspired me.

[@synchro505]

So much ingenuity and talent! Will be checking here regularly to see what you're up to next. Cheers. ✌️🎵

[@dsch6367]

Great work on the production of the pipe organ. You should be proud to create something with your hands.

[@geraldniles9582]

WOW!! UNBELIEVABLE!! - Jerry of San Diego

[@nkunzimchunu4560]

I realy appreciate what you are doing. keep making these amazing videos we're behind you

[@cas_creations]

Thank you!

[@synchro505]

Hear hear! So glad to have found this channel!

[@omegachadrequiem3831]

Can you play the little fugue in g minor?? That would be awesome even without the foot pedals

[@paulolima4703]

Thanks dear friend. Very Nice work. Here in Brasil studding the instruments make

[@ianmarriott1124]

Very well done! Considering the quality of the materials used, you have produced a very nice little instrument. The Bach sounded great on it! When I saw you ripping up veneered chipboard I almost turned it off lol but you have made a silk purse from sows ears materials. As an ex organ builder there were some questionable practices but the proof of the pudding is in the playing. So once again well done !

[@cas_creations]

Thank you! The goal was to produce a playable instrument with as little expense as possible and to that end I feel relatively satisfied but certainly would change some things if I were to do something similar again.

[@YoungGameBeatTube]

Beautiful sound of the pipes!

[@timjungmann718]

A beautiful instrument they have built, I like it.

[@MandolinSunrise]

Nice! Thanks for posting.

[@sueco_r]

Damn dude, that's so Impresive, congratualtions

[@SqueezeboxOfDelights]

Wow! That's amazing!

[@BirdNerdJC]

Nice job! So impressive!

[@woodsmith_1]

Fantastic work. I love the use of found/cheap materials to create such a beautifully playable instrument. The bellow pressurizers are quite a nice touch :) You've renewed a hope to resume working on mine someday soon.

[@cas_creations]

Thank you! I hope you find success with yours.

[@woodsmith_1]

@@cas_creations thanks! I'll make a video or two when I get around to working on it again. Would you tell me the name of the piece/s you played at the end? Beautiful.

[@cas_creations]

@@woodsmith_1 Thanks, First piece is Bach - Great Fugue in G minor, second is Bach - Prelude in C minor, WTC book II.

[@InnerPeaceSounds]

Wow, it is super awesome!!

[@herikcoutinho7151]

Magnífico! Parabéns!

[@andyblue1991]

Awesome outcome! Perhaps with a bit of an upgrade to the ballow it will be even more constant. But I really love the sound of the pipes. Maybe I will also start building one!

[@Spharkii]

Beautifully done. Sounds good too.

[@derwishrenegat743]

Extraordinarily! Respect! Well done!

[@KavinAldermanJr]

Absolutely amazing work 🙏

[@blancardsuperstar9323]

Beautiful !

[@chiefthomson]

What a random video suggestion by KZbin, but so satisfying to watch and well done. I am imagining myself now, starting to build one, but then I realised I don't have the patience nor the skills, but maybe one day. love it!

[@laalpattharkedevata]

Nice sound, sounds like a panflute

[@DerekPicard]

Great work here! 👍

[@gmendes1831]

GREAT job!

[@williammitchell1864]

Very well done! ☺️😁👍

[@33layermystery66]

You are very talented. Great work!

[@tomsch5801]

Good Job, very impressive!

[@potatothistle]

amazing! inspiring!

[@Asiek]

Bach- Fantasie und fugue g minor Bach- Prelude und fugue c minor WTC II

[@usemymemes]

This is an amazing idea.

[@makeperceive]

Fantastic.

[@dantesmith3664]

soo cool. i love this. very nice work

[@wanorman2007]

This is really cool!

[@c-historia]

wow

[@SternDrive]

It's even got nice chiff! Love it!

[@cas_creations]

Thanks. Although pipe voicing wasn't my forte and some pipes had more than others I was pleased with the sound.

[@Ritopher]

Fascinating

[@adderleym2139]

Please do some hymn playing and other organ updates.

[@pobbob335]

Brilliant

[@Biber0315]

Inspiring!

[@martinslunecko274]

Great!

[@torevenheim9607]

cool organ

[@jonathanacosta4682]

,😯Brutal, Excelente!!!

[@aaronocelot]

This is probably the most intensive project I have ever seen in my life. It's massive! The keyboard alone is a worthy endeavour for years of study and work.

[@alexhatini8320]

And where can I find the measurements of everything in this video? :)

[@earthlightsmusic2743]

Well done! You stayed with your vision all the way to performing! Raphi Giangiulio and Catalina Vicens would find you worthwhile to meet.

[@cas_creations]

Thank you, that is quite the compliment.

[@jrzzrj]

👍genius

[@sabazarka4720]

Amazing work, can make a video of building a roman hydraulic organ ?

[@M_m.aang.uxz.1902]

Nice 🎉

[@MrGerced]

Muchas gracias, aquì encontre la info que me faltaba. Excelente

[@michelguijt8863]

One flute pipe orgen. 👍👍👍

[@CarlosHenrique-gl9by]

You are crazy, but its a genius

[@alexhatini8320]

Where can I find the measuring of the wood pipes?

[@kornett07]

great job, try to add bigger bellows and blower to give it power for playing bigger chords

[@anggaprasetya5760]

Amazing work! How about making a windblower? Any photos or videos of the windblower? I am very interested in making it.

[@cas_creations]

Thanks! The wind is supplied by a foot-pumped bellows, similar to how a reed organ works (you can see a short clip of it at 16:05). When you push on the foot-lever, it pushes a roller against a feeder bellows, which supplies air to a reservoir bellows above.

[@Mangojuice1973]

Can you please build a mellotron type keyboard where it uses the tapes? That would be amazing

[@cas_creations]

That would certainly be an interesting project.

[@theyoungbarista6715]

Great Work! I am Currently Designing a organ much like this this summer. I am having trouble finding resources for dimensions for wooden pipes. Do you have any links to charts or tips?

[@cas_creations]

Thank you. There is a lot of information on pipe organs out there on the internet. One of the most helpful resources to me was www.rwgiangiulio.com/construction/, which gives specifics on the construction of nearly all parts of a 5 rank homemade pipe organ. I used the dimensions under 'Bourdon Pipes' from this website to build all of the pipes in the video.

[@theyoungbarista6715]

@@cas_creations thanks! This is all the information I needed to get building. Good luck with your organ!

[@mattmilford8106]

@@theyoungbarista6715 usually, the way pipes are made is that the languid, bottom, and a top are sliced from one board and glued to the back. Then it is easy to glue the sides to the back and languid. Once it's done, the top is trimmed off.

[@adamcolbertmusic]

Wow! Have you ever thought about building a clavichord? 🙂

[@cas_creations]

Yeah, an electric clavichord build may be in the cards at some point. Have wanted to build one of those for a while

[@peteacher52]

Very well done and kudos for using "to hand" materials rather than running to a specialty sawmill, buying aged timbers at considerable expense for a result that to most ears, would be but marginally better than what you have. The complexity of organs beggars the imagination if the diagrams and instructions of Dom Bedos are any indication! FYI - I have found useful strips of thin spring steel that can be salvaged from "finished" vehicle windscreen wiper blades.

[@cas_creations]

Thank you! I am pleased with the sound of the pipes, considering they are just plywood. I've wanted to build a pipe organ for a long time but couldn't justify the high cost of materials so I experimented with things a couple times and ended up with this. My source of spring steel was actually a 10 inch taping knife from the big box store, funnily enough.

[@sameash3153]

So the organ is basically a recorder ensemble

[@alienbeef0421]

Yes

[@deborasgomes2022]

Uauuu!!! 😃👍🙌🙌🙌🙌🙌🙌🙌

[@roamingviola7431]

😁👍

[@estherbrown4084]

Now how about making a miniature harpsichord, or ottavino, with either gut strings or metal strings?

[@cas_creations]

Maybe, could be a fun future project

[@IreneuszUnysko]

Taaak,każda piszczałka będzie piszczeć, taaak😂

[@mohamedshamweel9327]

I wouldn't think I would get a reply to this, but what was tge piece at the end? The build was very cool and your playing and woodworking skill is deserving of my respect :)

[@cas_creations]

Thanks. The last piece is Bach's Prelude in C minor from WTC 2.

[@mohamedshamweel9327]

@@cas_creations Thx ! :)

[@juliag4770]

I wanna buy this

[@Lucius_Chiaraviglio]

I noticed that the leather in the stoppers crinkles, possibly compromising the seal. That might have been throwing the pitch off for some of the notes in the test run. Did you add an extra layer of material to get a more reliable seal?

[@cas_creations]

When I put the leathered stopper into the pipe in the video, the area of the stopper block was too small, but I made a larger piece to form a good seal after recording it. During the performance, some of the pipes were simply not finely tuned.

[@Lucius_Chiaraviglio]

@@cas_creations That makes sense.

[@gabrieltillvitz4802]

tu é foda mulek

[@GaragediAntonio177]

Great job! Quick questoion, what did you use for the metal springs on the valves inside the windchest?

[@cas_creations]

Thank you! The springs are strips of spring steel cut from a taping knife.

[@GaragediAntonio177]

@@cas_creations ah ok, thanks!

[@ciastek0043]

How did you space out the larger valves to be linearly connected with the keys? Furthermore, how did you link the natural and sharp note valve connectors to be on the same plane?

[@cas_creations]

Instead of placing each valve in a linear chromatic sequence, I alternate the valves along a central axis where all of the valve linkages are placed, where each adjacent valve is a whole tone apart. In that respect it is very similar to Matthias Wandel's pipe organ windchest. Because there is a half inch of space between two semitones in the keyboard, I get an inch between each adjacent valve in the windchest, which is enough room for the windways of the larger pipes. My design wouldn't work if I decided to go an octave lower.

[@ciastek0043]

Ok, thanks

[@jacobopastru1849]

Impressive video! I am trying to make one too for one of my college classes. Could you please let me know any references for the dimensions of the pipes in relation to the notes? Thank you!!

[@cas_creations]

Thank you. One of the most helpful resources to me was www.rwgiangiulio.com/construction/, which gives specifics on the construction of nearly all parts of a 5 rank homemade pipe organ. I used the dimensions under 'Bourdon Pipes' from this website to build all of the pipes in the video.

[@raistlinmills131]

I am not sure if you accept requests (Especially because this isn't very easy) but is there a way you could add an organ on to a piano?

[@cas_creations]

Hi, I am unfortunately not taking requests at the moment. Sorry.

[@alext8828]

Are you tuned to "equal temperament" or "just intonation"?

[@cas_creations]

Equal temperament

[@alext8828]

@@cas_creations I think that's a good choice. Thank you.

[@barqbros]

what song is that you play

[@fnersch3367]

Where can one get a blower for a small organ like this?

[@cas_creations]

Not too sure. This one is powered with foot-pumped bellows but I may try to get something like that for it in the future.

[@zeldaboi6002]

I'm thinking about doing something like this, but I'm not quite sure about the dimensions on the pipes. Would you be willing to give some more specific dimensions for the pipes, or at the very least explain how you found the correct dimension for the mouth of the pipe for it to make a good sound? Also, how did you determine the length and bore size for each individual note?

[@cas_creations]

In the description is a link to a website containing dimensions for a full rank of stopped Bourdon pipes which I used to create mine. Good luck!

[@zeldaboi6002]

Thank you so much!

[@apo4205]

Это то, чему название исскуство исстиное.

[@robertk1720]

What wood can you use for the pipes? 🙂

[@cas_creations]

Many different types of wood have been used for organ pipes in the past, such as mahogany, oak, pine, etc. A good choice is poplar for its good strength to weight ratio and price. I used plywood because I had a lot of it available and it worked well, but in the future I would probably use a hardwood for the upper lip/cap of the pipes.

[@robertk1720]

@@cas_creations Thank you for your prompt reply. Is there a blueprint somewhere or the dimensions of the pipes. I would like to build an organ.

[@cas_creations]

One of the most helpful resources to me was www.rwgiangiulio.com/construction/, which gives specifics on the construction of nearly all parts of a 5 rank homemade pipe organ. I used the dimensions under 'Bourdon Pipes' from this website to build all of the pipes in the video.

[@GovQsalia]

me and the boys when it's boy's night:

[@leucianreynolds1393]

How much

[@tilasole3252]

Child - "I want a pipe organ for my birthday!" Mother - "Oh darling we can not afford that..." Dad - "I am going to live in the garage for a week..."

[@professoreddirickthyev771]

Where can I find it to buy?

[@cas_creations]

Thanks for the interest, but it isn't available commercially at the moment

[@professoreddirickthyev771]

@@cas_creations Thanks for answer me. I will hope until it is being sold!!!

[@romeoagrestini1298]

How much time did you spend?

[@cas_creations]

I made a few attempts at an organ years before this that didn't go anywhere, but for this iteration it took a few months of concentrated work

[@romeoagrestini1298]

​@@cas_creationsok thank you, but few months for think about it and do it the project or just to have done it?

[@tilasole3252]

Can you make an accordion?

[@cas_creations]

Maybe, but it's not on my list right now

[@tilasole3252]

@@cas_creations I'll keep an eye out for it. Takes a lot of intricate parts to make an accordion. Although the simpler it is, the easier of course. I doubt a 41 piano key, 120 bass button with several tunes is feasible. =P