Who needs TV when you can watch a project like this. What a great series. Such detailed explanation and fine craftsmanship. I congratulate you and thanks. I hope the surgery goes well.
Thank you Ronald for an amazing series. You precision and craftsmanship is pleasure to behold. I wish you all the best and a speedy recovery with your upcoming operation and look forward to seeing you again when your fully recvered. Regards Frank
I’m about to embark on a Senior 20 build myself Ron, and your collection of videos has cleared a lot of points up, as well as hopefully preventing pitfalls I would otherwise have made! You have high standards, and have achieved a fine result.
The plans leave a lot to be desired. I strongly suggest you look forward to motorizing your Senior 20... you will get a lot more use out of it if you do. For me the hand cranking was a shoulder killer. If you have any questions once you get started let me know.
Congrats on the completion of the the Organ, that was a big undertaking. I think finishing a project of that scale moves you to another level of skill in the shop, one I can only envy for. Thanks for sharing and taking us along.
I LOVED this series and I watched several of the video's a couple times. I can't wait to see more video's from you this coming year. Good luck with your surgery, and I'll include you in my prayers tonight.
Thank you very much. I've enjoyed the series and learnt a lot before setting off. I wish you well for the coming years and look forward to future projects.
Ron have totally enjoyed all of your videos for years. Great craftsmanship and videos. Having had the shoulder surgery and knowing several others who have had it, the most important part is the physical therapy. If you put the quality time into it that you do on your projects this time next year you will be very please with your results. So rotate cuff surgery will cause some pretty intense pain in the first few days, a friend who had it before me thought they were tough and would wait to take the pain meds, big mistake he cried for almost 3 days. If they offer it and you may need to be insistent on getting it, is an automatic dispensing med pouch, it is a golf ball size rubber ball that gets inflated to softball size with meds that are automatically dispensed over 3 days. It made my experience one of some discomfort not extreme pain.
VirtualFather You got that right. The nerve block wore off after 6 to 9 hours and I was taking those little pain pills like Tic Tac's at every opportunity. No sleep that first night! Don't like pain pills (too many side effects) so took the last one around 9 AM the next morning and just lived with it after that. Since the rotator cuff was nearly completely detached, they cut it free and reattached it. So I'm dead in the water with that arm for 5 weeks before I can start rehab. Probably another 1-1/2 months after that. Went through the same thing with the right arm 5 years ago. It's not too bad unless you do something stupid like bump that shoulder into a door jam, then the old smiley face chart will jump to a 9 or 10 :-( ... guaranteed!
Mr Walters! Thankyou for your amazing share of videos upon the Senior 20! To everybody else: I can highly recomend this project! I have made one myself, even with an extra set af small pipes(2') for the top 9 notes.
You say that the camera's microphone doesn't do the organ justice, but on my end it sounds absolutely fantastic. Lows are deep and full-bodied and highs are light and precise. Your organ sounds absolutely fantastic, and that's considering the various compressions the audio has gone through getting on CZcams. I can't imagine how it sounds in person! Your quote near the end sums it up better than I ever could: You can't help but wipe the smile from your face the first time you hear music from this! Seeing you build this from the ground up, turning pieces of wood into such an emotionally-stirring piece is really captivating, The construction of this organ was a real pleasure to follow. I thank you for taking the time to edit and upload the videos for this project, as I've gotten so much enjoyment out of watching you work through this project I cannot put it into words. You are more than a common woodworker; you are an artist, and I thank you so much for your willingness to exhibit this project for us all to follow. Thank you and happy holidays! :)
Thank you! I have over 80 videos on building the John Smith Senior 20 Organ, installing an animated conductor figure, making music rolls and more. Please subscribe. That is what keeps this channel going. Ron
Awesome project(s) really enjoyed it a lot.You got a great sense of craftsmanship.and modeling things......++ and your teachings skill are very good.Looking forward to the next video of your hand. greetz from Holland.
Well I really enjoyed the series, it always brightened my day when a new video popped into my feed showing where you were at with this project, hope your shoulder op goes well and you recover quickly. Have a Happy New Year.
An excellent series, with an excellent result. Certainly your best. A lot of improvements and tips for anyone that would try this endeavor. I've no doubt that it sounds amazing, microphones are no substitute for the real thing.
i love your vidoes,, please keep em coming.. i have no intention of building an organ but i've enjoyed watching your build videos none the less.. thanks!!
You can... step by step... one section at a time. :-) I also have a series on making a Mini Calliope which in many ways is simpler, especially if built without a keyboard. Thanks for watching... and your comment. Ron
Thanks for sharing, Ron. Good luck with your surgery and rehab. I do believe you could take that organ out to the park, crank it for a couple hours and build up enough tip money to pay your medical deductible costs! LOL Again, thanks for sharing.
I think to help with the rewind tensioning, you may want to add a felt pad or similar that engages the take up spool when you release the clutch, to put a bit of friction on the take up so it rolls up nicer. when rewinding with the handle or drill. VCR's used a similar thing in their rewind mode so the tape winds back tight on the spool
Despite those pipes using a smaller scale wood, they sound quite a lot like those Tibia Clausas. Next you should add a tremulant. :P Great work Ron! :D
While I was disappointed at the announcement this was the last video in this series, I up-voted it anyway. On an up note (see what I did there) I see you've made more videos since 2014 that are waiting for me to watch. :)
Since the end of the organ build series I have added series on making a conductor figure and motorizing the organ (there are playlists for these). Soon to be released will be making music spools and later the completion of the second organ with the installation of the animated conductor figure. Thanks for watching and subscribing!
Thank you! Hope you find my videos helpful. I have a playlist which groups all the videos for the Senior 20 Organ together which may make it easier for you to find them.
For some time now I want to build a play machine. In Polish literature there are no instructions on the construction of organ pipes. Only your Ronald's work and the series of Senior 20 organ movies explained to me their construction. I also wondered how the holes in the paper tape control the sound. Your video showed how easy it is! Thank you very much Ronald.
This has been a fantastic series. I'm left wondering only one thing: How are the pipes set up when these organs are made with multiple sets of pipes? I imagine they have some sort of setup that distributes air to each pipe of the same note. I've seen one where there are sliding "shut off" or selector knobs on the side to turn sets of pipes on/off, and to use combinations of pipes.
sooth15 The larger organs play music rolls with more holes (usually 26 holes for 26 notes). Each hole is for a single note and the organ can be set to play more than one pipe for each note. The "banks" of pipes are selected with several "sliding valves" which select additional pipes or "ranks" to be played at the same time. Google "organ ranks" for more information... it gets a bit complicated.
Only the very smallest organs use this "paper-as-a-valve" system for activating the pipes directly from the tracker bar, with the roll enclosed in a pressure box.
Larger automatic organs typically have the pipes mounted on a windchest, similar to hand played pipe organs. In the majority of mechanical instruments, this is a pallet chest, with pallet valves and channels for each note played. In these larger organs, the music media (roll or folding cardboard book music) activates a primary valve chest which acts as a relay. These primaries (one for each note/function) are connected to pneumatic motors (either pouch - type or pneumatic / small bellows type), which physically push open the pallet valves, admitting air to the pipes. Pallet chests can be made quite large and control hundreds of pipes.
For more technical information and diagrams of the action of larger fairground organs, I recommend buying or borrowing two great books: 1. "The Fairground Organ" by Eric Cockayne, and 2. "Waldkirch Street and Fairground Organs" by Herbert Juttemann, translated by Andrew Pilmer. Both can easily be found for sale online.
Benivey2 Someone transcribes and/or rearranges a tune or song using only the 20 notes available on this organ. Holes are punched into the paper music roll to represent the notes to be played and the duration of each note. It can take quite a while to make a music roll if pinching one note at a time. Check out this link www.pianola.org/history/history_rolls.cfm or Google the subject for more information.
dude you never showed how the tracker bar hooks up to the pipes or how the valves work That's like the most important part. I don't understand, you get into minutia with every thing else but you don't show how to hook up the pipes. What the hell?
I find your comment a bit surprising. Perhaps you have not watched all of the videos. Between the Busker and both of the Senior 20 Organs there are 6 playlists with over 87 videos covering everything you need to know about building one of these organs, how to motorize it and how to make and install a conductor (if desired). If I covered something while building one organ, I probably would not have covered it again on subsequent builds. Building The Busker Organ - Flapper Valves & Bellows Part 2 czcams.com/video/hqbWWtzb6y8/video.html Building The Busker Organ - Motor Drive & Gears Part 4 (Around 5:10) czcams.com/video/59MszwTeDvI/video.html Senior 20 Organ (02) Bellows & Reservoir Part 2 (Around 7:20) czcams.com/video/01FhMb93ChQ/video.html Senior 20 Organ (28) Music Test Roll & Project Conclusion czcams.com/video/eVo_LaWH4-g/video.html Clearly demonstrates how the perforated music roll controls air entering the tracker bar. Building The Busker Organ - Motor Drive & Gears Part 4 czcams.com/video/59MszwTeDvI/video.html Reservoir relief valve explained and briefly demonstrated. Building The Busker Organ - Manometer Test Part 5 czcams.com/video/cnQvvG5P7Hs/video.html Reservoir relief valve clearly demonstrated operating around 4:50. Senior 20 Conductor Installation (21) Final Assembly czcams.com/video/osM6Cpb6YFM/video.html Shows hoses connected to tracker bar and the pipes. Any attempt to show the process of actually connecting a hose to the tracker bar or pipes would result in a very boring video and you can’t get a camera in there (I can barely get my arm in there to connect the hoses).
Have enjoyed following the build. Great craftsmanship. Best wishes on your shoulder surgery.
From one Ron to another, we will miss you very much. Get well soon and hurry back. Regards, Ron Cooper, Devon, England.
Who needs TV when you can watch a project like this. What a great series. Such detailed explanation and fine craftsmanship.
I congratulate you and thanks. I hope the surgery goes well.
Muchas gracias Ron. Espero que te recuperes pronto. Saludos desde España.
a very well made series of informative videos on the organ will inspire. I have really enjoyed and will be getting the plans thank you
This has been a great video series. Your explanations are very clear.
Bravo, bravo! Sounds fantasticI hope you recover quickly from your surgery and get back to making these excellent videos soon.
Awesome build, I learned a hell of a lot. Good luck with your surgery.
Thank you Ronald for an amazing series. You precision and craftsmanship is pleasure to behold. I wish you all the best and a speedy recovery with your upcoming operation and look forward to seeing you again when your fully recvered.
Regards Frank
Wow, what a great accomplishment and it sounds great! Congratulations and thanks for sharing. Happy New Year!
I’m about to embark on a Senior 20 build myself Ron, and your collection of videos has cleared a lot of points up, as well as hopefully preventing pitfalls I would otherwise have made!
You have high standards, and have achieved a fine result.
The plans leave a lot to be desired. I strongly suggest you look forward to motorizing your Senior 20... you will get a lot more use out of it if you do. For me the hand cranking was a shoulder killer. If you have any questions once you get started let me know.
Congrats on the completion of the the Organ, that was a big undertaking. I think finishing a project of that scale moves you to another level of skill in the shop, one I can only envy for. Thanks for sharing and taking us along.
Excellent all the way! Best wishes for your wing surgery.
Sorry to hear about your pending shoulder surgery. Best to you as you recover.
I LOVED this series and I watched several of the video's a couple times. I can't wait to see more video's from you this coming year. Good luck with your surgery, and I'll include you in my prayers tonight.
Thank you very much. I've enjoyed the series and learnt a lot before setting off. I wish you well for the coming years and look forward to future projects.
Ron have totally enjoyed all of your videos for years. Great craftsmanship and videos. Having had the shoulder surgery and knowing several others who have had it, the most important part is the physical therapy. If you put the quality time into it that you do on your projects this time next year you will be very please with your results.
So rotate cuff surgery will cause some pretty intense pain in the first few days, a friend who had it before me thought they were tough and would wait to take the pain meds, big mistake he cried for almost 3 days. If they offer it and you may need to be insistent on getting it, is an automatic dispensing med pouch, it is a golf ball size rubber ball that gets inflated to softball size with meds that are automatically dispensed over 3 days. It made my experience one of some discomfort not extreme pain.
VirtualFather You got that right. The nerve block wore off after 6 to 9 hours and I was taking those little pain pills like Tic Tac's at every opportunity. No sleep that first night! Don't like pain pills (too many side effects) so took the last one around 9 AM the next morning and just lived with it after that. Since the rotator cuff was nearly completely detached, they cut it free and reattached it. So I'm dead in the water with that arm for 5 weeks before I can start rehab. Probably another 1-1/2 months after that. Went through the same thing with the right arm 5 years ago. It's not too bad unless you do something stupid like bump that shoulder into a door jam, then the old smiley face chart will jump to a 9 or 10 :-( ... guaranteed!
Ronald Walters
Funny! Watch out for those door jambs. You will never know how much you touch a body part until it hurts.
Thank you so much for all your videos. Very good luck with the operation.
Thanks for ALL your video's Ron! I hope your op goes well and wish you all the best for the New Year.
Great job Ron. You are an inspiration. I will start my Senior 20 build in January. Can't waitt for the smile!
Thanks.
Mr Walters! Thankyou for your amazing share of videos upon the Senior 20!
To everybody else: I can highly recomend this project! I have made one myself, even with an extra set af small pipes(2') for the top 9 notes.
You say that the camera's microphone doesn't do the organ justice, but on my end it sounds absolutely fantastic. Lows are deep and full-bodied and highs are light and precise. Your organ sounds absolutely fantastic, and that's considering the various compressions the audio has gone through getting on CZcams. I can't imagine how it sounds in person!
Your quote near the end sums it up better than I ever could: You can't help but wipe the smile from your face the first time you hear music from this! Seeing you build this from the ground up, turning pieces of wood into such an emotionally-stirring piece is really captivating, The construction of this organ was a real pleasure to follow. I thank you for taking the time to edit and upload the videos for this project, as I've gotten so much enjoyment out of watching you work through this project I cannot put it into words. You are more than a common woodworker; you are an artist, and I thank you so much for your willingness to exhibit this project for us all to follow. Thank you and happy holidays! :)
Many thanks for your entertaining and informative videos. Good luck with the operation and we hope to hear from you later in the year. All the best!
Thank you for brining us along on how you made this beutiful organ Ron, been really interesting to see how you made it!
good luck on your operation! Wonderful job. Real craftsmanship!
All my best on your shoulder surgery! Outstanding work and accomplishment on the organ. Sounds wonderful.
Absolutely fantastic!
Excellent video series, so many fascinating parts to it. And the organ sounds and looks great
simply prodigious, what a sound !
Thank you!
I have over 80 videos on building the John Smith Senior 20 Organ, installing an animated conductor figure, making music rolls and more.
Please subscribe.
That is what keeps this channel going.
Ron
Awesome project(s) really enjoyed it a lot.You got a great sense of craftsmanship.and modeling things......++ and your teachings skill are very good.Looking forward to the next video of your hand.
greetz from Holland.
Great project Ron, really enjoyed watching the series. Best of luck on your surgery.
Well I really enjoyed the series, it always brightened my day when a new video popped into my feed showing where you were at with this project, hope your shoulder op goes well and you recover quickly. Have a Happy New Year.
An excellent series, with an excellent result. Certainly your best. A lot of improvements and tips for anyone that would try this endeavor.
I've no doubt that it sounds amazing, microphones are no substitute for the real thing.
i love your vidoes,, please keep em coming.. i have no intention of building an organ but i've enjoyed watching your build videos none the less.. thanks!!
Very nice series on the Senior 20 Organ! Thanks for the awesome videos Ron. I wish you the best on the surgery! Happy New Year!
Great series, I wish I can make one some day💚
You can... step by step... one section at a time. :-)
I also have a series on making a Mini Calliope which in many ways is simpler, especially if built without a keyboard.
Thanks for watching... and your comment.
Ron
An awesome series Ron and an outstanding result! Thanks so much for posting! Happy new year to you and yours, hope all went well with the shoulder.
great job Ron!
Sounds great even on youtube!! Really awesome work. I wish I had the time, equipment, and patience...
Great series ron.and great result too.respect!
Great work! good to hear it playing something..
Thank you for sharing.
GENIUS!!...
Thanks for sharing, Ron. Good luck with your surgery and rehab. I do believe you could take that organ out to the park, crank it for a couple hours and build up enough tip money to pay your medical deductible costs! LOL Again, thanks for sharing.
Thanks Ron.
I will try to build one before i die. Some day for sure.
Ohhh my gosh, that is way too awesome.
I think to help with the rewind tensioning, you may want to add a felt pad or similar that engages the take up spool when you release the clutch, to put a bit of friction on the take up so it rolls up nicer. when rewinding with the handle or drill. VCR's used a similar thing in their rewind mode so the tape winds back tight on the spool
Amazing
If i had any wood working skill at all it would be amazing to make one of these.
Despite those pipes using a smaller scale wood, they sound quite a lot like those Tibia Clausas. Next you should add a tremulant. :P
Great work Ron! :D
It sounds really nice :)
While I was disappointed at the announcement this was the last video in this series, I up-voted it anyway. On an up note (see what I did there) I see you've made more videos since 2014 that are waiting for me to watch. :)
Since the end of the organ build series I have added series on making a conductor figure and motorizing the organ (there are playlists for these). Soon to be released will be making music spools and later the completion of the second organ with the installation of the animated conductor figure. Thanks for watching and subscribing!
Can you add the "Close Encounters of the Third Kind" tones to the test scroll ?
wery good works Ronald Walters. I am from Polish.
Thank you! Hope you find my videos helpful. I have a playlist which groups all the videos for the Senior 20 Organ together which may make it easier for you to find them.
For some time now I want to build a play machine. In Polish literature there are no instructions on the construction of organ pipes. Only your Ronald's work and the series of Senior 20 organ movies explained to me their construction. I also wondered how the holes in the paper tape control the sound. Your video showed how easy it is! Thank you very much Ronald.
The plans for the Senior 20 are available from John Smith in the UK. Google "John Smith Senior 20 Organ"
This has been a fantastic series. I'm left wondering only one thing: How are the pipes set up when these organs are made with multiple sets of pipes? I imagine they have some sort of setup that distributes air to each pipe of the same note. I've seen one where there are sliding "shut off" or selector knobs on the side to turn sets of pipes on/off, and to use combinations of pipes.
sooth15 The larger organs play music rolls with more holes (usually 26 holes for 26 notes). Each hole is for a single note and the organ can be set to play more than one pipe for each note. The "banks" of pipes are selected with several "sliding valves" which select additional pipes or "ranks" to be played at the same time. Google "organ ranks" for more information... it gets a bit complicated.
Only the very smallest organs use this "paper-as-a-valve" system for activating the pipes directly from the tracker bar, with the roll enclosed in a pressure box.
Larger automatic organs typically have the pipes mounted on a windchest, similar to hand played pipe organs. In the majority of mechanical instruments, this is a pallet chest, with pallet valves and channels for each note played. In these larger organs, the music media (roll or folding cardboard book music) activates a primary valve chest which acts as a relay. These primaries (one for each note/function) are connected to pneumatic motors (either pouch - type or pneumatic / small bellows type), which physically push open the pallet valves, admitting air to the pipes. Pallet chests can be made quite large and control hundreds of pipes.
For more technical information and diagrams of the action of larger fairground organs, I recommend buying or borrowing two great books: 1. "The Fairground Organ" by Eric Cockayne, and 2. "Waldkirch Street and Fairground Organs" by Herbert Juttemann, translated by Andrew Pilmer. Both can easily be found for sale online.
Thanks!
Are there as much music selection for the Senior 20 as there are for the Universal?
I don't know for certain but I would guess more is available for the Senior 20.
How are the music sheets made?
Benivey2 Someone transcribes and/or rearranges a tune or song using only the 20 notes available on this organ. Holes are punched into the paper music roll to represent the notes to be played and the duration of each note. It can take quite a while to make a music roll if pinching one note at a time. Check out this link www.pianola.org/history/history_rolls.cfm or Google the subject for more information.
Super, extra, ok,
0:20 that sounds like a train 🚂
lol gotta rewind everytime, you could build a keyboard for it anyways.
dude you never showed how the tracker bar hooks up to the pipes or how the valves work That's like the most important part. I don't understand, you get into minutia with every thing else but you don't show how to hook up the pipes. What the hell?
I find your comment a bit surprising. Perhaps you have not watched all of the videos. Between the Busker and both of the Senior 20 Organs there are 6 playlists with over 87 videos covering everything you need to know about building one of these organs, how to motorize it and how to make and install a conductor (if desired). If I covered something while building one organ, I probably would not have covered it again on subsequent builds.
Building The Busker Organ - Flapper Valves & Bellows Part 2 czcams.com/video/hqbWWtzb6y8/video.html
Building The Busker Organ - Motor Drive & Gears Part 4 (Around 5:10) czcams.com/video/59MszwTeDvI/video.html
Senior 20 Organ (02) Bellows & Reservoir Part 2 (Around 7:20) czcams.com/video/01FhMb93ChQ/video.html
Senior 20 Organ (28) Music Test Roll & Project Conclusion czcams.com/video/eVo_LaWH4-g/video.html Clearly demonstrates how the perforated music roll controls air entering the tracker bar.
Building The Busker Organ - Motor Drive & Gears Part 4 czcams.com/video/59MszwTeDvI/video.html Reservoir relief valve explained and briefly demonstrated.
Building The Busker Organ - Manometer Test Part 5 czcams.com/video/cnQvvG5P7Hs/video.html Reservoir relief valve clearly demonstrated operating around 4:50.
Senior 20 Conductor Installation (21) Final Assembly czcams.com/video/osM6Cpb6YFM/video.html Shows hoses connected to tracker bar and the pipes. Any attempt to show the process of actually connecting a hose to the tracker bar or pipes would result in a very boring video and you can’t get a camera in there (I can barely get my arm in there to connect the hoses).
First