Stephen_Doonan wrote:lewisalexander2020 wrote:here's where I'd start hunting...
Organ builders / repair specialists,
Organ sales companies who take on used digital consoles who may part out some organs not fit for purpose.
Thank you for those suggestions. I've already emailed most of the churches in my area and received one response that they had just disposed of their old organ a month ago.
lewisalexander2020 wrote:A 32 note is top end, you could settle for a 30 note which would be a touch smaller and a little lighter but that's as far as I'd go as a 30 note goes to F. My own build, I was strict on a 32 note RC (radiating concave) board, but going through the spec of the pedalboard, it's made me think of building my own from scratch and I'd love to do that, partly to see if there was a way of shrinking or making it lighter.
I would prefer a full 32-note pedalboard, radiating concave built to AGO specifications. The "smaller, lighter" idea is what has made me consider the "naked AGO 32-note" pedalboard offered by PedaMIDIkit.org (https://www.pedamidikit.org/pmkagonk32.html)
lewisalexander2020 wrote:If you want expression pedals, cheapest option is 4 FC7 pedals by yamaha
I like the Yamaha FC7 expression pedals for their sturdiness compared to other common brands of expression pedal, and have two already for multiple uses.
lewisalexander2020 wrote:the MKC64U gives you up to 8 expression pedals, but organteq features 4 expressions total, 3 of which are expressions to manuals, the master is crescendo. a feature I requested some time ago.
MIDIboutique.com offers a nice variety of MIDI encoders. I've been looking at their mpc32mq encoder. It doesn't bother me that it lacks a USB connector for MIDI transmission and uses standar MIDI connectors instead, which I could could connect to the MIDI-in port of one of the organ manuals, or a MIDI hub that his its own USB connection to a computer.
Best wishes,
Steve
It sounds like you've covered the same ground I did when I started this. For me, I started building my own console for two reasons, firstly I'm fully blind and a cabinet maker by training / trade, secondly I was a serving organist until COVID19 hit and I was then made redundant as an organist due to my health issues after COVID, so I've been working on developing a blind friendly organ system and now with Organteq 2 this is the perfect system and I can finish the build ASAP.
The pedalboard from the website you recommended seems interesting and price isn't bad, you'd have to discuss the design, etc with him and make sure it fits your needs, you'd also need to look at swell shoes, there's a 3 swell shoe set there for something like €550 and add a single for the crescendo, so I'd guess you'd be looking over €1700 for a pedalboard with 4 expressions (3 swell / assign and 1 crescendo) then toe studs.
If you found a good pedalboard through an organ builder or a company who sells digital organs to home users, here in the UK there's a good few of them, I'd even get in touch with direct dealers for the likes of rodgers and other brands if they get trade ins, you never know what you might come across.
from the point of refurbishing / midifying a traditional pedalboard, the detail is in what you do for repairs first of all...
Case inspection of pedalboard - any cosmetic damage, structural damage, woodworm.
Pedal wear - if the pedals are heavily abused, as in the sealer's gone and there's a large amount of wood worn away, leave it where it is.
Pedalboard rear - have magnets / contacts been left or are there no contacts at all?
The tricks of bringing a pedalboard back from the dead involve a good clean / partial disassembly, checking the springs for the pedals, the shock points at the rear and post guides between pedals. I found that with my own board, it needed a full strip down, sanding, some repairs to the main boards, some modification to the rear of the pedals where damage had been caused, I then replaced the felt under the pedal tips and above pedals to rear and replaced some of the pin covers with new material, gasket hose which worked fine. usually earthing sleeve works out better but I couldn't get hold of anything like that locally.
The headache believe it or not in my case was building the modules to house the logic board (MKC + daughterboard and loom), the expressions and toe studs, I'm still getting that bit sorted but at the moment other things are on the go. when that's finished the pedalboard's running fully.
good luck on the pedalboard side, that's the most stressful, sometimes heartbreaking side of it.
lew
Blind Music Producer, Composer, pianist and Church Organist. Accessibility development specialist for MacOS. Developing a solution for blind organists to have an accessible digital organ solution.
