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Post by organdetox on Aug 11, 2009 13:07:42 GMT -5
It may be a dumb question and an even dumber Idea, but I was wondering if anyone had attempted constructing their own transistorized organ. I'm not talking about anything complicated, but It just seems that you might be able to piece something together using radio shack parts... if someone can build a distortion pedal, why not take it an extra 1000 yards and build a unique little organ?
Has anyone done this? Are there any sites or directions for trying to do so?
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j70
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Post by j70 on Aug 12, 2009 20:43:55 GMT -5
I haven't tried to build one but I wanted to mention that the idea is certainly not silly or absurd .
Electronically a combo organ is very straightforward and definitely within the wherewithall of anyone competant of building guitar projects such as fuzz boxes , pedals etc . The main problem are the key / switch assemblies and not the electronics . It would be possible to fabricate the assemblies from scratch but that would be quite tricky . There used to be plenty of off the shelf assemblies . In fact as regards plans for such a project I would recommend old editions of hobby electronics magazines from the late 60's / early 70's . There used to be many combo organ / synthesizer designs featured . Good luck if you want to give it a go .
Cheers ..
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Post by organdetox on Aug 13, 2009 15:01:34 GMT -5
Thanks for this information. The project may indeed be over my head, but then again, I've always been decent with electronics. It's probably easier to just repair what I have, but building a custom instrument is still a dream of mine. In terms of the rocker switches, one could always borrow those parts from a dead organ I should think, or could you use some other kind of common radio shack switch to substitute for the rocker switches. Maybe steal the keys from thrift store keyboard?
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j70
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Posts: 7
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Post by j70 on Aug 13, 2009 16:22:46 GMT -5
A quick look on e bay reveals quite a few keyboard sections from electric organs ..the console types ... these are double manuals and will have all the switches attached for the footages etc .
The note production is just 12 identical circuits each just tuned differently , these boards can be easily made as they use standard electronic components still available today . One oscillator transistor , one buffer transistor , and a pair of divider transistors for each footage you require . Multiply that by 12 for all the notes required .
You'll need a simple regulated power supply consisting of 2 or 3 transistors plus the couple of transistors for a vibrato which I assume you'd want .Thats all the active components assuming you dont want to add percussion etc .
The drawbar footage adders are just linear variable resistors which can be bought anywhere .
The rest of the electronic components are just resistors capacitors etc . The only remaining important components are the oscillator transformers of which 12 are required . I'm not sure where you could obtain them , However they are not items that are impossible to produce yourself . In any case you could always change the type of oscillator to a phase shift type which wouldnt require such items , although original combo organs nearly always used transformers / coils .
On / off switches and indicator neons are standard types and I've even seen a few empty combo cases on e bay , worth checking out . All this stuff wouldnt add up to much monetarily but remember theres a considerable investment in time as the amount of wiring between the key switches footage pots and the oscillator boards is considerable .
I have a circuit diagram of the vox super continental somewhere which is a classic but straightforward design PM me is you want an image of the schematic .
Cheers ..
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