David came round this afternoon, and various things were discussed. A further check was made to the toe piston moulding before applying the saw, which required the expression shoe assembly to be unscrewed again (there were tears), and instruction was given regarding the screwing-down of the keyboards.

This might not look much, but it represents a major step forward: the choir keyboard has now been permanently affixed to the console and connected to the MIDI nerve-centre

I’ve checked the keyboard, and it works. I’ve also double-checked the pedalboard, and discovered that pot #2 is not as silent as I had hitherto believed. It is perfectly well behaved on its own, but when I start playing the pedals, it spits out all manner of random messages. I have done some testing on this, and it would appear that the problem is either the PDS interface board, or (more likely) the wire. I have a couple of alternative solutions to think about, both of which involve butchering a CAT5 patch cable.

Apart from deciding on the best way forward for the pots, the plan for the rest of this weekend, or at least for the next several days, is to secure all the manuals together and connect them up. This will allow me to finally get some sound out of the console, via the laptop. There won’t be any more progress beyond this until some time in July, as I have to fit in with Norwich Organs’ other commitments. At least I will be able to do some left-hand-and-pedals practice.

Yay.