So, chatting to the friendly organ engineer about the problems I was having with getting the solder to adhere to the nasty nickel-plated steel screws, I got a wise “yes, they’ll do that” sort of response.  The replacement brass screws were duly purchased, 96 steel screws were unscrewed, and 96 brass alternatives were installed.  Some of the holes are a little loose, which is irritating, but should easily be secure enough to remain where they are supposed to remain.  A spot of epoxy might be in order.

Now I’m beginning the labourious process of soldering two or three wires to each post.  This is challenging to say the least.  I’m waiting for the arrival of some helping hands, which I hope will make it less awkward.

All my jobs are running somwehat slowly at present, due to the news I received last week that poor Mia has inoperable cancer.  She’s soldiering on, aided by copious quantities of painkillers, and is dividing her time between sleeping, eating and watching squirrels.  She seems quite happy at the moment, but her days are numbered, quite severely.  A few weeks at best.

I’ve just noticed that the first anniversary (1st September) of this blog slipped by unannounced.  I shall celebrate with a cup of tea.

Because I had nothing better to do this evening, I decided to have a look at the pedalboard.  This is, strictly speaking, out of order since the keyboards and pistons are not yet finished.  However, a conversation with a midi hardware supplier (probably the one I’m going to buy stuff from) prompted me to get out the screwdriver for a naughty peek.

Whereas most Wyvern hardware I have seen – especially the older stuff – has all the hallmarks of being made by craftsmen, the workmanship of the pedalboard is, I suppose, best described as ‘functional’.  This, coupled with the fact that the pedalboard is ever-so-slightly too small to fit neatly under the console, suggests to me that t is not part of the original console build.  There’s nothing wrong with it, it’s just not pretty.

So, the pedals make noises via the medium of 3-wire contact assemblies, which are very badly tarnished, and a couple of them are obviously damaged.  I could spend a lot of time laboriously cleaning each wire, and then replace the damaged ones, having tried not to damage any more in the cleaning process.  Or I could spend about £50 and put in reed switches in about the same length of time.

With such weighty decisions is my mind burdened this evening.  The dogs are no help at all.  I tried to engage in a spirited discussion of the relative merits of each system, but Betty started cleaning herself and Mia stared vacantly at me while drooling on the sofa.  Drools a lot, does our Mia.

On a whim, I went carbooting this afternoon.  Picked up a couple of odds and ends, but most importantly I bought a Dremel.  Only cost £37 and looks hardly used (in fact only two of the bits appear to have been used).  I’ve checked the model and it currently costs £90 from Homebase.  Result.

Today’s work involved repairing the contact assemblies on the choir keyboard, but I’ll post about that when it is finished.  The main event was the reassembling of the swell keyboard in its frame, after cutting out wedges for the additional pistons.

You can see here the additional wedges.  Closer inspection will show you that my wedges are rather less expertly done than the original ones.  I tidied them up afterwards with my Dremel.  That was my justification for buying a new toy.

And here is the keyboard fitted into the oak frame.  That took a while; the keyboard sort of guzunder and guzover the crossbars, and it has been a long time since I took it to pieces.  Mia is doing QA.

I was going to take a photo of the completely assembled keyboard, but the light was poor and my iPad doesn’t have a flash (do any iPads have a flash?).  Tomorrow, maybe.

The next job for this keyboard is to test all the key contacts.  I think that the easiest way to do that is to wait for the MIDI encoder to arrive and plug it in.  Otherwise I’m going to need a third arm to manipulate the continuity tester and the keyboard.

I try to live one day at a time, but just lately it feels as if several days have hit me all at once.

However, progress has been made.  The oak frame for the choir manual will be ready next week, and I will have 43 Kimber Allen pistons next month. I gave serious consideration to Klann pistons, and the salesperson from Klann was extremely helpful.  I like the Klann piston style, which is essentially the European style, and somewhat cheaper than Kimber Allen.  In the end I settled for KA on the basis that it looks “more English”.  I think I would choose Klann if I were building the console from scratch, but since I’m building this organ into an existing English console, with English keyboards, and intend to have an English organ as my primary sample set, I feel that the KA style would be more harmonious.

the next job is to get the holes drilled in the piston rails, and hopefully next month I will be able to assemble the keyboard stack.  I’m getting to the point where I might actually start looking at midi interfaces.

Mia is off for surgery next week to remove the nasty mammary tumours.  Prognosis is excellent, but the operation is a big one.  Poor little puppy.  (She’s 7 years old and weighs 40kg, but she’s always a puppy to me.)

Rumours of my demise have been greatly exaggerated.  I have, however, been even more busy this month than I predicted.  February isn’t looking much better either.

The second switch arrived earlier this month.  It is similar, but superior, to the first, in that it has a silent action.  There are two drawbacks.  Firstly, the button part in the centre is somewhat smaller than is comfortable; and secondly, the shiny new metal looks entirely out of place on the old console.  The first problem could be addressed by using the 19mm switch instead of the 16mm one, but the second is obdurate.  Time for Plan C; the nice man from Norwich Organs is looking for 40 Kimber Allen pistons, which he believes may be in a box in the garage (along with half the clutter in the universe).

Meanwhile, the oak frame of the choir manual has the broken-off end of a screw in it.  I suggested that, since it would be completely covered by the frame of the great manual, I could simply drill another hole for a fixing screw.  This was met with a shocked and mildly outraged, “But I would know it was there!”  Not willing to argue with a craftsman, I rendered up the frame for a quick repair job.

Hopefully I will be able to do something on the project in February.  Once I have confirmation that I have the requisite amount of Kimber Allen pistons, I can at least send the piston rails off for drilling.  Beyond that, I hope that I can start buying some MIDI components in March.

Dogs are doing very well, and have become fast friends.  They now go everywhere joined at the hip, and if one of them has to go out alone for a trip to the vet, the other one sits in the middle of the lounge and sulks.

Here it is, not so much assembled as, erm, stacked. I have cleaned up the contacts, removed a dozen small rust patches from the nickel-plated key cores and anointed the cleaned areas with oil (to limit any further rusting).  Eagle-eyed viewers will notice that the keyboard frames are upside down.  The reason for this is shut up.

I have a very busy January ahead, so I will probably not be doing much on this project until February.  I am still awaiting the arrival of the second switch sample, which I am hoping will be silent.  If it isn’t, I will revert to the tried-and-trusted Kimber Allen pistons, of which my friendly organ engineer has a stash.  In either case, the next stage will be to drill the piston rails for the extra holes and reassemble the frames.  They keyboards are already matrix wired, so in theory (hah!) it should just be a case of replacing the plug on the ribbon cable.

I woke up this morning to find the dogs curled around each other, fast asleep.  I think we have reached doggy equilibrium.

I thought it might have the piston nature, but I was mistaken.  It looks lovely, especially when illuminated but, despite being advertised as a momentary switch, there is a loud click when the button is depressed.  It sounds almost as if it is a latching switch with the latch removed.  Disappointing.

Never mind.  I’ve another style on order, which should arrive some time after Christmas.  If that one also fails to meet my exacting standards, I’ll fall back on the tried-and-tested Kimber Allen piston.

I was going to do some work on the console on my week off (starting next Friday – huzzah!), but I’m trialling a new dog to see if she will settle in with my current dog.  She’s a rescue who has had a moderately horrible life, and needs somewhere warm and safe with a big sister.  The prospective big sister met her at the kennels yesterday and they got on remarkably well.  Next Friday is the big test to see if they maintain that bonhomie (bonnefemmie?) at home.  My house may be in ruins before the week is over.