The Original "BUSKER"
BUILD YOUR OWN MECHANICAL ORGAN.
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Click On The Photo To Enlarge
Using my plans for The "John Smith Busker Organ", introduced in 1997, these little organs are now popping up all over the world
So what is this John Smith Busker Organ? - well for a start, it uses a very simple direct action making it one of the lightest and smallest 20 note keyless organs in the world, weighing in, at just 11 pounds. In spite of this, it has the same musical pitch as many other full-sized 20 note hand turned street organs.
The sound it makes has been acclaimed by a number of very respected organ builders from all over Europe and one particular example was awarded a Bronze medal at the Olympia Model Engineering Exhibition.
So who is this John Smith? Well I had thought that I was the only person in the world who had a longing to build a mechanical organ, but now I know that I was very much mistaken in that assumption: It was about ten years earlier that I began the struggle to build my first organ - I would guess that reinventing the wheel would have been a much easier proposition!
The 39 keyless that eventually emerged was a miracle, totally unique, it performed and entertained for five years, but now I realise that it really was a most unlikely contraption.
Being too old for a formal organ building apprenticeship, I retired early and set about teaching myself some of this mystic art.
Three years of full time study arid lots of practical experimentation later, it was my three year old grandson who set me my passing out exam when he asked "Grandad, can you build me a small, easy to turn organ?"
As many of you will appreciate, Grandads cannot be seen to fail such a simple request! Out came the drawing board, arid the Busker was born. Daniel was delighted. (and after being persuaded to produce plans for it, so are a lot of other Grandads as my mail regularly shows me)
There are, I think, a number of factors that have made the Busker package so successful:
1. I spent my working years as an electronic service engineer means that I only have limited woodwork or metalwork skills and only simple machinery
2 . Over a few years, I have achieved a reputation for making useful reliable things, usually from other peoples junk. This means that the technology and materials used in my innovative designs are reliable and also seen as achievable, at a very reasonable cost.
I have tried to make the building package as straight-forward as possible for the first-time builder. I have also realized that there are many tasks unique to the construction of organs, so the plans are kept simple and the video shows actual construction and assembly, as well as paper roll music being made.
A short test roll is supplied together with an easy to use punching machine. Many builders of this organ have taken to producing their own rolls, printed masters being readily available.
The package is continually updated taking into account builder's queries, so it can be tackled with confidence.
The Busker package has enabled a good number of people to build an organ that they can be proud of, and in doing so, learn the fundamental principles of how a mechanical organ works.
So what are these new amateur organ builders going to tackle next? I think that the 101 key Fair organ is still to be a pipe dream, however I have produced plans for a bigger, louder, more impressive and more challenging organ. The "Senior 20" is a follow on design, it has street organ volume, an intriguing four movement conductor and fast rewind; enough to satisfy the most discerning of Grandchildren!
John Smith (January 1999)
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Specification As Follows: Width 15'' Height 12'' Depth 11'' Weight 11 lbs Uses 'Busker' Standard 140mm Paper Rolls (20 note Raffin Scale) Lowest Note; F |
Hear The Organ (Happy Wanderer (113Kb) Arr Melvyn Wright)
(Sound Clip From The BUSKER Video, Audio File Sequecnced By Brian Flora NM U.S.A)
(You Will Need RealPlayer G2 (Ver 6.00) To Hear This File) Download It HERE
The Original Busker Organ Package Costs
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