Bad motherboard

The future looks bleak for my Studiologic motherboard. It usually hangs when I switch it on. The lights and buttons don't work. I have contacted the company and have my fingers crossed that they will show some goodwill and send a replacement.

Until then the construction is on hold...

Dilemma

Hmm, there must be a good way to attach the keybed to a sheet of wood but I really can't come up with one.

This is how the bottom of the keys look.



There are about 20 plastic pillars that are threaded. I'd really like to drill through the wood and screw into the pillars but I don't think I can drill the holes accurately enough so that they meet up.

This was my first solution to the problem, attaching batons which are countersunk for the screws. Then I was thinking of glueing down the batons to the board.



It would work but I think it is a bit ugly and there must be a nicer way. Even though you don't see this part of the construction it would bother me to know that there was a nasty botch underneath the surface. Guess I have a perfectionist streak in me :)

Any advice would be appreciated!

Just for the record

A couple of pictures of my futile attempts to stiffen the Fatar case to stop it flexing.

I also stuck lollipop sticks on the underside of the case too to stop that bending. In the end of course I decided not to use the case.

Weekend progress

Change of plan

I decided to ditch the plastic case of the Fatar and salvage the keyboard and the motherboard. Why? I could claim that the keyboard feeling was improved or that the ergonomics were better, but the real reason is that it was too wide for the base by a couple of mm. Must have been something wrong with my tape measure... ;)

So I ripped out the innards and placed them direct on the base. Turns out it was a great decision - the keyboard does feel much better now and it is much more compact of course. The upper manual can now be lowered by 10-20 mm.

Mounting the keyboard direct to the base was tricky since the screws attach from beneath. My solution was to fix wooden batons to the underside of the keyboard which I will then nail or glue to the base. Right now everything is tacked together with hot glue whilst I mock it up.

Had a lot of issues with the motherboard though. After screwing it down to a wooden support it seemed to stop working. Sometimes when switching it on it would freeze. Tried different ways of mounting it with same result. After a while I came to the conclusion that if you switch it off and on again too quickly it can hang. Better to pull out the plug and let it discharge. Hopefully this is the case otherwise the whole project is in jeopardy.

Pictures to follow soon...

Build the base

First step in the construction was to build a stable base for both keyboards.

The idea is that the Fatar rests on the base and the Electro sits on top of the Fatar. The rear of the Electro is held up by a wooden support.

A primary goal is to keep the cabinet compact and keep the distance between the two manuals at a minimum for ergonomics.

The project begins

Ok, here it is, my first venture into the world of blogging!

I have a great topic to share with you - the design and construction of a dual manual Nord Electro.

To get a reasonably realistic Hammond organ experience you really need an extra keyboard to trigger the sounds of the lower manual. The lower manual is typically used for kicking left hand bass lines and playing accompaniement whilst the top manual is for solos and accents. It is possible to achieve this on one kayboard by using a split point and two zones but it is very restrictive.

Furthermore my plan is to build a Hammond B3 style mahogany cabinet so that it really looks and feels the part!

I have a Fatar/Studiologic SL-161 controller keyboard which I will use for the lower manual although I have been tempted to upgrade to the new Doepfer D3m organ controller keyboard.

Here is a picture of the first mockup so I can make some initial measurements.