Glass Organ: Construction

Organ 4: Two-Octave Diamond model

Latest Organ

Level

Note Label

Adjustable Foot

Photos by Glen Peterson

Organ 3: Diamond Model

Kelly Rappuchi, Glen Peterson, (Mobius Staff Member), and Steve Norton after show at Mobius
Photo by Barby Peterson (my mom)

Organs 1 and 2: Bleacher Seat and Opera House Models

Glen Peterson, Thadd Comstock
Photo by Matt Samolis


Thadd Comstock, Ricardo Frota, Matt Samolis (turned away), Glen Peterson
Infrared photo by a friend of Matt's

Organ Building Tips

Most glasses that curve inward at the rim sound good.  A bigger glass is generally lower in pitch than a smaller one. If two glasses are the same pitch the larger will produce a louder tone.  A thick rim will cut the decay short.  Too much water makes the glass muted and hard to sound.  It also makes it very difficult to tune.  A little water sometimes mutes the fluctuation of the pitch and homogenizes the sound of different glasses.  I found that glasses about 10 to 20 cents sharp of the desired pitch are ideal.

Tuning is time consuming, but a mark with a Sharpie (perminant marker) on the side of the glass allows you to quickly fill the glass by eye, even in a noisy room where using an electronic tuner is impractical.  For this mark to be accurate, the glass must be level - hence the addition of a level and adjustable feet on the stand.

Glass is difficult to glue. The only thing that seems to stick to it is silicone caulk - the same stuff you use on your bathtub. The folks from the Glass Orchestra told me this trick!