Using an old organ cabinet saves a lot of time if you can find one that is roughly the same width as your arranger (61 keys are easier to fit into these old cabinets)...many years ago, a friend of mine built his Roland E-10 into an old Yamaha Electone A-55N shell that worked out quite good aesthetically...but it still sounded like an E-10, which wasn't exactly breathtaking, although passable.

His wife had pressured him into making it ("Honey, the E-10 looks too much like a musical instrument"), but it still worked out okay in the long run, as she and the instrument disappeared in the divorce, and he ended up getting a sweet deal on a fully loaded 9000 Pro that he could leave unaltered.

I asked him, "Bad divorce?"

"Nope, the divorce was great,” he said, winking at me. “It was the marriage that sucked.”

Ian

If I recall, the one that Don Mason constructed was made from lightweight plywood, looked like a grand piano and was quite portable. He'll have to fill us in on the details.

Gary

My friend Jimmy's "E-10 into A-55N" project looked very good indeed (if you like that sort of look)...he removed the bass pedals, and managed to use the organ's volume pedal opening to fit in a sustain pedal for the E-10.

The advantage of using the organ's empty shell (minus the keyboards) is that it is already at the proper height...it's just a matter of doing a suitable enclosure around the Arranger. The wood was really nice...sort of an American Walnut veneer.

It took up a little bit more space than when the E-10 was on a double braced X-stand. The matching wooden bench needed to have the legs shortened a tiny bit.

I think all he paid for the organ was the cost of moving it to his house...the A-55N was the entry level Electone and had only the basic features.

So, if one could find one of these old organs, they would make a great starting point.

Ian