How to Build a Portative Organ

This page describes where to order instructions on how you can build a portative organ for less than $300 (US), including the cost of the instructions, in 50-100 hours.

A 22 note, two octave chromatic instrument with a keyboard

An 8 note, one octave diatonic instrument with a buttonboard

Listen!

A sample of music played on the portative, recorded in RealAudio. (67K)

Don't have a player for RealAudio?
Download it for free!

A Portative Organ (sometimes spelled Portatif Organ) is a small (usually 2 octave) pipe organ that is placed on the lap, pumped with one hand and played with the other. They first showed up about 1100 a.d. and flourished until about 1500 a.d.

Kits are available, but I found them to be far too expensive. This prompted me to do six years of research and build my own portatives based as far as possible on historical accuracy.

Then, to top it off, I "wrote the book". (I have put a short excerpt from the book on-line at http://www.thescholarsgarret.com/research/short_discourse.html)

The book is 60+ pages, with illustrations, and a complete set of measured drawings. It is comb-bound and will easily lie flat. It describes how to build two very different organs:

A 22 note, two octave chromatic instrument with a keyboard; and An 8 note, one octave diatonic instrument with a buttonboard. The book also details how to make the organ pipes out of easily available parts and where to order the hard-to-find items.

The book costs $20 (US Dollars) plus $5 shipping and handling and will be shipped within a week of payment. Preferred method of payment is by money order, but personal cheques are acceptable as long as you don't mind waiting a week or two longer for the cheque to clear.

Some overseas customers have found it to be less expensive to simply send cash. If you choose to send cash, I recommend that you place something opaque in the envelope (such as a square of aluminum foil) so that you cannot tell that there is currency inside by holding it up to the light.

In addition to the book, I also have a one hour video CD available that details the construction and assembly of the organ. It should be playable in most recent DVD players or on your computer. The video quality is just a shade above "home video", but it is sufficient to communicate the material.

The cost of the video CD is $20 (US Dollars) plus $5 shipping and handling. Preferred method of payment is by money order, but personal cheques are acceptable.

If you order the book and the video, together, you only have to pay one shipping and handling charge, for a total of $45.

Interested? Print our the handy order form and send it to the person who actually ships the orders:

      Heather Gray
      38 Barnes Road, Apt. B
      Shelburne Falls, MA 01370
      U.S.A.

Alternatively, you can take advantage of lulu.com's "Print on Demand" service, which accepts credit cards and PayPal:

Questions? Contact me