Ronaldo is starting with the Fender Rhodes Stage 73/88 Mark I Electric Piano and the EMS Synthi Hi-Fli Guitar Synthesizer. Looking good so far!
Meanwhile, today I received two sets of LED lights from Amazon and eBay:
First up is the N-scale LED, intended for model train roadways and parking lots. But here, with a 1/64″ hole, a drop of super glue, and a 3V AA battery pack — they make fine 1:6 scale piano lights. (This is just one of my cheap miniature keyboards.)
Next is the 5mm UV LED, lit up here by my 12V power supply. These dim nicely too, simply by lowering the voltage. I should receive the tiny glass test tubes next week to prototype some glowing vacuum tubes for our amps and the Hammond organ.
One of the best features of 70s music is the warm tones produced by analog instruments and amplifiers. That warmth was made possible by the use of vacuum tubes.
When electrons flow through a vacuum, carrying “musically” charged samples from an instrument or a microphone, the amplified signal distorts in a way that is more pleasant to the human ear than via digital circuits. That is, the frequencies are handled more naturally in an analog circuit versus in a digital circuit where those frequency values are quantized at a certain interval, clipped (rounded) to the nearest numeric value, amplified, and then converted back into an analog signal that can actually move a speaker membrane. As much as digital technology has advanced since the 70s and 80s, a trained human ear can still tell the difference, and that difference boils down to two flavors of distortion: Warm & Cool
The back of a HIWATT CUSTOM 100 amplifier head.
A big challenge in reproducing such equipment in 1:6 scale is how to replicate those vacuum tubes visually. Not just to sit there, but to light up, glow and even breathe with the music.
I found these little glass test tubes (or vials) on Etsy. The glass part is 7.8mm OD, 5.2mm ID, and 32mm long. I had to order them from China. Ten for less than $20. Shipping take long long time.
That’s less than $30 worth of parts. The idea is to mount the 5mm OD (outside diameter) LEDs wherever there’s a vacuum tube in the equipment. Now those LEDS are only 8.5mm tall, so that’s not tall enough for a typical vacuum tube. So, we’ll cut a piece of the clear rigid tubing to about 1 inch, and then fit it over the LED. That should work snugly because the ID (inside diameter) of this particular tubing is 5mm.
And the pièce de résistance is that we’ll cut some clear blue fluorescent monofilament (fishing line), fold it over a few times, and insert it into the clear tube. Then seal the top of the tube shut, or maybe plug it or cap it.
Now, when powered up, the UV light will illuminate the glow-in-the-dark fishing line and it should look just like a vacuum tube, also illuminating any neighboring photoreactive materials.
I just made a significant investment ($1690) in my current animation project. I commissioned Brazilian master craftsman Ronaldo Lopes Teixeira to build the following 1:6 scale keyboards and synthesizers used by Richard Wright on Pink Floyd’s classic album, The Dark Side of the Moon:
Hammond RT-3 Two-Manual Console with Leslie 122 Cabinet – $400Fender Rhodes Piano 73 Stage – $300Wurlitzer EP-200 Electric Piano – $300Mini Moog Model D – $150EMS VCS3 Putney – $150Synthi AKS Synthesizer – $150
Ronaldo will also for the first time build two new custom miniatures, used by David Gilmour:
EMS Synthi Hi-Fli – $100Custom HIWATT DR103 Head – $50 each
While these props will take up to six weeks to get here, I have to enlarge the set on my animation stage and figure out how to light them.
Fortunately I found a set of N-scale model train LED lights that I can modify as piano lights, using a standard 3V power supply or 2 AA batteries. I’m also looking for ways to make 1:6 scale vacuum tubes that glow and breathe a little.
