From benjamin.kuris@hp.com Tue Feb 03 23:24:10 2004
Subject:Chopped controller project works!

I posted a small picture of my progress so far in the b4 files
section.

The amazing news is that the guts of my FATAR SL161 fit perfectly
under the actuator of a hammond key, and when set to the proper
height there is even velocity sensitity. Bruce W. should know if a
lesser Fatar uses the same contact board.

The picture shows that I kept the hammond keys, rear rail, and front
rails (bottom felt, faceplate). I am not using the front angle/mount
as it is a very heavy piece. The crossbars are 10 1/8" x 2.5"
x .5" and there are some 1/4" shims under the rear rail to make
everything line up right. Eventually I will hollow out the
crossbars but I wanted to start simple.

There is nothing really hard about constructing the keybed-- it just
takes lots of measuring w/a square. I used #4 x 1/2 wood screws for
everything.

The feel is great-- the lack of key contacts isn't an issue-- the
design of hammond keys is such that there is plenty of "up force"
which is countered by either the combs (sharps) or front rail upper
felt.

Now I just need to figure out if I want to go for 73 keys w/bass
split or 61 keys and use the extra space for drawbars. If anyone
has a spare M-series manual, I'm interested.

-Ben