Converting a Dead Organ to Writing Desk - Furniture Upcycle

In this instructable we go through the process of converting an EX60 Technics organ into a writing desk. The same process can be applied to the conversion of any organ, or even a piano, with basic woodworking skills and tools.

Many lovely old upright music organs are dumped rather than repaired when faulty. Upcycling an organ into a desk is as simple as removing the keyboards and associated electronics, fitting a flat desktop surface and making it all look pretty again. Along the way there will be lots of fun little problems to solve, things like roll-tops made to work properly when closed and then cleverly hidden when open.

I won't go into the electronics side of things in this instructable, however, if the amplifier is still working you have even more options (often it is the main music processing board that fails, not the amplifier). With some basic electronics and soldering skills, connections can be added to play your favourite music from a laptop, music player or phone as well.

My aim in this instructable is to inspire others to upcycle and convert junk into something useful. I originally did this conversion in 2006 and only have a small number of photos of the process. I recently dissembled the converted desk to photograph the parts to show what was done and how simple it was to make the finished desk.

This is dedicated to my father, who owned the organ I converted to a writing/computer desk. He was an upcycler and repurposer himself, evident in the DIY sheet music light made from an old microphone goose neck and bed headboard reading lamp. He was disappointed when his organ died and found it wasn't repairable. He was pleased to see skills I learnt from him be used to turn his loved music machine into something useful rather than taking up space in a landfill.

Complexity: Moderate

Materials: Wood

Skills: Basic Woodworking and Problem Solving

Time: 6-8 hours

Equipment Required

The result can be easily achieved with hand tools; power tools just make the job quicker and a bit more convenient. Note: Sizes of sheet material will depend on the size of the desktop surface you are fitting.

Tools:

• Screwdrivers
• Hammer
• Chisels
• Handsaw
• Fretsaw (if making curved formers for shaping curve in plywood back)
• Clamps
• Marking-out Tools (pencil, ruler, tape measure)
• Level
• Straight Edge
• Try Square or Engineers Square

Materials:

• PVA wood glue (epoxy or construction adhesive may also be suitable)
• Flat sheet plywood or MDF for the desktop surface
• 2mm (5/64") thin plywood (if you want to hide the roll-top like I did)
• 20mm (3/4") x 20mm (3/4") wood railing (if required)
• Screws and nails
• Gap filler or wood filler putty
• Sandpaper
• Large sections of cardboard for templates
• Wood stain matching the colour of the organ
• Polyurethane
• Paint of your favourite colour for beautifying the project and hiding/enhancing mistakes:-)
• Brushes
• Masking tape and newspaper

Remove the screws and back cover from the rear of the organ to gain access to the keyboards and electronics. On the Technics organ, the wooden top panel slides forward, then lifts upwards to remove. On other organs this top panel may have screws holding the panel in place. Now remove the roll-top by lifting the roll-top straight up and out.

The keyboards and switch panel are hinged against the side walls of the organ and held in place by long screws from under the front of the organ. Remove all the screws from the bottom and hinge points. Reach into the open cavity and pull out the keyboards and all the electronic panels.

Using a chisel and hammer, carefully cut off the wooden blocks that are glued to the inner side walls, leaving smooth surfaces.

I've added photos of the internals of a similar Technics organ so you can see more of what is inside that needs to be removed. Thanks to Tim Seifert, South Australia for use of his images.

Depending on the front height of the keyboard cavity and how the original base is supported, you may be able to fit the new desktop surface without removing the old base panel. The depth from the top of the front edge of the final work surface to the base where the electronics were removed, will determine whether a new flat sheet will fit on top of the base or the base will need to be removed and support rails fitted to hold the new work surface in place.

Another option is to carefully fill the holes and gaps in the base panel, sand it all smooth/flat, then paint, cover with a decorative vinyl stick-on layer, or glue on a thin laminate if it is already close to the right height.

On the Technics organ, the old base sheet of chipboard needed to be removed completely and a new surface put in its place. The original chipboard base was carefully chiselled out, and support rails were needed to hold the new desktop surface at the correct height.

Cut the base panel out of the keyboard cavity with a handsaw. Avoid marking the side walls with the saw teeth by cutting about 5mm (1/4") in from the side walls and front. With a sharp chisel, remove the leftover 5mm (1/4") of the base panel to be flush with the side walls and front.

The front edge, where the new desktop surface would butt up against, was determined by taking a straight line from the right hand side, at the boundary between the original base panel and decorative vinyl wood covering, to the left hand side and parallel with the front.

This was marked out with masking tape to define a parallel edge with the front. Cut as close as possible to the tape marked boundary line with a handsaw, then chisel and sand it down to the tape edge. Regular checking with a straight edge and try square will help keep the edge the correct shape for mating the front edge of the new desktop surface.

The more accurate you cut this front edge the nicer the join will look, so be patient, take your time to prep this area to have a nice finished product.

If you do slip or mess up the edge, solutions are at hand. Use an epoxy glue, expanding PVC glue, rubberised type construction adhesive or even a thin foam/rubber window weather seal to take up the gaps. Then use the join as a feature to show the delineation line between the old organ and the new desktop by painting a thin black line over the join.

Depending on the final colour you chose for the desktop surface, this will also help mask or enhance the look of the join connection between the two areas.

Now that you have an open space to fill with a new desktop surface, material choice may be important. A lot will depend on what finished look you want and what you have available, along with the depth of the gap you need to fill. Basic plywood or MDF are very suitable and only need to be between 12-19mm (1/2"-3/4") thick. Pallet wood slats could be made to work too, assuming you aren't concerned with the unevenness. (That would be fine for a computer/laptop desk, but not so great if you need a neat flat surface for actual handwriting... Does anyone hand-write anything any more?)

This organ wasn't an antique piece, it was manufactured in the 80s with chipboard and thin vinyl wood-grain-look veneer with plastic edging. I wasn't going to get carried away with anything fancy. I used a piece of leftover MDF, about the right size, knowing I also had some stain that would work well enough to match.

I have seen some very cool looking epoxy covered coffee tables. If I were doing this again, I would try something similar for the new desktop surface, arranging the original keyboard keys down and layering this with epoxy to trick the eye that the instrument was still there. The options are only limited by your creativity.

Measure to the nearest millimetre (or fraction of an inch) from inside edge across to inside edge of the side walls, at the back AND front, where the desktop surface panel will fit. Cut your flat sheet of chosen desktop material (plywood or MDF) to the measured width, then test fit. The width of the desktop surface needs to be a snug fit or you will need to use a gap filler to hide the cracks on each side. Trim if necessary to get a good fit.

Depending on how complex the shape/space is, making a cardboard template first and cutting that to fit is a good option. This is particularly important if the edges aren't square or parallel due to cutting misadventures, or the shape is an odd one. Many a time have I cut a square and parallel panel only to find the hole is a parallelogram (or some other "-gram" or "-gon" shape) and had to start fresh because the cut piece couldn't be made to fit nicely!

Using clamps or a helper, support the desktop surface in place with its leading edge level and flush with the front portion of the keyboard cavity. Mark a pencil line against each inside wall from the bottom of the desktop surface to indicate your support rail placement. Mark the back of the desktop surface panel for cutting the rear of the panel flush with the back of the cavity. As above, don't assume the manufacturer made the unit square; mark things to the shape of the hole you want to fit.

Remove the desktop panel surface and cut on the marked line for the measured rear length.

Cut two 20mm (3/4") x 20mm (3/4") wood support rails to the same width of the desktop panel for the side supports. Cut one 20mm (3/4") x 20mm (3/4") wood support rail to the same length as the desktop panel minus 40mm (1.5") for the front support. Depending on how much space you have to work with, your rails may be thicker or thinner material to suit.

Screw and glue the two side support rails into place, making sure the tops of the rails are even and level with the marked pencil lines on the cavity walls. Screw and glue the front support rail into place with its ends level with the side support rails. You may want to take an off-cut from the desktop surface panel and use that to align the front rail for the correct height with the top front edge to know the surfaces will be level when fixing the rail in place.

Slide the desktop panel surface into place on the support rails and make any adjustments to ensure the leading edge is level with the top of the cavity front. If it is too high, feather the edge of the desktop panel with sandpaper. If it's too low, pack card or paper between the support rail and panel to bring the height up. Screw from beneath the support rails to hold the desktop panel surface into place. Screw the organ's rear panel back into place.

Keeping the roll-top requires additional work in tidying up the back of the cavity to hide the roll-top when open. This is where your problem solving skills come in. Depending on the organ, you may be able to get away with just leaving the roll-top in place and not having to do any work, or remove it completely and not worry about it.

My Technics organ required a piece at the back of the cavity to prevent pens and items rolling off into the abyss that the roll-top descended into. I could have gotten away with a small straight flat section screwed to the back of the desktop panel surface but I decided to get creative and form a curved section that would hide the whole top when open.

Hiding the roll-top at the back can be done with a piece of bendy or thin plywood formed to the curved shape of the roller track and glued in place. I had a great time learning about steam bending the wooden strips I glued in place to help hold the shape of the plywood back. There isn't any load on this section so realistically you could make this out of card stock or make one up out of paper mâché.

I used New Zealand native Rimu wood for the strips, thinking that would be better, and gluing with epoxy to keep everything tight. Curved formers were made to hold the strips in place with clamps to retain their shape after steaming. I've learnt a lot since then; now I would use thinner strips of pine and just PVA glue them while clamped on the larger former for the whole section at once.

The 2mm (5/64") section of thin plywood was sprayed with water then rolled up and bound in a cylinder then left for a day. The curved strengthening strips along with two end sections were then epoxied to the plywood and clamped up in a jig made with the curved formers.

A thin section of Rimu was cut and glued to stiffen up the top edge of the plywood and keep it straight. Part of this Rimu edging then needed to be cut away to enable the roll-top stop screws to fit in place.

The metal stop brackets on the roll-top were moved to the edge to catch on the stop screws put on each side. Rubber tubing was cut to size to fit over the long roll-top stop screws to prevent banging and provide a little shock absorbing to the stops.

Now when the top is closed, the desk looks like the original organ, helping hide my laptop and devices. I still have the key so it can be locked as normal.

Sand everything down and prep for staining/painting/coating. Using a colour matching the original organ, I stained the desktop surface and any bare areas, such as the inside of the rear panel and underside of the top panel. Cover the stained surfaces with two coats of satin polyurethane according to manufacturer's instructions.

I got a fairly good match in colour between the original and new surfaces to make the finished desk look professional enough for me. This is where you apply more of your creative flare and make it look good enough for you.

• You may need to make a footstool for your feet, depending on the height of the seat you use with the desk. I used some decking off-cuts to make mine (more trash to treasure for you right there).
• Add a power bar so you have somewhere to plug in and power your devices. Use cable retention clamps to keep power cables in place and safe from damage by the roll-top.
• If you have some electronics knowledge, you could reuse the amplifier, putting connections on the pre-amp stage for your laptop. I connected up the original red LED power indicator on the front to work again when the amplifier was powered up. The foot volume pedal still works to control how loud the music plays.
• There is also the possibility of using the foot pedals to operate switches for lights or muting sound.
• If the amplifier isn't working and/or you're not electronically inclined, the amp and speakers can all be removed and the cavity area turned into a cupboard or shelving area for extra storage.

Enjoy your new desk.