[sdiy] optical retrofit for minis?

[Glen]

At 01:31 PM 3/22/2005 , david at therogoffs.com wrote:
>
>/key (2 reed switches + magnet).
>> 
>> I worked on one old Hammond where somebody had removed the original pedal 
>> actuators and installed reed switches for some aftermarket bass feature.  
>The 
>> problem with those is they break...
>> 
>
>I don't understand why they would break.  They are very tough.  Of course, 
>if you hit the glass casing with a hammer...

Yeah, that's what I was thinking. The use of reed switches for pedal boards
is standard practice on every Rodgers organ ever made in America. They work
perfectly for this application, and I've never seen one physically break.
I've also never seen a situation where one of the contacts "needed
cleaning", because these things are hermetically sealed, and the low
current demand doesn't cause any appreciable pitting of the contacts. Some
of the old Rogers organs I've seen predate the Minimoog. I never saw an old
Rodgers with a pedal contact problem caused by broken reeds or failing
contact inside the reed. Usually, the magnet falls off the pedal stick
before the reed fails. (I have seen that happen.)  LOL

I suspect that someone just didn't know what they were doing when they put
them into the Hammond. They did move the magnet, while holding the reed
switch stationary, didn't they? Attaching the reed switch to the moving
part is the backwards way to do this sort of thing.

I think reed switches should work pretty well for a Moog pedal board. Just
be sure to provide some mechanical adjustment in either the mounting of the
magnet, or the mounting of the reed. There is a certain amount of variation
in the trip point of different magnet and reed combinations.


take care,
Glen