Drawknob Font Question

Simple (sorta) question - which font was generally used on Aeolian-Skinner drawknobs? Also the thumb pistons?

Rgds,
Ed

Skinner engraving was done in-house. I just happened to be looking at Skinner engraving Saturday. Very poor quality. No depth control. Templates irregularly sized - the "I" was taller than other letters for example (by quite a bit). (Opus 890, 1932).

The following picture shows the font. This example, engraving clearly done more carefully than the preceding, does give a bit of an idea of the irregularity of depth, however.

http://database.organsociety.org/photos/NC/Asheville.BiltmoreEsta.1995JAllenFarm.20130913.093130.jpg

What a strange group of stops for a Great.

Skinner engraving was done in-house. I just happened to be looking at Skinner engraving Saturday. Very poor quality. No depth control. Templates irregularly sized - the "I" was taller than other letters for example (by quite a bit).

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Very interesting, Richard.. I seemed to notice that "defect" on 2 different Skinners I recently played and just attributed it to age (both mine and the organ's) but not thinking in terms of an engraving issue. This, (coupled) by the fact that I'm redoing two H/W instruments presently, focused much more attention to small details than during the initial build.

As far as the font, the nearest I have available is Sanserif. Does that seem to be correct or is there a better one?

And there are certain so called defects in some items that tend to increase the value in them. I don't intend to follow that line of thinking, but rather I want to be as correct as possible.

Rgds,
Ed

I have found the "DIN 1451 Engschrift" font (Adobe Type Library and various free versions are available) is the best match for template engraving on drawstops. Certainly better than standard computer Sans Serif fonts.

- Adrian.

We currently do most of our engraving by laser. When we have tried to match Skinner drawknobs in the past we use the Condensed Block font on the engraver. You will notice the font on a single drawknob is not consistent. It looks like more than one person was involved in the template process.

What a strange group of stops for a Great.

The organ pictured uses the same stops for both the Great and Swell.

The organ pictured uses the same stops for both the Great and Swell.

Isn't that a little unusual? Couldn't the same effect be had with inter manual coupling?

Rgds,
Ed

You'd have to have both Swell to Great and Great to Swell and have both on at once to get precisely the same effect.
But it certainly seems strange to me.

If you want to look for a suitable font then try the DAFONT web site: http://www.dafont.com and search for Sans Serif (and Free ).

These looked promising: Steelfish, Kenyan Coffee and SF Movie Poster although most fonts do not seem to have a "plain" figure 1 - you could use a letter "I", instead. "Condensed" "W"'s are in short supply as well.

https://goo.gl/RVDV0q

Maybe a font editor like Type Light may help to add the finishing touches. http://www.freetype.org

Regards,

Found GulimChe font using capitol I for the number one works. Not exactly the correct 3 or correct 4, but quite readable.

Rgds,
Ed