Midi-fying reed organ manuals

I have a reed organ and like to have a MIDI signal out of it.
I have finished the pedalboard but still the 2 manuals have to be done.

MIDI9 have a nice midi strip but for me it is to expensive and not easy to find on the european market.

Does anyone know if there are key-boards with a build in contact-strip?

If the switches are seperated from the key, it also might fit unther the key's of my reed organ.

Henk.

Hi. I pulled apart an older Casio keyboard to check out the key contacts (it is equipped with MIDI sockets) and found an array of plastic covered switches that are activated as the key is depressed. If you study the geometry of this tpe of switch, I can't see why a couple of small screws, mounted under the wooden keys of the reed organ, couldn't provide the identical activation (part of such a keyboard would need to be installed inside the casework below the keys, of course). Certainly these older keyboards can be bought for just a few dollars and if you go slowly, you can't do any permament damage (just treat the LSI boards with respect).

Good luck, it's fun experimenting.

thanks Stephen,

It certainly is fun to experiment.

The challenge is to combine an old style organ (the only "modern" component in this instrument is the electrical driven blower) with a present-day technic of a LSI board.

I planned to make a scaled drawing of my reed-organs keyboards.
Then I can see how large the available area is. The reed organ should remain functioning.
Also I have to determine the stroke of a key and compare this with the desired stroke of the electrical switch. The level of the key when the switch is just operated should not be to low.( a midi signal should appear when a key is only a view mm pressed down)
Just a view thoughts

Need to go now to the church.
Henk