PVC Instrument Tutorial, part 3

I started on my version of the base today. I wandered aimlessly around both Home Depot and Lowes trying to get less expensive ideas on how to make this portable and not so heavy that it can't BE portable.

I came up with this idea: top in a white particle board shelf, 4 feet long by 12 inches. I did the math and got myself 14 squares for white keys that I will drill out, with 3/4 inches between each
tube. The sharps are 1 inch above the naturals.

In this photo you can see how the squares came out. Each square has a center that I've found and will drill out with a 2.5 inch core bit It will take out the whole circle at once. I got all 14 white keys and 7 sharps on this 4 foot shelf.

Here are a few holes drilled out. I checked the holes with a few tubes but didn't take a photo of it. I want to surprise you with the whole thing when it's finished.

It was a gorgeous day today, 60* in Denver, when it was so cold in Miami!! Unfortunately, my cordless drill just wasn't up to the big job of drilling through 1 inch particle board. I got 14 holes done and my neighbor is lending me his corded drill to finish up the rest tomorrow.

This board will be help up by four legs of PVC tubing, the back and sides will have horizontal supports but the front will be open. The bottom will be another board, or just a base of PVC, I will figure that out tomorrow. But it will not be as expensive as the first base I was thinking of, and not nearly as heavy, either.