You can use any pipes you want in a home-made band organ ... unless
you want it to sound like a band organ.  The following discussion
isn't meant to put down the idea of building your own band organ,
but to introduce you to the thought process that hopefully will
produce a more satisfying end result.

Have you thought about what kind of sound you actually want?  There
are many different band organs with many different sounds.  For some
extremely different examples, do you understand why a Gavioli, Bruder,
Decap, Wurlitzer and Dave Wasson's modern organ all sound completely
different?

I you have more listening experience on a more sophisticated level,
do you know exactly why a Mortier dance organ sounds different from
a Decap or a Dutch street organ?  Why the usual Bruder sounds entirely
different from a Bruder Elite Apollo Orchestra?  Why an early Ruth
sounds different from a Voigt/Ruth with Philipps orchestrion violins
and late style ocarinas, even when they both play the same music
arrangements?  Why a Wurlitzer 157 and 165 sound so different playing
the same style of rolls?  On an even more critical level, why one
Wurlitzer 157 sounds different from another 157, or why most Dutch
street organs sound different from one another?

Wurlitzer was the largest company that made both theatre organs and
band organs.  You might want to spend some time carefully studying
why that firm used pipes of different scales and designs for these two
vastly different sounding instruments.  To begin, compare the ratio
of violin and cello pipes to various forms of open and stopped flutes
in band organs vs. pipe organs.  Then measure the keen metal string
pipes in several pipe organs and compare them -- not only structurally,
but tonally -- with the robust wooden string pipes having brass freins
in band organs.  If you want a band organ that sounds like a band
organ, consider measuring and copying the pipes in a band organ that
you like!

You might also want to study the work of several successful hobbyists
to see how they approached the challenge.  One example was the late
Ken Smith, who meticulously copied several original band organs,
spending years of his spare time on each one.

For a completely different example, another example is Dave Wasson, who
has built a fine organ of his own design.  When you see him at a rally
and hear "Trudy," ask him how much time he spent creating the organ and
its music.  Building an interesting-sounding, well-balanced organ will
take a fine musical ear and a lot of time-consuming work!

Art Reblitz