I'm in the final stages of completing my backup custom console, the lights and sign are now installed, and the laptop is in place. Still have to mount the stuff inside, but I ran out of Industrial Strength Velcro so it will have to wait to the weekend to be completed. Here's some photos, however, just to give you an idea of how it looks.

1. With just the office florescent light on this is the view from the back.



2. With just the office light, which is a standard, ceiling panel florescent light that is the same as a shop light, you cannot see the sign on the front of the console.



3. Next, I turned the office lights off, therefore, the only light showing on the keyboard and console are from those tiny 18-inch strips of LEDs.



4. The view from the front with no lights other than the LEDs clearly lights the sign and the floor directly beneath the keyboard.



I sincerely believe this setup would be very beneficial to someone working in a dimly lit area such as a restaurant/bar/club situation. You can easily see the keyboard, the sign, and the reflected light from the top of the keyboard lights the player up with a great, soft light that puts forth a wonderful mood for dancers.

The console fits nicely on the top tier of my Quick-Loc QL-642, double-braced keyboard stand. The top of the console is just 2.5 inches above the top of the keyboard, therefore the 11-inch laptop does not obstruct the view of the audience to the player at all.

The main advantage of the console is that it holds everything that would normally either be sitting on the floor, and because of the way I have it set up, all the wires stay plugged into the laptop, vocal processor and power supplies. Even the foot pedal for the vocal processor stays plugged in and the pedal is attached with Velcro inside the console when it's being transported. I've built about 10 of these, and decided that I'm not going to build any more. When I built the first one, the cost of the aluminum was under $20 including the labor to have it bent into the shape I wanted. The same piece of aluminum today is $50.

When I finish mounting all the other items inside, I'll shoot some additional photos.

Cheers,

Gary