Special Event Design

Tower Records

Dan Litwiller from Rochester Christian Church in Rochester, IL brings us this design from their series “Oldies But Goodies”.

They mounted empty record albums to a flattened cardboard box that would measure 4′ by 4′. Then they screwed three of the record “montages” to a 4′ by 12′ canvas and hung it from the light battens.

The albums were lit from the front with a Chauvet Colorbatten 72 and from behind with another one.

Dan wanted the look of the front of the stage from an “old time theater” that has the lights built into the front. So he made light bars for the front of the stage.

For the light bars, he used aluminum studs and stacked one on top of the other. He cut holes in the top stud for the light sockets to come through. (Since these studs were so flimsy, he thought the best route would be to turn it upside down and screw it to a 2×6 and then use a metal hole saw to cut the holes. This was an extra step, but worked great, and was definitely necessary in keeping these from torquing and twisting.)

For the wiring he used lamp cords that he had from a previous stage design (purchased from Paperlanternstore.com). He also used antique lightbulbs that he had from a previous stage design as well (purchased from http://www.1000bulbs.com/product/7623/IN-L2780.html) He put a power strip at one end and ran a short extension cord to the opposite side of the light for the last three bulbs to plug into. He cut three “tabs” into the studs so he could screw them together using short sheet metal screws. The power strips plugged into a theater light channel so they can be dimmed from the board.

This project really didn’t cost them much at all. they were able to get 95% of the albums for free from a record store, because people didn’t want them. A few Dan bought at garage sale or Salvation Army and Goodwill. The Studs cost $3.50 ea, the screws were $3 something for a box and he already had the lamp cords, the power strips and most of the bulbs. He spent around $60.00 on the whole project.

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Vintageness Gold Rush

One response to “Tower Records”

  1. michael neto says:

    What is the spacing in between the light bulbs and what is the wattage on the light bulbs?

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