Need help Tuning a new coil

["Tesla list" <tesla@xxxxxxxxxx>]

Original poster: JBarrett@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx 

Hello,
I recently rebuilt my first coil but it still doesn't fire.
Specs:
21" of 22 guage wire on a 4" PVC pipe
12,000 volt 30 ma Neon Sign Transformer
9 pieces of 1" thick wall copper pipes 6" long for spark gap
small fan to cool gap 9 pipes 8 gaps spaced very close but not touching
Small Aluminum Toroid probably 8" across and 3 to 4 inches minor diameter
Safety gap with 30k 4700 doorknob type capacitors (5) paralleled after 
safety gap
1 1000 ohm/50W ceramic wire wound resistors in series of each high voltage 
leg of the Neon transformer
The safety gap is like the one shown at 
<http://hot-streamer.com/greg/filter.htm>http://hot-streamer.com/greg/filter.htm
I tried two separate caps 1 is a Universal Voltronics 28 kvdc 0.01 uf oil 
filled
the other is a GE 0.01 25 kvdc 700 disch/sec
I'm also using a variac to control the Neon Sign Transformer
Two 8 foot ground rods

What's happening is the spark gap begins to fire at about 50% power and 
gets louder to about 80% power then begins to subside at 100%. It just 
doesn't seem like this thing has got any power. I downloaded some tuning 
instructions from Mike Hammer's web site but no adjustment has made a 
difference. I held a Fluorescent bulb next to the coil but it didn't 
flicker. Safety gap hasn't fired either. Transformer and caps test OK.

HELP!
JIM