Product stat --- electronic organs.

[mattl]

Interesting post. Got me doing a bit of research on my organ. I have not touched it in decades, always seemed to have issues. It's the Lawerence Welk model of Thomas Organ, my folks bought it new when I was a kid. It seemed to always have issues, and has been relegated to the basement for many many years. Found there are groups similar to this one dedicated to organs. Seems that the organ may need to be re capped and a number if the transistors replaced along with a good contact cleaning to get it up and running.

If I recall it was close to $3k back in the late 60's , not an insignificant amount. From what I read not much value today, even working, organs sure have fallen out of favor. Truth be told I have not touched the piano or organ in many years, not sure exactly why. I was quite good, my piano teacher kept trying to get me to play cocktail piano in rest. and bars but I was a teen and that was the last thing on my mind. I'm sure I have forgotten 98% of what I used to know! any one else here walk away from an instrument?

 

[Unimatic1140]

Thank you Matt for creating this thread! The article referenced is here from yesterday...

http://www.productstat.com/reviews/church-organs

 

[paulg]

Funny you should bring this up

Mitch and I are former organists and we are embarking on a new project now. We are gutting an old pipe-organ console and turning it into a "virtual pipe organ" using HAUPTWERK sampling.
You may want to visit www.hauptwerk.com for starters.
So instead of fussing over the older innards, you can gut it. I think ARTISAN is the vendor we will be using for circuitry.
Beware of bad key contacts. We have a 1973 CONN that uses contact rods that will not respond to cleaning. That unit may not be repairable. Some of these home-use organs don't age well, but you may be able to have new, digital fun with it if you have enough keys and the contacts survived.
I've repaired various brands of organs over time but the CONNs just don't age well. Sometimes, if age has taken its toll on the keys and contacts you just have to walk away from the console though. You'll need to assess the condition of your console. Or maybe check to see if anyone has done a midi-rehab on a Thomas.
I've not repaired a Thomas so I don't know the survivability of that brand.

 

[mattl]

The keys were never an issue, but that may have changed over time.  Seems the greatest issue is with these organs is the failure of many of the transistors, luckily they are cheap if I ever go the repair route.  Perhaps someday it might be fun challenge, but I'm not willing to invest too much money in it.

 

the Hauptwerk site looks interesting, I'm sure the tech today blows all of the old stuff out of the water.  I bookmarked the site and will look into it a bit more.  Though I imagine interfacing the keyboards could be a challenge,  hope your conversion goes well, please post an update.