Electronic Organ Page
Retro
Electronics and Audio Lab, Midland, TX. 6/27/07
In addition to Hammond, we have also successfully repaired Baldwin, Kimball, Lowrey, and Allen organs.
Organ and Piano Page
Allen
Allen Digital
Computer Organ:
part of Chad's collection. You can also see a Hammond BC in the
photo.
Allen Digital Computer organ at Midland Lutheran Church:
this is one of the original Allen computer organs from 1971. Chad plays
this organ at church on Sundays. Front
view. Stop
tabs 1. Stop
tabs 2. Stop
tabs 3. ML
church sanctuary.
Baldwin
1958
Baldwin
Orga-Sonic: This organ had many capacitors replaced in the
amp, percussion, and tone control chassis. New woofers were installed.
A new 12AU7 tube was needed in the A#/B generator circuit. Controls and
pedal key switches were all cleaned. Front View,
Rear view with amp and tone
generator module disconnected, Amp
closeup view, Amp on the
bench for repair. Amp
re-installed in organ for testing. Replacing
Capacitors in the Percussion Chassis.
Early
1970's
Baldwin Cinema II: This organ had distortion in the F#
keys below a certain pitch level. Someone had soldered on a
aftermarket connection to the F# tone generator board...removing
the connection restored the proper tone quality. We also fixed a
ciphering note in the pedal. Front
View, Chad checking inside
the Baldwin.
Lowrey
1977 Lowrey Magic
Genie 44
Upon an evaluation at the client's house, there was hum and only very
feeble sound when the keys were played. I figured it was bad
capacitors, and I was right. We checked the can filter caps with the
ESR meter and found that one can had very high ESR and was also
bulging. We replaced all the caps in the amp/power supply and upgraded
the power supply caps to higher capacitance values and voltage ratings.
We used an innovative
solution to replace the caps...there was not enough room under the
chassis, so we installed a Radio Shack mini-box on top of the chassis
and installed terminal strips in it, and put the new filter caps in it.
The result is a safe, neat, straightforward installation.
The new caps brought back
good performance of the Lowrey.
Photos: Rear
view before repairs. Amp
chassis before repairs (underside). New
capacitors installed.
Rear
view, repairs completed. Front
view. Another
front
view.
Wurlitzer
Wurlitzer tube-type organ.
We took in this organ as a trade-in as it will need extensive work and
the client wanted a more modern organ with percussion and rhythm. It
uses 12FQ8 tubes in the tone generators which are very unusual...I have
never seen these tubes before. They are twin double-plate triodes. Here is some more
information about the 12FQ8. Hope none of these
tubes are bad! The amp uses a conventional 6L6 and 5U4 setup.
Pictures:
Front
view.
Wurlitzer 2-manual Amplified Reed Organ. I
went to look at this organ to see if I would like to buy it and am
still thinking about it. It is a large sized 2 manual and pedal organ
with AGO spec pedals from the late 1940's or early 50's. It uses
air-operated reeds which, when vibrating, change the capacitance in a
circuit. This change in capacitance is translated into an audio tone.
It seems to work somewhat but would need new capacitors and wiring
repair. The speaker cabinet has rotating paddles to produce a
Leslie-like effect.
Console
front view. Stops
view 1, Swell and Pedal. Stops
view 2, Great. Pedals.
Speaker
Cabinet Nameplate
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