Organs that come apart?

[libraryguy]

Hello all,
My Gulbransen President has gone out so I'm going to replace it. I no longer have the living room space according to my wife. I do have an upstairs bedroom I can use as the organ loft. I once had a Lowrey Mardi Gras in there. I want something better than that for my "new" organ. I currently have a Yamaha PSR 248 hooked to a Roland Keyboard amp as my "organ rig".

Are there any makes or models that separate for easy moving? I know nothing about MIDI or virtual organs so I'm not going that way. I've got a few hundred bucks to work with and I need to be able to haul it (the organ, not the money) in a Ford Ranger.

I would consider actual disassembly if it not a complicated organ.

With no playable organ I've been spending my time on my piano and accordion.

Any recommendations?

Thanks

[jbird604]

I used to have a Yamaha HX-1 for a home organ. It's an interesting instrument, sort of a classic model that still has a cult following of sorts on the internet. Here's a link to the thread I started about that organ:

http://www.organforum.com/forums/sho...-as-home-organ

This model can be disassembled with ease, as the bench and pedals are separate pieces (as with most organs), and the base detaches from the upper portion that contains the keyboards, the operating controls, and most of the tone generator circuits. It's still pretty darn heavy, at least the upper portion is, but it can be managed much more easily than an all-in-one-piece console organ. If you have a helper or two with strong arms and legs, you can manhandle it up your stairs. The remaining parts aren't all that heavy, it's just the keyboard unit that gets you.

It doesn't have any built-in speakers and was meant to be paired with a pair of Yamaha tone cabinets that are sold with it. I didn't have the original tone cabinets and used a couple of good quality speakers driven by a decent little amplifier. If you're only playing it in a normal living room, you don't need a huge amount of audio power anyway.

There were, I believe, other Yamaha "combo" type organs that also came apart like this. The downside, as I mentioned in the thread referenced above, is that these organs don't exactly operate like a simple straightforward organ, such as your old Gulbransen and the various Allens I was accustomed to. You have to explore the resources of the thing and learn how to assign the sounds to the various presets for easy recall. But once you learn how it works and get used to it, it's ok.

They may be out of your budgeted range, but there are of course modern digital organs such as the Hammond "clones" from Viscount, Roland, and other makers that are modular too, with a keyboard unit, a separate stand, an add-on pedalboard, and so on. These are also quite easily moved around and carried up the stairs. But if you buy one of these new or nearly new you may be looking at a few thousand dollars.

[eblues]

The Technics EA5 (44 keys), GA1/GA3/G100 (49 keys), FA1/F100 (full consoles) can all separate base from main unit. Only common problem with these is a dodgy tempo wheel, which is fixable and part is available from a UK supplier (last I checked).

The Roland AT series also splits in half. I've read advice that one should stick with the "S" series or newer to avoid problems, but have no personal experience with the Rolands.

There may be others, these are the only two series I know about. They are generally regarded among the best of electronic organs from their era (1990's).

[libraryguy]

Well that's good to know I have a few choices. The Technics 49/20 models mentioned in the earlier post are of interest to me.

I didn't mention that the organ has to pass through a 22" opening to get in the bedroom (organ loft). I'm going to make a cardboard template to slide through the opening to get an idea of maximum dimensions if I slide an organ in on it's end. I got the Mardi Gras in that way.

Since I'm parting with the President I was wondering about what to keep. Although I don't understand MIDI I realized I've got a friend who has built a MIDI organ. I was going to keep the 25 note pedalboard and the associated contacts, the bench and the internal rotating speaker. Everything else depends on what we can do and the cost. Its on CL for free now in Dallas Texas. I don't plan to be there when my son pitches the organ if that is what has to be done. I've had an instrument since age 14 and I'm now 60. This is going to be hard and I'm sure some of you understand.

[GrowlingDog]

Any of the Technics will happily go through a 22 inch gap, I just had a quick measure.

The tempo wheel fix is still available from these people in the UK. http://www.wdgreenhill.com/ I had mine replaced a few weeks ago and found out from the engineer they have a few thousand in stock as they had a batch custome made a couple of years ago.