What have I done?

[Snowbandit]

Having suffered continuous problems with my old Wurlitzer I made an offer on a Rodgers from a church that's getting a new organ. I just found out that the offer has been accepted so we should be swapping organs next week sometime. The Rodgers is a Jamestown 100 II that the church bought new and has never been moved from the balcony in the back of the church. The cabinet is in fine shape, all keys and stops worked when I checked them and it has the full AGO petals. Speakers were removed from the console many years ago and placed in the front of the church. They go with the organ so I know I'll have to get inside to reinstall them. I've already located a service manual for the Rodgers so I'll get that coming pretty soon here. What are the pitfalls and potential problems I should be looking for?

[jbird604]

Well, that thing is DARNED heavy, so be careful getting it down out of the balcony! .... But, it should make a decent practice organ, basic analog Rodgers stoplist. If you decode the service manual carefully you should be able to re-mount the speakers in the console, if that is your plan. I see quite a few Rodgers organs of that era still in service, and few problems arise other than the deterioration of the rubber bushings in the keyboard (keys get unlevel and noisy), which requires quite a tedious repair if you decide to do it. Also, the yellow square fuse-holders on the amp chassis (if this one has that style) get brittle and you'll have to order new ones from somewhere if they break. Can't think of any other notable problems. Good luck and happy playing!

[arie v]

Hi,

These old Rodgers organs were built tough, and they tended to last a long time.

What can go wrong? Anything, but typically the following,

1) since the organ dates from the 70s, power supply capacitors likely need replacement
2) there is a lamp in the expression circuit - and you know what happens to lamps don't ya?
3) i'm not sure when Rodgers went to the bifurcated keyboard contact system, but you may find some of the key contacts either ready to break, or worn. May need cleaning and or replacement
4) organ will likely need tuning - unless the church actually had it done once in a while. Usually once every 5 years is sufficient.
5) pedalboard may need tensioning
6) some of the potentiometers on the keyers and mixer board may have corroded at the contact point and give false readings. Best to exercise them and reset them when "voicing" the organ.

AV

[Snowbandit]

Near as I can tell from information available online there should be 4 speakers plus the leslie that would have originally been in the console. Who is the best source for parts on these? I'm going to miss dealing with Morelock's but, with any luck, I won't need so many parts either. Service manual has been paid for so it should be here about the same time the organ arrives.

[Snowbandit]

It appears we will be moving this Rodgers next Monday. Anyone have ideas or suggestions of things we should be watching out for on this instrument? How much does it weigh anyway? The church has told me there will be plenty of help to get it out of the balcony and on my trailer. I just don't want to bust anything up unnecessarily.

When I get it home it only has to go up one step. My wife and I managed to handle getting the Wurlitzer in by ourselves and I understand that it weighs 385# without the petals. I have one 4-wheel furniture dolly and that's all we needed for the Wurlitzer. Maybe I should pick up a second set for moving the Rodgers? No sense getting hurt.

[indianajo]

My church had 7 deacons and two dollies (HF) on a 300 lb piano and they still managed to slide it off one of the dollies (the lead) onto the mud in the middle of a hill. Then we went back and put it on my one 1200 lb rubber pad dolly with the 5" wheels, actually got the plywood sheets out of the truck and rolled it sedately down the hill on plywood and over the aluminum track transom by tipping the dolly like pros. (You push down on the back end, first). If you do use a 4 wheel dolly on rough ground, remove the music rack and maybe the top, protect the keys with thick cardboard, and strap it in place around the organ. And roll on plywood.
If you have a lot of stairs to go down, I would bind the organ case horizontally with a 2000 lb car strap, with a rope tied in a loop on the upper end. I would hook a >1 1/2" dia. pipe through a door or window on the balcony, padded against the wall with phone books or catalogs. Then with 3 each or more 15' log chains and a porta-pull device (mine is 1000 lb 12" takdup), I would winch the organ down the steps on a plywood sheet. A plastic sheet (I use 2'x4'x1/8" UHMW plastic) under the leading end makes the organ slide easily on carpet or transoms or whatever. Then the untrained labor force can be effectively used keeping the organ upright, straight or bend around turns, and keep the bottom from hanging on things.
Good luck. The Baldwin Hamilton pro-AGO case at Salvation Army looks way heavier and bigger than it needs to be, I hope this is not the same. The Rogers at Jeffersonville downtown Catholic church looked even bigger and heavier, with a panel of 1" push buttons on the side.

[Snowbandit]

Finally, after almost three weeks in Customs Prison, the new Alhborn Gilanti the church ordered has arrived. It's scheduled to be installed on Wednesday, January 4, and I get the Rodgers that's being replaced. This was all suppose to have happened around Thanksgiving but it looks like it's actually going to happen now for sure. Getting the Rodgers out of the balcony shouldn't be too bad because the installers will be there to help and will have all the necessary equipment. From the parking lot to the church lobby is all flat and paved so I can back my trailer right up to the door for loading. My trailer has a ramp so we should be in good shape there with furniture dollies. Once I get it home I can drop the trailer ramp on my front porch and roll it off into the living room. No steps and very little slope. Then I'll start to reinstall the speakers and hope everything goes together right. Does anyone have an idea what this beast weighs? The Wurlitzer weighs 385 pounds and my wife and I handled it fairly easily. Will I need more, different, help to move the Rodgers?

[myorgan]

Does anyone have an idea what this beast weighs? The Wurlitzer weighs 385 pounds and my wife and I handled it fairly easily. Will I need more, different, help to move the Rodgers?

Snowbandit,

There are people on the Forum who can provide you with the weight of your Rodgers from the technical documents they have access to. Concerning moving the organ, I don't believe you'll need much more help than what you already have.

Just Friday, my wife and I moved the repaired platform (on wheels) back to the Symphony's ADC-6000, and we loaded the organ onto the platform ourselves. With proper leverage, and my wife keeping things from escaping (rolling away), I lifted/leveraged the organ onto the platform myself. I think the ADC-6000 console is around 550 lbs., give or take. I am not necessarily a hefty dude either!;)

Last October/November, my wife and I also moved my Allen ADC-4300DKC on its rolling platform from my garage, into our trailer with a ramp door, then to the performance location across thin sheets of plywood to protect the 200 year-old stones. After the performance, we rolled it back into the trailer with the ramp door, and then back into the garage the same way. That instrument weighs approximately 520 lbs. (according to the documentation). The tab console is a bit less than the drawknob console.

I should mention that I'm only 5½ feet tall and weigh quite a bit less than 200lbs., so don't know if that'll be a problem for you. Best of luck on your move.

Michael

P.S. Be careful of the dollies. They tend to try to escape whenever you cross any sort of barrier, and you should prepare for that just in case. That's why we used the thin sheets of plywood.

[Snowbandit]

Oh happy days......... got the Rodgers home yesterday. Getting it off the balcony was pretty easy as the guys installing the new one had a lift. I stayed around and helped them get the new organ up there too. What a beautiful instrument. I would like to go and hear it sometime but it's probably too far away.

Installing speakers back into the console today. I ran into a bit of trouble and looked over the pictures NYCFarmboy has posted on his website. His organ shows an amp under the leslie that mine doesn't have. Am I missing something here?

http://www.nycfarmboy.com/r100/pages/IMG_1201.htm

ETA: Speakers in and working. We ran through the check list in the service manual for everything except the petals which aren't hooked up yet. So far it seems to be working perfectly.

[Hamman]

Looks like a S100C amp?

[Hamman]

Sorry, scrolled down abit further on NYCfarmboys pictures and saw that its a S100A. There's some S100D's for sale on ebay right now if you need that amp