Restoration of Connsonata 2A2

[Guitarbro]

Recently I Picked up this Organ LINK for a $100.
This is an absolute monster with about 120 tubes and a 30lb power supply! I plan on fully restoring all the electronics and refinishing it, luckily the only problems so far are a bad selenium rectifier, dirty key contacts, and generally nasty paper capacitors. It is quiet an amazing beast, instead of large switches to change stops it uses solenoids and rails of contacts.
Gallery http://www.organforum.com/forums/album.php?albumid=184

[Hamman]

Did you get a service manual for that organ? Jan on the forum here has some pics on his yahoo group site of that model....and man with all those tubes you should be able to heat a house! Good luck on your project!!

[Jan Girardot]

Dear GuitarBro;

My hat is off to you, sir! That is a wonderful project you have set for yourself. Here is a service manual (1947) for sale from my collection: 2A2 Connsonata @$10 + shipping. This is an original Conn factory document with the nice, large fold-out schematics, not a scan, xerox or photocopy. I wish I could afford to just donate the book to you, but, alas, I/we need the money to augment our Social Security.

With all those 12AH7 tubes going, "Hamman" is right about heating your house.

I welcome any questions you may have and will be happy to help you by telephone. Contact me off-Forum at [email protected]

. . . Jan
the OrganGrinder

[paulj0557]

The Connsonata manual seemed to be a rare find on Ebay, it's great that Jan has the actual 2a2 manual for sale, you'd better grab it up so you can get started (calibration etc.). So glad someone got this that appreciates it for what it is- a soon to be working piece of history! We as musicians seem to enjoy a little piece of life that defies mortality. The acoustic instruments of our past are sought out to play as each successive generation comes along. They command great prices even. When it comes to electronic instruments, from day one they've been held up for comparison to the real instruments they are supposed to be imitating, even to the point where in 1971 Allen went digital and said, ' Here, this is the real pipe sound everyone was trying to duplicate. This is it to a Tee!'. Fortunately, even with the great accomplishments of digital organ design there are many who still appreciate the analog electronic oscillator organ because of how it sounds not in spite of how it sounds. Conn made many beautiful sounding organs and this 2A2 was the foundation for what was to follow. I don't have a clue what it sounds like so hopefully you'll make some good recordings of it, or at least youtube videos as you progress. One like this would be neat to see an accomplished organist play ( with good video and excellent mics). If someone knows how it sounds let us know.

[Guitarbro]

Its going to be hard to record it, all my equipment is on the second floor and I don't have a video camera.
I will take plenty of pictures throughout though. With every oscillator module taking twelve capacitors I have roughly 400 to replace! Its my own little Novachord.
Some pictures of an oscillator module before cleaning:

[Jan Girardot]

Nice cleanup, GB! Are all the 12AH7 tubes there?

If you need any capacitors, I can probably supply them (Orange Drops, even some Conn C-1's) at prices way below online.

. . . Jan
the OrganGrinder

[OrgansR4Me]

A restoration worthy of Rick's Restoration on the History Channel. Your hard work should provide amazing results! The tone is quite pleasing in the early Tube Conn's though some purist don't care for the replication of diapason. I have found that is a very broad subject since there seems to be a wide range of acceptable diapason in the history of pipe organs and even Hammond had a claim to have successfully created the "Phenom" type. Also there is a family of string diapason - used consistently by Wurlitzer. Best wishes. I appreciate your sharing your work.

[Guitarbro]

Been a bit busy lately but I,ve ordered a manual from Jan and started to clean the power amp.
It has the worst corrosion in the organ but is still not that bad.
Here it is after some dusting.

Inside of the chassis, notice the hanging wire and labeled tube sockets


I'll take more pictures after all the rust is removed.

[Hamman]

Is that a big oiled filled capacitor next to the 3 transformers??

[Guitarbro]

That is the output transformer, I believe they designed it like that for extra shielding. Another thing worth noting, the two 'transformers' in the middle are actually huge Inductors on the order of 20 Henry! It also uses a 6L6 as a voltage regulator, kind of neat.

[Guitarbro]

I've removed most of the rust and painted the chokes. shouldn't be long before I can start on the electrical side of things.

[Jan Girardot]

Lookin' good, Bro! Let me know if you need any special Conn parts.

. . . Jan
the OrganGrinder

[Hamman]

GB that looks great....did you just clean those or repainted?

[OrgansR4Me]

Excellent work! You are heading toward a museum quality piece. Great to know someone cares so much for these old instruments.

[Nullifier]

I HAVE to come to this thread every time I am on the forum. I tip my hat to your project and it makes me wish for more space at home for organ projects.

Question: Do you plan to refinish the console?