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Greetings, I just thought I'd share this for those who might be interested.
About 2 months ago, I asked my old academy (Forest Lake Academy, Apopka, FL , Schmidt Auditorium) if they would be kind enough to donate their
Rodgers Heritage 990 to a church that needed a better organ than what they had been using for the last 40 years or so. After several calls and talking back and forth with the head of the music department, the school agreed to donate it. To my knowledge it had not been used much if at all since I had been an organ student there back in 1996 so they really had no desire to keep it.
I am not certain the exact date or year it was purchased, however it was ordered new and with pretty much every option you could get from Rodgers at that time on this model. It has the extended/expanded pedal package with three 32 ft stops, the Fanfare Trumpet option with its own H1 Horn and M13 Speaker with amplifier on a separate channel, and the optional lighted drawknobs.
Upon examination, the console it self was in pretty good shape for its age and considering it was in a place where teenagers bump into it on a regular basis. The receiving church agreed to pay all the moving and setup expenses which are turning out to be very reasonable. The organ that the Rodgers is replacing is an Allen MOS 1 903 which has to be the worst sounding organ of any maker I've ever heard. I am not sure if there was something wrong with it but the factory tech for our area had replaced 2 boards over the last 2 months with no improvement in sound at all. It also had that "machine gun" type of combination action which frustrated the regular organist to no end. She complained that it never worked right in terms of remembering what she had set on each piston, and that all the stops had begun to sound alike to which i can't disagree. She had gotten to the point where she did not even want to play a prelude or postlude it sounded so bad.
I know there are Allen legions out there who be quick to criticize or make suggestions as to what was wrong, but its water under the bridge now. I really don't have a problem with either brand and believe each has good models which sound better than others. I am simply relating this for context. I play an ADC8000 every Sunday and like it just fine, so don't accuse me of schilling for one company over the other
I am attaching pics to show how the moving process went, the taking the 990 out from the Academy and the moving it into the Church.
You'll see in one of the pics the 30 inch sub woofer which i believe was also optional for the 32ft stops to give them extra ooomph.
The organ technician was at the church today and hooked up all the amplifiers and speakers (except the Fanfare Trumpet which will be done later). Final voicing will be done by Mr. Bob Walker of Walker Technical sometime next month. As it sits however, it already sounds far better than what it replaced.
Hope you like the pics and if you have any comments, feel free to post them.
I will attach the rest of the pics in another post, apparently i can only do 5 at a time. The ones you see here of the organ on the stage at the Academy right before we began taking it and the speakers out. In the back of the room you can see the grill where the Fanfare trumpet had been located. Just imagine how much work it was getting it out of that area, but we did.
About 2 months ago, I asked my old academy (Forest Lake Academy, Apopka, FL , Schmidt Auditorium) if they would be kind enough to donate their
Rodgers Heritage 990 to a church that needed a better organ than what they had been using for the last 40 years or so. After several calls and talking back and forth with the head of the music department, the school agreed to donate it. To my knowledge it had not been used much if at all since I had been an organ student there back in 1996 so they really had no desire to keep it.
I am not certain the exact date or year it was purchased, however it was ordered new and with pretty much every option you could get from Rodgers at that time on this model. It has the extended/expanded pedal package with three 32 ft stops, the Fanfare Trumpet option with its own H1 Horn and M13 Speaker with amplifier on a separate channel, and the optional lighted drawknobs.
Upon examination, the console it self was in pretty good shape for its age and considering it was in a place where teenagers bump into it on a regular basis. The receiving church agreed to pay all the moving and setup expenses which are turning out to be very reasonable. The organ that the Rodgers is replacing is an Allen MOS 1 903 which has to be the worst sounding organ of any maker I've ever heard. I am not sure if there was something wrong with it but the factory tech for our area had replaced 2 boards over the last 2 months with no improvement in sound at all. It also had that "machine gun" type of combination action which frustrated the regular organist to no end. She complained that it never worked right in terms of remembering what she had set on each piston, and that all the stops had begun to sound alike to which i can't disagree. She had gotten to the point where she did not even want to play a prelude or postlude it sounded so bad.
I know there are Allen legions out there who be quick to criticize or make suggestions as to what was wrong, but its water under the bridge now. I really don't have a problem with either brand and believe each has good models which sound better than others. I am simply relating this for context. I play an ADC8000 every Sunday and like it just fine, so don't accuse me of schilling for one company over the other
I am attaching pics to show how the moving process went, the taking the 990 out from the Academy and the moving it into the Church.
You'll see in one of the pics the 30 inch sub woofer which i believe was also optional for the 32ft stops to give them extra ooomph.
The organ technician was at the church today and hooked up all the amplifiers and speakers (except the Fanfare Trumpet which will be done later). Final voicing will be done by Mr. Bob Walker of Walker Technical sometime next month. As it sits however, it already sounds far better than what it replaced.
Hope you like the pics and if you have any comments, feel free to post them.
I will attach the rest of the pics in another post, apparently i can only do 5 at a time. The ones you see here of the organ on the stage at the Academy right before we began taking it and the speakers out. In the back of the room you can see the grill where the Fanfare trumpet had been located. Just imagine how much work it was getting it out of that area, but we did.
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