What exactly is 70's era "tracker touch"...?

[Neumie]

I'm still waiting on news about a Rodgers 990 possibly being for sale in my neighborhood. In the meantime, I've done homework online and posted some questions here with spectacularly helpful answers.

So the thirty year old brochure says the instrument features "tracker touch manuals". I've googled the term and all I found is a bunch of guys who already know what we're talking about debating the pros and cons. Can anyone tell me what exactly tracker touch is ... what's in the keyboards that creates "tracker touch" ... and any reason why a person wouldn't want it?

Is it anything that needs to be maintained or serviced?

The manuals felt nice to me ... but I'm a newbie knuckle-head with these things.

So, can anyone please educate me on the specifics of "tracker touch" ... or if you happen to know, where a website might be found that clearly defines this feature? Maybe even with pictures?

[arie v]

Hi,

Tracker touch is a touch or response that makes it feel like there is some top resistance when playing. It mimics a tracker pipe organ (mechanical action). In the case of Rodgers, they used wood core key keyboards from Herrberger-Brooks from England, and sometimes Laukhuff (if wood playing surfaces were required), and mounted their own hardware on them such as the keying system and the magnetic setup for tracker touch.

The whole idea of tracker touch is to make for more articulate playing.

I should mention that any organ by Rodgers of that age that was played regularly, will have some key contact issues. The problem is the contact fingers get metal fatigued at the point it flexes when played, and they break, causing either the contact to go dead or create a cypher. Rodgers used 2 contacts per note, which was a good idea at the time, but also created more potential for keyboard troubles.

AV

[NoTalent]

Tracker Touch was an option on the 660 and 990.

Greg

[Neumie]

I should mention that any organ by Rodgers of that age that was played regularly, will have some key contact issues. The problem is the contact fingers get metal fatigued at the point it flexes when played, and they break, causing either the contact to go dead or create a cypher. Rodgers used 2 contacts per note, which was a good idea at the time, but also created more potential for keyboard troubles.

Hmm. You opened up a can of worms for me with that comment, AV.

The look of a Rodgers 990 would definitely be cool ... and I was inspired by pictures of some fellow's MIDI project where he took an organ ... massive, similar to the 990 ... and completely gutted it of analog electronics, added MIDI to everything, and then took a saw and literally cut off the back 18 inches of the organ so it now has the smallest possible footprint. That's what I imagined doing to this 990, since it will go into my home and not a church.

The keys felt okay for the 30 seconds that I ran some scales over them, but I have no experience with "feeling" for wear ... nor do I know whether I should soon be expecting real trouble like you're mentioning.

This whole project is getting down to a choice between the 990 ($1000) plus a full MIDI retrofit (another $2000) plus touch screens (if I go that route) and then all the audio .... versus putting together my own AGO console with brand new parts - probably to the tune of 5k or more. I would probably be willing to spend as much as $3000 for a 990 with MIDI that was in pristine condition and didn't require expensive service anytime soon.

I don't think I would spend more than 3k for an organ ... old OR new. At that point, I'll just keep my crappy old organ for a few years longer.

Everything about that 990 sounds great ... except now you've brought up the issue that I am buying a vintage keyboard with issues ... and the keyboard is of course ground zero when playing the organ. That's the heart of what I'm buying. If the keyboards are on the way out, I'm not sure the rest of a 990 is worth that much to me. Possibly ... it's still a good cabinet, pedals, etc ... but I'm suddenly much less excited when I think of not having premium keyboards to play on.

ps. What is a "cypher"?

[michaelhoddy]

There's no way you would "feel" any potential contact failures in the keys- the metal contact fingers are incredibly light. That said, I don't recall that they are that difficult a fix if you're moderately electronically and mechanically inclined, although it's been about 16 years since I had to deal with one on a 990.

[toodles]

Tracker touch has sort an "escapement" feel to it--top resistance, that lessens a little when the key is depressed after the initial resistance.

I believe Rodgers accomplished this with a bar magnet that ran the length of the keyboard close to a steel metal piece on each key--giving a "sticky" initial depression that went away after the metal piece was a bit farther away from the magnet.

The 990 is a nicely proportioned consoled, but is very deep (40 inches, I think) and very heavy.

[mashaffer]

cypher=note sounding on its own with no key pressed.

mike

[PeteKnobloch]

I don't recall that they are that difficult a fix if you're moderately electronically and mechanically inclined . . .

Michael is right. The console is built such that the keyboards can be tilted up to access the wire fingers. Once at the bottom of the problem keyboard, all you need is a soldering iron to replace the problem wire. You might even be able to use the old wire contact if it isn't to short. We did this with a friends console. He had about 7 wires that had dropped off but the organ still played fine with only 1 wire.