Johannus Opus 15N

[Organfella]

This one has come across my path. It is a one-owner organ but has sadly been somewhat abused by some unscrupulous previous repairers at more than one time. The keyboard hold-down screws are missing resulting in these shifting and mangling a good few of the tiny key spring contactors. Many notes sound without being played because of the mangled contacts making permanent contact. Some of the springs have come loose but I collected four and provisionally saved them for possible re connecting later. The two holding screws securing the tab panel had been removed and replaced many times as evidenced by the damaged areas around the heads and the decorative head covers are missing. This tells me that someone had been in there often.... It will be a tedious and challenging but hopefully a successful attempt to get this old gal back in shape.. The general condition is good and it sports a concave full pedal board. On the face of it the electronics look original. There is not much volume but sufficient to play if the key contacts can be re arranged and straightened. The owner is now 91 and declared that she will not play the organ again so may be available for another project. An electrolytic recap may be the next step but I want to get the keyboards functioning properly first. Any comments or suggestions will be welcome. (as long as they do not include walking away from this freebie) Thanks Nico

[Darth-Car]

Don't tease us, show the pictures of the beauty. :-)

[Organfella]

I will do so in good time. Just had a good look at it as the present owner wanted it repaired but did not want to spend money - some old folks are like that. As mentioned she is now 91 and her request was stimulated by a whole lot of sentiment (she purchased the organ new back in the 70-ies and has quite understandably kinda grown attached to it). Taking pictures at the time did not seem like the right thing to to. As the matter stands I offered a working organ either in its place or as a gift for her niece who dearly wants to play the organ. They are coming this Wednesday to view the one I have ready but have already indicated that they want it so....
Be patient man! I'll get to the pics soon enough... :->. But to whet your picture appetite here is one of the Opus 220 which looks identical, except the Opus 15N has a concave pedal board and a full width music rack doubling as a keyboard cover.



Enjoy!

Nico

[arie v]

This one has come across my path. It is a one-owner organ but has sadly been somewhat abused by some unscrupulous previous repairers at more than one time. The keyboard hold-down screws are missing resulting in these shifting and mangling a good few of the tiny key spring contactors. Many notes sound without being played because of the mangled contacts making permanent contact. Some of the springs have come loose but I collected four and provisionally saved them for possible re connecting later. The two holding screws securing the tab panel had been removed and replaced many times as evidenced by the damaged areas around the heads and the decorative head covers are missing. This tells me that someone had been in there often.... It will be a tedious and challenging but hopefully a successful attempt to get this old gal back in shape.. The general condition is good and it sports a concave full pedal board. On the face of it the electronics look original. There is not much volume but sufficient to play if the key contacts can be re arranged and straightened. The owner is now 91 and declared that she will not play the organ again so may be available for another project. An electrolytic recap may be the next step but I want to get the keyboards functioning properly first. Any comments or suggestions will be welcome. (as long as they do not include walking away from this freebie) Thanks Nico

Hi,

Once, in the not too distant past, I spoke with a Johannus sales rep. At one point he asked me what I did. I said I repair organs, among them some Johannus analog organs. He quietly said, they should all be taken to the dump. I concur.

These old Johannus Opus organs, that are 30 to 40 years old now, really are not worth fixing, especially if the owner doesn' t think it "worth" repairing, even though they want it fixed.

These organs had lot's of keyboard issues. Bad metallurgy, meant that the metal would wear off from the base metal on the buss bars, so you end up with intermittant contacts. Solution is to move contact point Also the contact feelers, were soldered in springloaded fashion to the keyboard circuit board. Having solder hold a springloaded wire in place, which then flexes every time you play a note, is asking for trouble.

If you really want to fix this beast, where the inside of the organ has already seen too much daylight go ahead, be my guest. Contact Johannus, and order 3 buss bars, and about 200 contact feelers. Don't just try to "fix 'er up a bit", you will find you will "fix 'er up a lot.

As for me, I would follow the Johannus reps advice.

AV

[Organfella]

Thanks for the information AV. I really just want to assist the old lady to have something that works so that her niece can play on it. She does not have space for two organs in her home so I will do what is necessary to assist them, including taking away the old Johannus. But I will not take it to the dump! There is still sound coming from the insides of the beast and to me that means there is life. And where there is life there is hope. I have nursed a few other ones that were in worse shape back to life so I will give it a go if the old lady finally decides to part with her pet.

Since you mention the contact feelers which are really just thin spring wires soldered to the contact points on the circuit board I have often wondered how an organ builder of such repute can stay with this rather flimsy method for contacts. They bend very easily and either do not contact or press against the buss bars permanently. Last year I repaired a RiHa organ which is actually an ancient forebear of the Johannus and this one had similar contact feelers, only each key has about six or more! I had to straighten and align many of them but the organ was playing well when I came away from there.

While on the subject and since you obviously have much knowledge of this manufacturerer - was there any time when Viscount was building Johannus organs or is there any other connection between the two? All the pictures I saw of the Opus 15 and even the 220 show a flat pedal board which makes me wonder...

Thanks

Nico

[janvds]

To be honest I think AV has hit the nail on the head. In the Dutch community where I live in Ontario, Canada we have dozens of these old Johannus organs. Several years ago, a well meaning individual picked up a container load of used organs from all over the Netherlands and had them shipped over here to Canada. Old Johannus organs can be picked up for next to nothing in Europe if you know where to look. He then sold the organs to the local Dutch community at ridiculously inflated prices. Most of these organs would have been given proper burial if the container they were in disappeared in the Atlantic Ocean.

I think organ dealers in the Netherlands should have a trade in allowance towards a new instrument for these old analog organs, working or not, just to clear out some of the junk from the used organ market, and dispose of them.

[arie v]

Nico,

I'm not sure The firms Viscount and Johannus made organs for each other. Flat pedalboards more likely than not denotes that the organ was built for the Dutch market.

There is some connection though, and that is that Hans Versteegt the founder of RiHa organs and later Johannus, did work for among others, Eminent, Viscount, GEM, etc. And after he sold Johannus, he acted as consultant to Viscount. He was asked by Viscount about improvements to their organs. Mr. Versteegt studied their organs, and gave numerous suggestions. Almost none of the suggestions were acted upon. Reason I was told, it would add $75.00 to the build cost of an organ. This would have been in the late 80s. A lot of companies back then, built organs with bean counters in control. They wanted them to be cheaper the better, meaning more sales.

AV

[Organfella]

Thanks Arie.

I had thought that there might be a connection as most of the organs named show lots of resemblances. The organ in question might also be some kind of hybrid which is not uncommon in this country. Organs imported in completed form attract full import duties whereas incompleted units would pay less. The tendency therefore was and still is, to import pieces, or unassembled units to save some money. If this was the case with the Opus 15 it would have been easy to assemble the organ locally with different pedal boards and/or any other components that can be readily obtained at lower prices. So it is not inconceivable that a Johannus Opus 15 could end up with a Viscount or Eminent pedal board. This might explain the concave pedal board on this one.

Do you have any estimation of the weight of this organ?

Nico

[arie v]

Hi,

I doubt that the various companies you mention had compatible pedalboards. From what I have seen, each had their own design. I also doubt that any of these companies shipped organs piecemeal to be assembled locally. There is little to be gained this way. In North America or Europe, when consoles were built but not assembled, it was was high-end custom type instruments.

I reckon that a Johannus 15N weighs between 250 and 275 lbs.

AV

[Organfella]

OK, So I delivered my donated organ to the lady in distress yesterday. Came away with the old Johannus. It is really not that heavy and two men (inclusive of yours truly) handled it quite readily. I off-loaded it by my ownself.

The organ is in generally wholesome condition and it plays OK, except there are about a half dozen ciphening notes. I know which ones they are too and why - those pesky little springy fingers supposed to make/break contact. I have the missing ones which I collected that are causing a few dead notes as well. I believe that with a little tedious work thisol d one will make some acceptable sounds again soon. Here are a few pics:



The cabinet still looks nice and no dings or major scratches.

Now to get at the insides - with care...

Nico

[Organfella]

The method of shipping import items in semi-assembled form is quite common down here to avoid the import duties on the assembled unit. This practice is not restricted to musical instruments. For example model airplane engines which is an expensive hobby are imported complete but without the glow plugs which are simply shipped separately and which qualifies both shipments under the label: engine parts. Import duties are halved in this way. I would imagine fully assembled organs could be shipped piecemeal, for example the organ in one shipment and the pedal boards in a subsequent one, this incomplete in each case but easily assembled when the components arrive and not detracting from the original factory assembled units. Our new Allen church organ was actually shipped in this manner.

Here are some more pictures of the Johannus ( for the benefit of the picture hungry) ;-). I even got the key for the keyboard cover.... a rare find on these old ones....

Enjoy:



Nico

[Nutball]

Would it be easy enough and worth it to redesign a new key switch that is more reliable and easier to work on? Maybe something as simple as is already used, but in a more reliable design?

[Organfella]

I manage to fix all the ailing contacts. It appears that one busbar on the lower keyboard had been replaced. Four spring feelers were missing and about a half dozen bent out of shape.The latter I straightened with tweezers and small pliers and readjusted the contact travel. I made new ones to replace the missing ones. Used correct guage wound guitar string (fourth string) and twisted a spring loop in each. The copper winding accepts solder readily and also provides good contact with the busbar. Soldered the lot in place and adjusted the travel. The result - A perfectly playing and sounding good Johannus Opus 15N! All the notes sound.

Now to figure out how the beast works. The tab stops seem to have limited effect - I'll get a user manual from somewhere...

Weeeeee! what a pleasure! :->

Nico

[Darth-Car]

Looks like you are on your way with a nice labor of love.

[Organfella]

Looks like you are on your way with a nice labor of love.

That old one has special charisma. It had been well cared for by the old gal who purchased it new and played it with love and enjoyment. She used to be a music teacher and never married - canna imagine why as she must have been quite a looker when she was about 70 years younger.... ;-). But perhaps she had a very fierce and protective father...

Anyhow. the old Johannus plays, quite a bellowing bass and the Cathedral is something too. Those flimsy contact feelers are a real pain and I am now designing a jig to facilitate bending the loops in the guitar string pieces. I will likely end up replacing all of them as they go. Access is gained by removing only four screws to lift the keyboard panels up. At least Johannus used their heads there - perhaps they anticipated frequent opening of the undersides of the keyboards.

Now I must still hunt for a User manual - will start by asking the factory... :P

Nico