Conn Serenade 621F

[ConnOrganOwner]

Hello all,

This is my first post here. I am now the proud owner of a vintage two manual Conn Serenade 621F that also has a Lowrey Automatic Rhythm machine hooked up to it. I am curious to know if this particular organ has ever been used in a church setting. The organ itself is in my living room and has an impressive and full sound that, in my opinion, could do very well in a small sanctuary. Moreover, if you turn it up loud enough, it can even be heard outside with all of the doors and windows closed! At one point, Conn also manufactured "pipe speakers" for their organs as well, but I have no desire for them as the organ's built in speaker seems to do just fine on its own. A piano mover that I hired to have the instrument moved into my home made note that Conn was known for using quality speakers when it came to their organs. He also said that the instrument is likely from the 1970s as well, but did not seem to know the exact year and neither do I. The organ is positioned toward a wall and I have no plans to move it unless I have it tuned possibly sometime this year.

I will gladly share a stoplist if anybody is interested in knowing what kind of stops this organ has on it.

[Silken Path]

Welcome to the forum, ConnOrg. You'll find a lot of Conn owners and previous owners here. There's no way I know of to "track" a particular organ, other than having a seller who can tell you the history of the organ. That's what happened with my Rodgers (2nd owner) and Hammond (3rd owner). They were both church organs. I'm also the 2nd owner of my Conn, but it was a private sale and its history is tragic. I'd be curious to see a list of stops and a photo of the organ once you get a few posts in and can post pictures.

[andyg]

It's a fair bit older than the 1970s! The 621 is a relatively early version of the Serenade and we were on to models like the 63x series by the 1970s. I haven't got my Blue Book here in the studio so can't tell you exactly, but I'd guess early to mid 1960s. I'll confirm later if nobody does so in the meantime.

Probably more theatre organ voiced than classical, but most Conns will do a decent job of either.

The Conn pipes are a worthwhile addition. They don't make things any louder but do disperse the sound better. The speakers are small and might need replacing after this amount of time. When you have your Serenade tuned, do get the guy to check it over fully. 50+ years is a long time for an organ and there will probably be a few things to do.

[andyg]

Have now checked, it's from 1960 and is valve/tube based. In which case, unless you know that it's had a full overhaul fairly recently, I'd get it checked out soon. Some electrical components deteriorate over time and 57/58 years is a heck of a long time for an organ.

[ConnOrganOwner]

Thanks for the reply, recommendations, and additional information! I suppose I should have been more specific when it comes to the tuning of the instrument itself. It was actually tuned up a little less than two years ago and, at one point, was tuned up yearly. The instrument is in excellent shape for its age, but the bench does have some wear on it from others using it as a regular seat from time to time. Moreover, a cipher was also addressed a few years back, the instrument and its contacts were cleaned, and the master power switch light bulb was also replaced around this time as well.

Nothing else has been done to it since then, though, but I do plan on addressing a couple of things soon. The main power cord will need to be replaced more sooner than later and I also plan to have it cleaned out and tuned again this year too. To my amazement, though, the organ still sounds great despite the fact that it was moved from another home a few blocks away from mine.

[ConnOrganOwner]

Silken,

Thanks for the reply! I will gladly provide pictures and a stoplist once I gain the ability to post pictures here! Speaking of which, I just took pictures of all of the stops today and have had a picture of the entire organ on file for quite some time now. They were taken from my smartphone and are of high quality.

[ConnOrganOwner]

Welcome to the forum, ConnOrg. You'll find a lot of Conn owners and previous owners here. There's no way I know of to "track" a particular organ, other than having a seller who can tell you the history of the organ. That's what happened with my Rodgers (2nd owner) and Hammond (3rd owner). They were both church organs. I'm also the 2nd owner of my Conn, but it was a private sale and its history is tragic. I'd be curious to see a list of stops and a photo of the organ once you get a few posts in and can post pictures.

Silken,

For now, here is a written stoplist from my organ taken directly from the console:

Pedal Division (25 pedals in all):

Echo Bass 16'

Sub Bass 16'

Major Bass 16'

Great to Pedal 8'

Swell Division:

Diapason 8'

Soft Flute 8'

Concert Flute 8'

Tibia 8'

Echo Salicional 8'

Violin 8'

Vox Humana 8'

Oboe 8'

Trompette 8'

Swell Division Coupler Stops are as follows:

16

Unison Off

4

2 2/3

2

1 3/5

Additional Coupler Stops include:

Swell Tremolo

Tremolo (L F)

Great Tremolo

Celeste

Great Division:

Open Diapason 8'

Flute 8'

Tibia 8'

Dulciana 8'

Gamba 8'

Reed 8'

Trumpet 8'

Harp

Vibra Harp

String Harp

Dulcimer

Echo

Echo and Main

Great Coupler Stops include what follows:

Swell to Great 16'

Swell to Great 8'

Swell to Great 4'

Unison Off

Great to Great 4'

Sustain On

[Silken Path]

ConnOrg - Thank you. That sure looks like it was sold as a church/classical organ.

[ConnOrganOwner]

ConnOrg - Thank you. That sure looks like it was sold as a church/classical organ.

Silken,

You're very welcome! She is in great shape for her age, can make quite a rumble for a two manual, and the overall sound is very pleasing on the ears in my opinion. Here is a photo of the organ itself along with all available stops:

[ConnOrganOwner]

ConnOrg - Thank you. That sure looks like it was sold as a church/classical organ.

Silken,

Here is one last photo of my organ's stops. For some reason, not all of the images made it into my last post.