Gutting my Allen MDC Classic 20 - Need Parts?

[Guest]

Hello-
I have come to the realization the beautiful case and bench of my Allen MDC Classic 20 is worth more than the antiquated organ itself. So, I am installing a Hammond organ with pedal board to the case. I am going to try to use the pre-amp, amplifier, of the Allen Classic 20 with the new Hammond, but I am going to remove all of the other components. (The organ needs a new component, I forget which one, which sells for $1800.00.) Many of the components can be unplugged with RCA plugs. The keyboards and the stops cannot be unplugged, so I will have to carefully save the wires. Don't forget about the beautiful "Princess Pedal Board".

I wonder if anyone out the in the organ world would want to purchase these parts?

Also, I would appreciate any opinion on whether I should try to sell the parts of my Allen MDC Classic 20 or just throw the parts in the garbage.

Thank you,

Thomas

[Admin]

If you decide to sell the parts, post them in the Classifieds section of the Forum, not here in the discussion section. Because you're seeking advice, I'll leave your post stand.

[myorgan]

Also, I would appreciate any opinion on whether I should try to sell the parts of my Allen MDC Classic 20 or just throw the parts in the garbage.

Thomas,

I'm sure you've found out by now Allen's MDC series of models have their limitations. However, I'm sure if you are parting it out, there are various parts which are useful in other organs. I'm thinking perhaps a couple of our members (jbird604 or Toodles) can guide you with a list of parts that are usable on other, more marketable organs.

For example, if the keyboards have reed switches or leaf contacts, they may be usable on other organs. The key caps and/or sticks could also be used on other organs, depending on their style. Amplifiers are also fairly universal.

I hope this gets you started.

Michael

[jbird604]

Without digging out the MDC service book, I can say right away that the keyboards are surely the most valuable components. The keysticks and keytops are the same as the ones used in all Allen organs from the 60's to the present, so there are 10s of thousands of Allens out there with the same keys. Of course, someone might want the keyboards intact to use as the basis of a MIDI project, since they have the same heavy-duty leaf switches as MOS and ADC models before the changeover to reed switches in the late 80's.

The amplifier is probably a D-40, which is not a bad little two-channel amp. There is also an "audio processor" or "catch-all" board that may have extensive tone and volume controls for each channel, a reverb loop, expression inputs, and other very useful features. If you retain the existing audio system for your new project, you can inject the signal into the audio processor board and have the existing expression pedal control the volume, use the existing spring reverb, etc.

I'm assuming the $1800 part yours needs is the MDC tone generator board. And I really don't blame you for junking the organ over that. The tones are indeed quite limited and poor, and there are some serious polyphony issues as well with the celeste and the chimes (if you have them). The princess pedals are not as bad as they are sometimes made out to be. Some of our forum members get by just fine with a princess pedalboard, and others wouldn't be able to stand them, so YMMV. But if you want the authentic Hammond experience, you'll need the 25 note flat pedalboard too, so you might offer the princess pedals on ebay and get $100 or $200 for them.

The tabs are probably worth something to somebody. They are the same tabs as used in all Allen tab models from the 50's until fairly recently when tabs were discontinued in favor of Lumitech. The stop brackets are also universal up through the MOS era, though any model with magnetic capture of course will need different ones.

So you might be lucky and get several hundred dollars for the parts, or you might re-use some of them in your Hammond project or another organ project. Or it may be more trouble than you want to deal with.