Come back to Allen

[Dewey643]

Kind of a sequel to my post about Rodgers dealer/service being VERY SLOW to respond to service requests,..if they respond at all. For what it's worth,it makes me want to "Come back to Allen",....and for good reasons. My Facebook organ friends told me that when I was given that Rodgers organ this time last year,....that if I ever needed service of any kind "Good luck getting it serviced!" Needless to say,and long story short,they were right all along. (I know NOTHING about how to tune an analog organ,and I'm not about to get back there for fear of really messing something up as I'm NOT a tech. It's not that I don't want to attempt it,...I CAN'T move my organ on my own,anyway...WAY TOO HEAVY!). Rodgers dealer/service network leaves a hell of a lot to be desired,and I'm NOT happy with them. I know Allens are expensive,and their parts can also be expensive as well,but I'd feel a LOT better knowing if my organ is an Allen,there would be NO WORRIES about getting parts and having it serviced should that need ever arise,...UNLIKE Rodgers! I'll keep the organ I have and play it as long as it remains functional,...even if it may sound off pitch a bit,...but should it EVER require a MAJOR repair and there are NO PARTS available to repair it,it will be tossed to the curb. It will be "Bye,bye, Rodgers,...Hello Allen!"

[rjsilva]

If you have an older analog Rodgers it should be easily repairable by an organ tech. Are there no techs in your area? Why do you feel you need to use the Rodgers dealer?

[Dewey643]

Finally got some sort of response,but not the one I wanted. He has techs available. His response was he "doesn't service an organ unless it really needs service". If he won't send a tech for a simple tuning,...what's going to happen if my organ suffers a more severe failure? Will parts still be available? Maybe today,....but what about tomorrow,or months from now?

[rjsilva]

I thought perhaps it might have been one of Rodgers older analogs which uses more commonly available parts. I checked your other thread and see you have an Essex 640, one of their more modern analogs.

I'd love to hear a recording if you're in the mood to make one (you can easily use Soundcloud and share here).

Personally I wouldn't be so concerned if I were you. My organ (Viscount C400) is perhaps in an even more perilous state for potential repair, but I'm happy to have it. I make repairs when necessary, and with the help of others here. But one day it may become past salvageable. At which time I might strip the internals and just do a custom MIDI controller setup.

[jbird604]

Too bad the local dealer seems uninterested in your organ, but any knowledgeable tech should be able to tune it and take care of general maintenance and adjustments. You may be right that one day you'll need something that simply isn't available, but yours is a nice model and should be giving you a lot of pleasure with only minimal servicing. Don't give up, not yet!

[toodles]

I suggest you try these people: https://www.northsidemusic.com/CONTA...r-Lafayette-IN or your local Allen dealer--the Allen tech can probably handle tech service of an analog Rodgers--I know my local Allen dealer handles the service of Rodgers organs built prior to the change in ownership of Rodgers.

[Larrytow]

While I totally agree with the "Allen is Best" sentiment, particularly with older organs in a home setting, I have to note that the last of the Rogers analog organs can indeed sound really decent. I was really looking forward to playing a 755 for Easter, but that likely will not happen now ( but not sure, as things are day to day with that decision yet ! ), with the C-19 shutdown in place.

One thing that you may need to consider is that owning an older organ ( of just about any brand ) pretty much forces one to learn about some of its workings, adjustments, quirks, and so on. And how to maintain, and sometimes fix it when needed. A ton of advice and help is available right here on this forum about doing just that.

I have found that dealers of some brands are not real enthusiastic about servicing or repairing models of their own brands, once they get to be a certain age. The technology changes enough that if it is not within two or so generations of the current one, they don't want to bother. They want folks to buy the new ones obviously. Whether that should be how things are viewed by them or not is debatable, but it is reality.

As a lifelong independent, self employed mechanic, I have to say that discounting the idea of having a non-dealer technician work on your organ is sorta short sighted. There are Many independent fixers of all sorts of equipment in this world, and the majority of them know their stuff very well. They have to know what they are doing, because they do not rely on sales of new ones to make a living. That applies to trucks, cars, and ya, even organs.