Custom Allen analog organ in Nashville vs. Allen TC-8

[AllenAnalog]

While I was in Grand Junction this week I dug out my Allen Organ analog sales book and scanned the page for the TC-8. Since the original post about the custom Nashville organ has been closed (not sure why) I thought I'd put this information into a new post for posterity sake.

It's too bad no one from the Forum was able to see the instrument to examine it and take photos. The ad is still live on Craigslist and there would be a lot of equipment to remove so it seems odd that the seller has not responded. I have a feeling the Nashville instrument is destined for the dump.

The stop tabs on the Nashville organ. Pedal: 26; Swell: 28; Great: 24; Choir: 24; General: 2
The stop tabs on the TC-8 info sheet. Pedal: 22; Swell: 20; Great: 18; Choir: 23; General: ?

The TC-8 certainly had a lot of equipment outside the console. Electronic Whind, Chiff, nine-channel audio with 10 speaker cabinets, relay rack, amplifier rack, and two tone generator units. The second diapason option for the great and swell shows 2 cabinets for an additional $720.

The 1964 sell sheet lists an optional capture combination action with independent generals (they are not independent on the setterboard unit) for $2,500. I wonder what the mechanism would have been since, as far as I know, this predates any solid-state combination action developed by Allen. The big organ in Sacramento had a remote electo-mechanical combination action.

I've attached photos of the Nashville organ, a TC-8 console I saw online, one of the equipment racks for that console, and the TC-8 sell sheet. It's interesting to see the options available.

[toodles]

I imagine the sound was very impressive.

[nullogik]

Wow, that needs saving. Perhaps the ultimate find for our resident analog enthusiast SilkenPath?

[Admin]

While I was in Grand Junction this week I dug out my Allen Organ analog sales book and scanned the page for the TC-8. Since the original post about the custom Nashville organ has been closed (not sure why) I thought I'd put this information into a new post for posterity sake.

Older Classified topics are automatically closed periodically, and eventually deleted entirely, because the links become stale or broken as the item is sold or the ads expire. For this reason, with the exception of How Much Is It Worth?, channels in the Organ Marketplace are not optimal for discussing anything other than sales specific information.

If an item in the Marketplace is of interest beyond its immediate sales information, it's probably best to start a topic in the appropriate non-marketplace channel and link it to the Marketplace topic for reference.

[myorgan]

IIRC, I posted it originally in the On the Internet section of the Forum. Not sure what happened to it after that-with the exception of a good discussion of Allen's larger analog organs.

Michael

[Admin]

Yes. That's were it is, but again, the lifespan of those posts in that channel is limited and volatile. If there are posts in that topic that have interested beyond the sale, they can be selected and moved to a new topic or merged into this one.

[Nutball]

I'm kind of surprised a house isn't listed as an optional accessory. I wonder what the original organ cost? Is it $4000 for just an extra 10 speakers? That could mean the whole organ with speakers would probably run near $400,000 today.

[AllenAnalog]

Too bad we don't know the suggested price for the TC-8. Of course that box is blank because the dealer would add on shipping, installation and warranty to the factory price.

I wonder if some of those 10 optional antiphonal speakers were Gyro cabinets and if they all had separate amplifiers inside? And you would have to add the antiphonal switching on the console - perhaps by division like they do today. So perhaps not an outrageous adder price.

But I agree, a custom instrument of this size would have been very expensive and I sure would like to know the history of it. Was this house its first home or was it in a church or institution first?

[Nutball]

Considering it seems to be 9 channels & 10 speakers according to stock design, I'd almost assume it was originally in the house, though it is close to Nashville where a big church could have upgraded. The organ in the California church had many more speakers right?

[AllenAnalog]

Yes, the Sacramento organ had many more speakers and I could see at least 14 S-100 amplifiers in the photos that were online. There may have been more that were not shown in the photos.

[AllenAnalog]

Well the Nashville custom analog organ is no longer a viable instrument. I'm posting this update on this thread because the original one is a closed topic.

( https://organforum.com/forums/forum/...n-in-nashville )

Over the past days two threads have been posted on the Allen Organ Owners Facebook page with photos of the interior of the console of this instrument. I can see the photos but for the past 2 weeks Facebook has decided that I can't read any comments other than the original post. Perhaps someone who is a Facebook member can read more of the many comments and add some additional information here.

What I read and saw in the photos is that the owner of the house sold the speakers and his electrician cut the multi-conductor cables going to the remote tone generators (rather than just unscrewing the mating connectors) so the console is just a shell with keyboards, stop tabs, DC power supply, a lot of spreader boards and an 80-step crescendo pedal.

Evidently it came out of a church in Newport Beach, California. Seems like California was the home of several large custom analog instruments. It looks like the serial number was 40405. My 1971 analog is 42751 so I'm guessing this is from the mid to later 1960s. The owner is looking to sell the console, pedals and bench. No mention has been made of the remote tone generators, which I presume have already gone to the dump, given how the connecting cable was cut with a saw.

[michaelhoddy]

Yeah, it's sad when those get broken up, but it's unfortunately just reality. Those organs are big, complex, hard to maintain as they age, and it really takes someone with the appreciation, the space, and the manpower to take one on and preserve them intact. Even my much more compact ADC Custom is pretty overwhelming for anyone but a dedicated enthusiast (fanatic?), and it's way less equipment and weight, probably a lot less upkeep, and way more "payoff" than one of these analog organs. Still, it filled a 16' truck and my back still feels the effects of moving it more than a month later.

The console is probably the most useful part as a VPO retrofit.

[myorgan]

...and my back still feels the effects of moving it more than a month later.

Hasn't anyone told you to put it down yet?!!!

Seriously, lately I have been noticing how much I have slowed down in the past few years. I can only imagine how little I'll be able to move my organs around alone 20 years from now.

Michael

[SchnarrHorn]

I don't know, Michael (and Michael). My great aunt used to say things get better after 70 and she lived to be 91. I'm looking forward to that improvement! 😉

George