Home organs - the cost of a Hammond M-3 in 1956

[AllenAnalog]

I just found the receipt for the Hammond M-3 that my parents purchased in 1956 as a Christmas present for the family. Even though I was not quite 10 at the time, I can still remember going to Philadelphia (from Trenton, NJ) for Christmas shopping when we stopped by Jacobs Brothers Music Company on Chestnut Street. The salesman showed us several organs with a multitude of vacuum tubes to generate the sound and then showed us the Hammond organs, proudly proclaiming they would never need tuning.

The larger models were beyond our budget but mom decided that the M-3 spinet would be perfect in price and size. I must admit I was shocked to see that she paid $1,395 for the Hammond M-3, S/N 75284, which included bench, delivery from Philly to Trenton, unpacking, setup and an hour of instruction. My dad was a city fireman and mom worked to help put my older brother through college so we were OK financially but up to that point there had been no extravagant purchases. I think dad got a promotion that year and mom, having grown up during the depression, knew how to stretch every dollar. Everything, except the mortgage on the house, was paid for in cash.

I just looked at an online inflation calculator and it claims that the price she paid for the organ would be about $12,650 in 2018 dollars. For a spinet! I have no idea of the cost of the B-3 and C-3 organs that some of our friends in the Hammond organ club had at home but I'm sure it was a whole lot more when you included the Leslie that they all had.

That really put the current price of Lowrey, Allen and other new home organs in perspective for me. Wow.

[Pipeorganbuilder]

Thanks Larry. I often wondered the original price of the M3. There was about a dozen in the small town I grew up in(population of about 500 counting dogs and cats).

Michael

[stefanv]

It's not a totally fair comparison though. Hammond organs were expensive because there as a _lot_ in them. They did a lot with the technology of the time. These days, the functional equivalent of an M-3, if such a thing existed, could easily sell for far less than the original $1,395, never mind the inflation-adjusted $12,650. The only reason that Lowreys, Allens, and others cost so much is that the market is not big enough any more to support high volumes and low prices.

EDIT: It is impressive that your parents chose to spend that much, given their financial situation. I can't see many parents spending the equivalent of $12,650 on something like that these days.

[Kurzweil]

In case anyone is curious: when my church was buying instruments around 1970 to 1974, $3600 would buy a Yamaha C-3 piano (6' grand - non conservatory model), OR a Hammond C-3 WITH one Leslie, the 142, I believe (if that's the short one made for Hammond consoles). A B-3 setup was identical in price. The church bought the C because it looked "churchier". BIG difference in resale value, of course, for two technologically identical items.

[Guest]

Wow , that's impressive.

[beel m]

In case anyone is curious: when my church was buying instruments around 1970 to 1974, $3600 would buy a Yamaha C-3 piano (6' grand - non conservatory model), OR a Hammond C-3 WITH one Leslie, the 142, I believe (if that's the short one made for Hammond consoles). A B-3 setup was identical in price. The church bought the C because it looked "churchier". BIG difference in resale value, of course, for two technologically identical items.

In 1973 I bought a Yamaka U1D (48" vertical) piano for dealer cost, $860. The current equivalent model lists for (gasp!) $11K...

Bill

[musicmaker84]

I just found the receipt for the Hammond M-3 that my parents purchased in 1956 as a Christmas present for the family. Even though I was not quite 10 at the time, I can still remember going to Philadelphia (from Trenton, NJ) for Christmas shopping when we stopped by Jacobs Brothers Music Company on Chestnut Street. The salesman showed us several organs with a multitude of vacuum tubes to generate the sound and then showed us the Hammond organs, proudly proclaiming they would never need tuning.

The larger models were beyond our budget but mom decided that the M-3 spinet would be perfect in price and size. I must admit I was shocked to see that she paid $1,395 for the Hammond M-3, S/N 75284, which included bench, delivery from Philly to Trenton, unpacking, setup and an hour of instruction. My dad was a city fireman and mom worked to help put my older brother through college so we were OK financially but up to that point there had been no extravagant purchases. I think dad got a promotion that year and mom, having grown up during the depression, knew how to stretch every dollar. Everything, except the mortgage on the house, was paid for in cash.

I just looked at an online inflation calculator and it claims that the price she paid for the organ would be about $12,650 in 2018 dollars. For a spinet! I have no idea of the cost of the B-3 and C-3 organs that some of our friends in the Hammond organ club had at home but I'm sure it was a whole lot more when you included the Leslie that they all had.

That really put the current price of Lowrey, Allen and other new home organs in perspective for me. Wow.

Yep, major investments back then. I was given the choice of piano or organ, although I wanted an Amstrad CPC instead. In the end, I chose organ and my stepfather went and bought a new Yamaha Electone. Still working. He also was offered a used Wersi but it was too expensive.

Kind of appreciate the fact that I can give my kid a taste of "organ" for less than $100. Today's entry level keyboards are a steal.

[andyg]

A U1D for $860 was a heck of a good investment. The store where I teach handles fully refurbished pianos (stripped bare and rebuilt as new) and though the U1D I played a few days ago wasn't as expensive as a new one (and I played one of those too as they were back to back) it was still a good chunk of money.

My grandchildren enjoy playing the Roland when they come over and my granddaughter in particular has shown a bit of flair in her tinkling of the ivories, so there's a keyboard sitting in a bag in the loft for when she really wants to start. If she ever wants to play organ, there are plenty of freebies we can choose from! :)

[beel m]

A U1D for $860 was a heck of a good investment. The store where I teach handles fully refurbished pianos (stripped bare and rebuilt as new) and though the U1D I played a few days ago wasn't as expensive as a new one (and I played one of those too as they were back to back) it was still a good chunk of money.

My grandchildren enjoy playing the Roland when they come over and my granddaughter in particular has shown a bit of flair in her tinkling of the ivories, so there's a keyboard sitting in a bag in the loft for when she really wants to start. If she ever wants to play organ, there are plenty of freebies we can choose from! :)

Along the U1D line, in 1973 (same year I got the Yamaha) I was working for a Steinway Piano/Allen Organ dealer. The 1973 list price on a "B" Steinway Grand was... drum roll... $6810. S&S had only been sold to CBS the previous year, and the prices weren't jacked up yet.
Bill

[Silken Path]

1975 Conn 643 - $5995 from a printed flyer in the bench.

[Injuneer]

First post, so pardon any ignorance that might arise...
I remember in 1979 when Dad bought the family a Wurlitzer Funmaker (I think it was a model 430-something) - 2 manuals, some rhythms, vibrato, bass pedals... an amazing machine for an impressionable 10 year old.
Indeed, by today's standards, a horrid little piece of.... well... you get the picture. But looking back, the family thought it was the most amazing thing we've ever gotten. It was indeed a maker of fun. I started learning what little bit of musical knowledge I have on that organ, aside from the basics that I had learned earlier in my youth on the old air powered reed chord organ from the We-Be-Low store that Dad had bought in around 1975... it was all Dad could afford at the time, though the family would go to the music store in the mall and drool over the amazing sounds from the heyday of home-organ manufacturers.
I think Dad paid around $1300 for that brand new at Crabtree Mall in Raleigh, NC. According to online calculators I can find, that's equivalent to $4733.84 USD today. Wow!
But more in line with the word, "Wow!", is tied into the reason for me joining this forum. I picked up for a pittance a Lowrey C-500 earlier this week in very good condition, made probably around 1978 from what I can tell. I think I saw where it retailed for around $13,000 back in the day. In today's money, that would be $47,338.43!!!! And they actually sold these things back then. Since my daughter is far better at playing that I have ever been, at least she'll be enjoying playing something that if new today, cost as much as a new C-Class Mercedes Benz. Of course, that's assuming the manufacturing market were equivalent to what it was in 1978 - something we know is not the case.

[sweet melody 79]

A U1D for $860 was a heck of a good investment. The store where I teach handles fully refurbished pianos (stripped bare and rebuilt as new) and though the U1D I played a few days ago wasn't as expensive as a new one (and I played one of those too as they were back to back) it was still a good chunk of money.

My grandchildren enjoy playing the Roland when they come over and my granddaughter in particular has shown a bit of flair in her tinkling of the ivories, so there's a keyboard sitting in a bag in the loft for when she really wants to start. If she ever wants to play organ, there are plenty of freebies we can choose from! :)

I am sure that you get many chances to help along the next generation of Organ players!.. Do you think there will ever be a resurgence of the organ market?... Some things do go around a full 360.. lets hope that is the case with the organ!.

[Kurzweil]

Technologies do occasionally experience a resurgence but rarely to any economically significant degree. My son has just discovered vinyl records and is quite the fan. However, for most of his other audio, he does not even use CDs; they are also passe'. He streams everything else. It will probably always be possible to put together an organ-like instrument. Several of Roland's current synthesizers have the Atelier sound bank hidden inside, including a $900 or so VM-09 model. I had been wondering if it was possible to put a theater organ under one's arm. Perhaps so.

An engineer friend made a statement to me that I believe is largely or almost true: "There is nothing that has been manufactured in any time in history that is not still being manufactured to some extent somewhere in the world today." I do know that you can buy a brand new mechanical action Fender Rhodes piano made largely as they were in the 60's still today, somewhere in Oregon. Economies of scale, of course, are entirely absent - something that the organ industry convinced us of decades ago. That Rhodes is five grand or better. I am certain that one can still buy a buggy whip or spats too.

[andyg]

Roland have a massive sound palette that they share around their products, but each product will have its own 'core' group and just some of the others. The Jupiter 80 has perhaps more for organists than any other of their makes. Along with preset Strings, Brass, Combo Organs etc, it even has a dedicated Theatre Organ section (when did you last - or ever(?) - see that on a synth?) and actually has combination pistons in the 'correct' organ like location. It also has a 'killer' solo violin, that should have gone onto the higher end organs, it's better than the 'SuperNatural' Violin on the AT900P!

[SubBase]

My favorite reed organ had a catalog price of $1200 in 1892.
Put that into the inflation calculator. It is by Mason & Hamlin, I believe the costliest foot-pumped American reed organ ever built.