Thomas Calafornian

[music lover]

Hi,So i saved this poor old girl from going to the dump. I would like to get her going again. Some keys work, the rhythms work and the pedals also work. Apart from the obvious (being a really good clean and restain.) Do any of you knowledgeable folk have any tips or tricks. My husband will have to do anything electrical. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance..

[andyg]

There's sometimes a good reason for an organ to be dumped, the most common being lack of parts needed to carry out repairs on older instruments like this one. Lack of electronics skills is another - most owners do their own repairs as old organs have almost zero value and the cost of getting a professional (If you can find one) is usually prohibitive. Lack of service manuals and schematics is a third reason. I have to say that if an organ is in a bad sate externally, it's often in a bad state internally, sometimes terminal.

So owners are pretty much on their own. Before starting on any cosmetic work, other than a general clean, perhaps the first step is to open up the organ and do two main things. 1) unplug, clean and reseat any and all internal plug and socket connectors, like the ones from on circuit board to another, and from the power supply. 2) clean all contacts, on the rocker switches and the keys. You need a contact cleaner that won't destroy plastic. Caig De-Oxit D5 in some countries, not sure if that's available in Oz or what an equivalent would be - you'd have to check.

That will get you to 'base camp'. You'll have a better idea of what's working and what's not. And this is where my first paragraph really comes in. If things still aren't working, you're into electronics repairs and you'll have to decide if you have the skills to troubleshoot, diagnose and fix the issues.

And do please read the 'sticky' thread on electrical safety before starting work.

[music lover]

AndyG, Thankyou. Hubby has opened it up and given it a blow out.. He has sprayed contact cleaner on some of the contacts and got them working. He hasn't had a chance to do to much else at this stage, but he is pretty handy with electronics. Hopefully she will go again but if not then i will paint her up and have her as a display. The thought of musical instruments going to the dump just breaks my heart. Were these a good organ in their day?

[andyg]

You could make some good sounds on a Californian and yours looks like it has some of the options added. Reliability and build quality could be suspect, though. Some examples worked perfectly and never missed a beat, others missed a lot of beats!

[music lover]

Ok Thankyou.. I will keep you posted on how we go..Fingers crossed

[music lover]

Andyg Thought these might be of use to someone..Feel free to share them if you know anyone who has The Californian 284 Deluxe

[andyg]

If you have hi-res versions of these, could you email them to me via my website please. I'll add the larger versions to the gallery here and keep them in my own archives - someone else is bound to ask about it at some point! :)

[music lover]

HI, No i don't sorry, is there way you can do that?? but i will certainly pass them on to you.. On a high note..My organ is working, still a little crackley, but hopefully overtime, that will settle..Havent done anything more to it , apart from playing it a little and i wiped down the keys. Very happy.

[andyg]

Organs with old style contacts like yours often 'play themselves back in' the more you play, so keep hitting the notes and operating the rocker switches. Then see what you can do to put some like back into the woodwork. Thomas cabinets were usually good quality so yours might well respond well to some TLC.

[music lover]

Sorry Andy, the email link isn't working for me.

[andyg]

The email link is working here, so it must be an issue somewhere between you and me. Your browser, email app or email provider may not be playing ball! :) I'll see if I can enlarge and sharpen the two photos.

[music lover]

Yeah i don't know, it just didn't do anything at all this end.. (So now that i have it working, still can't believe it) How do i maintain it to make sure it keeps working? I think the cabinet will come up quite nice, not sure if i'm going to re- varnish it or paint it..

[toodles]

Play it daily. Seriously--the best thing for the electrolytic capacitors is regular use, as well as for the key contacts.

[music lover]

Thankyou toodles :)

[rcflyer]

I would rebuild the power supply. I am a electronics tech, a licensed HAM operator and we always rebuild the PS on any vintage equipment, Mostly replace Filter caps and manybe check all diodes...and if any resistors check them too...but replace those caps...they are very old.
Lee

[andyg]

That's not a bad suggestion at all for an instrument of this vintage whose build quality may be suspect. Start by looking at the electrolytic caps for signs of leakage, bulging etc, and use the #1 nose to check for anything that smells odd. Changing the caps is not that hard to do -again check out the safety instructions before you venture near the power supply.

Not all caps go bad, I'm also a licensed radio amateur and I recently dusted off a radio of similar vintage to your Thomas. I let the caps reform gradually, switching on for a couple of minutes, then five, then ten etc, checking all the while. After a few weeks of this we gave it a test at a local university's radio station. Performed perfectly, but that was on a good quality Japanese radio with high build quality. :)

[music lover]

Thankyou.. I will pass all this info onto the husband as he will be the one doing the work..I am really hoping it is on his to-do list this weekend. Unfortunately it seems to have either stopped working or wasnt working as well as i thought. .. I was just playing it and on the lower manual A B C D E (black keys included ) do not work on each octave. But if you press the chord button they work, but the tone doesnt change.. Im worried she may be to far gone, although hubby is really clever and can normally fix anything. Please give me hope :)