Sound Issue With Allen 430 A

[ADWH07]

Good Morning!
I have an Allen 430 A home organ that we've had for about 1.5 years. It is about thirty years old...used for a year in a church and then as furniture in a home for about 28 years before we acquired it. It was working fine last week, but when I went to practice this morning, I discovered an issue with the swell pedal. As in, it's not working. I usually keep the box closed so it's not disruptive to everyone else in the house, but now it's just plain loud. No variation in sound at all. Any ideas of what could be wrong? I appreciate your responses!

[jbird604]

The small #57 light bulb inside the expression shoe assembly has burned out. If you're handy with DIY you can change it. Open the back of the organ, remove the big black-knobbed bolt that holds the swing-out panel in place and swing the panel out of the way. Look at the expression shoe assembly and you'll see that a small black wire goes into it in the center of a round metal lamp-holder clip thing.

Use a thin screwdriver blade to pry the lamp-holder out and then press and turn the small lamp to remove it. It is a #57 lamp (as used in automobile dashboards years ago, still available in auto parts stores). Allen painted a small dot of black paint on the tip so keep the filament from shining directly on the expression cell, but you can forego that if necessary. Or try it if you wish with some kind of heat-resistant paint. The absence of the dot may make the expression more abrupt instead of going smoothly from soft to loud. Put it all back together and it should work.

[ADWH07]

John! Thank you so much! My husband took it apart, so we know how to fix it. The lightbulb should be here next week. Very appreciative of your time and expertise!

[myorgan]

Aren't you glad he was around?!!! Another happy member! Please be sure to keep coming back to the Forum. Welcome.

Michael