Thomas 1776

[Sheri Brooks]

Good afternoon, so I know NOTHING about organs but found a lovely Thomas 1776 model for $15 and went for it. Although in working condition, the bass pedals are missing. Any recommendations on where the best place to go for replacement? I've seen a couple on ebay; but thought you all might have some advice. Thank you!

[Sheri Brooks]

[myorgan]

Welcome to the Forum, Sheri. I hope you continue to participate here for a while to come!

If you look closely at the photo you provided, the logo for Thomas was engraved in the wood to the left of center, facing you. Presently, there are people selling owners manuals and service manuals for various organ models. If you have an *Bay account, perhaps you could search there. Otherwise, you will find them on CL or the Barton Theatre Organ Classifieds.

Of course, that doesn't rule out someone here possibly having a manual for you, either in-person or online. Best of luck finding one.

Michael

[myorgan]

Try this link: https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_fro...service+manual

Michael

[Sheri Brooks]

Thank you, yes I saw the manuals available on ebay; but did not know (again, not knowing anything about organs) if pedals are still available or are there, dare I say, universal pedals....or would searching ebay and classifieds be my best bet?

[toodles]

https://www.--------/itm/Vintage-Tho...EAAOSwmP5eZuVg

Generally, an organ manufacturer (especially for spinet organs, of which this is one) designs the pedals and then don't change the design, so they will be interchangeable from one model to another. You will have to figure out how to wire the pedals into the organ if the original cable isn't present. For that the service manual will be very helpful.

It is quite strange that they are missing on your organ.

[andyg]

There are no replacement pedals directly available. You will have to find a donor organ of the same era of Thomas (1976 in this case, of course). You only need 13, so most smaller Thomas spinet models from 1970 to the late 1970s will do. And then, of course, you'll have to find out why and how the previous owner removed them. They aren't meant to come off and so there's no plug in cable. There's no way of knowing what damage has been done internally. And with respect, although you use the word 'lovely' I suspect you're talking about the design. As you say that you know nothing about organs, it's possible - and probably quite likely - that there are other issues that you haven't yet found, but that will need to be addressed.

Although that $15 may have sounded like a bargain buy, I fear you're looking at some considerable expense to get it up and running - if that is actually possible. Maybe the pedals weren't working and it wasn't possible to fix them - there could be other non-replaceable parts missing. Add it up. Donor organ, plus transport. Service manual. Parts and tools needed to effect the repair. That's assuming that you do it yourself. The true value of the organ, in 100% working condition is no more than what you paid. Bigger, newer and better organs are regularly given away or sold for pennies. Granted, none of them will look like a 1776 writing desk - which is what some people have made this organ into. So paying a professional to do the work, if you can find one who will work on it, would cost more than the organ would ever be worth.

I'm not painting a happy picture but I'm just being realistic, sorry.

[toodles]

On this model (and its sister models 2001, Californian Theatre 287, and Californian 284) the pedals tones are generated by the Features module, and I believe the pedal connection there is a Molex "fishbone" connector. The service manual should show how they connect.

It would be possible to make a little pedalboard for this organ, even going so far as to make a full length 25 note clavier either by cobbling it together from another pedalboard or making it from wood. The contacts need only be single pole single throw or perhaps single pole double throw (again, check the service manual). Of course if you want it to be 25 notes, full length, you'll probably need to raise the console a little to accommodate it.

[tucsondave]

The pedals on this organ used double pole, double throw switches. Each switch also had a diode, resistor and capacitor in the circuit. As Andy said the only practical way to repair this is to find a donor organ.
Perhaps just use the auto pedal function. The one finger chords used the Hi C pedal to activate a minor chord so that's another problem.

td

[toodles]

Thomas used the sort of switches used in the ebay pedals in the 1776 models. I don't recall if they used the 2nd pole or not in the circuit. This is where the service manual will help. The diode was probably for multiplexing; cap and resistor might have been for noise filtering. I just don't recall.