Inherited Mint Conn 314 Prelude Organ. What is it worth? Approx. 1974.

[Guest]

I have inherited my grandparents mint Conn 314 Prelude Organ. It is from approx. 1974 and I was wondering what it might be worth? Everything works perfect and it has been kept in the home, no garages. Any suggestions or do you know where I might find an answer? Thanks!

[Tim Rinkerman]

I don't want to offend you , but realistically it's worth less than $100.00, and that would be to a real Conn afficianado..

[andyg]

We get asked this type of question a lot! We always tell it like it is - even though it may be hard to take.

It depends on where you are to some extent, but there is very little demand for small organs this old. The Prelude was the 'baby' of the Conn range from 1969 to 1974/5, but it didn't have the independent oscillator systems that made the Conn sound, so I'm afraid even the Conn aficianados won't be interested.

Like Tim, I don't wish to offend either, but I think you'll be lucky to get more than a few $. Many organs this old are given away or (sadly) sent to landfill. Price it low and try to find it a good home. Or how about keeping it for a while and having a shot at learning to play - either way, I'm sure your grandparents would have approved.

[bossbandbob]

Do these have built in Leslies and tube amps? Someone really near me has one for 20$ which may be worth it for those parts and perhaps the speakers.They did not specify the model #.
Thanks
Bob

[andyg]

No, the 3xx Preludes are all transistor - no tubes. Some do have a leslie unit.

[james]

You would have more luck giving this organ to someone who wants it and will apreciate it. The money value on most any electronic organ is the same as nil except for the old tone wheel Hammonds which are electric rather than electronic. These old tone wheel Hammonds are a mechancial machine, and they preferred their organs be called "Hammond electric" since they were not electronic.

James

[Clarion]

There were 6 different configurations for the Prelude 300. Four of them had an internal Leslie. With a high model number like 314, I suspect that this unit would probably have a Leslie. If so, it would have a Speaker: Main/Leslie tab. If you think the 40 year old 12" main speaker might have some value, I would doubt it. The main speaker is characteristic of the typical $5 speaker of the era. Conn's whole marketing strategy was focused upon producing something that would make some sort of noise at the cheapest possible cost.

I was one of the ones that got sucked in! :-) I didn't know anything about organs. My very first organ was a brand new Conn Prelude 3xx that cost $999.99. Being newly married, it was $999.99 we really couldn't afford. :-( But after two agonizing months with this unmusical creator of foul sounds, it was apparent that one of us had to go!! There wasn't room for the both of us in the same house! And my wife agreed! :-)

[ShadyJoe]

I was one of the ones that got sucked in! :-) I didn't know anything about organs. My very first organ was a brand new Conn Prelude 3xx that cost $999.99. Being newly married, it was $999.99 we really couldn't afford. :-( But after two agonizing months with this unmusical creator of foul sounds, it was apparent that one of us had to go!! There wasn't room for the both of us in the same house! And my wife agreed! :-)

Does she regret the choice that was made?

[Clarion]

Does she regret the choice that was made?

I went back to the Conn dealer, and found the organ I really wanted . . . and needed if I were to pursue organ studies: A Conn Rhapsody with a 25 note pedal board, which was a pretty good instrument in those days (1969). The only problem was that it cost $3000!! which was a pretty hefty chunk out of my annual income, and $$$ we didn't have. No big deal though, my wife reasoned: All I had to do was sell my boat!! Groan. We used the boat primarily for water skiing, and remote boat-camping amongst the the 30,000 islands. A couple weeks later, I had my new Conn Rhapsody, and an organ teacher, and no boat. :-)

I am now on organ #5; and even though my wife doesn't play; and although I may have dropped a hint or two, it was actually her idea for me to acquire my most recent instrument. :-)

[crossyinoz]

I have inherited my grandparents mint Conn 314 Prelude Organ. It is from approx. 1974 and I was wondering what it might be worth?

G'day,

You don't mention where you're from, but a straight out answer is that any Conn Prelude here in Australia has no value.

Cheers,
Ian

[james]

It is great your wife is supportive of the organs you have acquired over the years. What brands do you have, and what is your favorite. Apparently, you wife helped you make a wise decision in trading that "toy" back in on a console model. Since you enjoyed boating so much maybe you were able to acquire another one in time.


James

[soundboarddude]

I was recently asked to inspect and appraise a Lowrey organ from about this time (70s), complete with the magic genie et al. I think it even had "Banjo" and "Ukulele" stops. (Who wouldn't want that??!). This elderly woman from my church had inherited it from her deceased brother and didn't know what to do with it.

I went to her house, prepared to give her bad news. It was even worse than I imagined. The organ had been moved to the livingroom into a storage room (a converted garage) and wouldn't make a sound, except for the sounds of a white christmas (static). Boy, it lit up like Disney land, though, but didn't do anything more than hiss. She repeatedly said that rats or mice must have gotten inside and enjoyed a nice lunch of electrical wires.

I felt bad, but told her that it wasn't really worth anything at this point. It has too many toys and not enough classical sounds to be used in a church, but doesn't have a full pedalboard, so it isn't great for practicing. And as if we needed icing on the cake, it wouldn't play. Oh well. Maybe her grandkids might enjoy taking a sledgehammer to it!! (I didn't mention that to her... ;) )

Same problem with this Conn. No one really wants these instruments any more. They're out buying Clavinovas instead of Lowrey spinets (and rightly so).

[Clarion]

What brands do you have, and what is your favorite.

I've never been impelled to collect organs. I've only ever had one organ at a time:

1969 Conn Prelude 312
1969 Conn Rhapsody 627
1972 Hammond H100
1984 Classic II/42
2008 Phoenix III/44

I was momentarily tempted to save my Classic Organ console for the purpose of playing around with some Hauptwerk kind of stuff, but the cheap disintegrating chipboard console and seat were so badly constructed that I decided to chuck them.

Of the early organs, the Conn 627 with it's independent tuning was the best sounding of the bunch, but I was forced to chuck it in favour of a useful pedal division. Attempting to play Bach on something that is limited to 16' and 8' flute pedal stops, isn't an ideal combo.

So I got a Hammond H100 . . . the very worst and ugliest sounding of all Hammonds!! Nevertheless, it offering me well a defined pedal division, that allowed me to continue with my studies. Although I hated this contraption with a vengence, it served a purpose that no other electronic organ of the era could provide, so I persevered with it for 8 years, until I gave it away to a local church with a minister I didn't like all that much.

Then came the Classic Organ Company offering. While not all that wonderful, it was still a bit better than the horrible Hammond! The biggest flaw in the Classic, was that it was "tuned" by a slide-rule wielding electronic engineer, rather than a musician, or someone who knew anything about music; and for the last eight years I owned it, I didn't play it at all. That's when my wife offered a very strong "suggestion"; that since no one played it any more, that I have it removed from the from the premises.

And that's when the idea of getting a Phoenix was conceived! When I heard about PHOENIX, a name I had never heard before. As I investigated the Phoenix option, I failed to discover anything bad about them . . quite the contrary, everyone who was familiar with them, was raving about them with unbridled approval!!!! It didn't take long to narrow my choice to Phoenix as the absolute first choice; and probably the last organ I will ever own.<giggle!></giggle!>

[soundboarddude]

I decided to chuck them

I'd like to know... how do you find people to take them off your hands? I never know what to tell people when they ask me what they should do with their Lowrey Magic Genie fun machine with 11 and a half pedal notes and a couple of missing keys. (I'm not implying that any of your organs that were that way, but that usually seems to be the condition of the ones I'm asked about)...

I usually suggest Craigslist, ebay, or an ad in the local paper.... if all else fails, Goodwill...