How much is a Rodgers 940 with antiphonal amp&speakers worth? 23 years old

[janvds]

Funny I should see this thread on the Rodgers 940. I have one of these in my shop right now, which I took in on consignment from a church a few weeks ago. The church building it was in was torn down because of major structural issues. Aside from a dozen or so burnt out stop lamps, the organ plays perfectly. We are currently replacing the foam surrounds on the FR1.7 speakers and taking care of some cosmetic issues. This would be a fabulous instrument for a medium to large church anywhere in the Greater Toronto area.

[jbird604]

And if you poke around on ebay and other sites you'll probably find that organs similar to that one are being offered for around $10K, but in fact are not even selling, just being listed over and over. I suspect that a lot of organs that size, and no older than that one, wind up going for not much money, though dealers may still get that kind of money for one under some circumstances.

A church that has one that needs to be removed usually just wants it gone as quickly as possible and may gladly accept almost any offer. In an extreme case, I know of one ENORMOUS organ, a monster Allen MDS-85 that cost the equivalent of $200,000 less than 30 years ago, which the church tried in vain to sell for $25K, finally went out the door for under $10K, including 30+ speaker cabinets.

Sadly, organs depreciate in value only slightly less rapidly than cars. It's a fact that nearly half the price a church pays for an organ goes for the "extras" -- the delivery and installation, voicing, training, warranty, and the sales commissions and dealer overhead. So no dealer in his right mind would give you even half your money back if you decided the next day to sell a big organ back to him. That 940 may have cost the church $85,000 in 1995, but as a piece of used equipment, it can't be worth more than a small fraction of that amount today.

OTOH, if it is being sold by a church that you respect and admire, perhaps a church that you would gladly bless with a large donation, you may want to pay them $20K or more just to make them feel good. But that is entirely between you and them (and the Lord).

[Pipeorganbuilder]

I am with John. No way would I pay that much for that old of an organ. My price would be in the 10 to 15 thousand dollar range owing to the fact is a quarter of a century old. Being able to find support for it really hurts a deal like this. Best of luck.


Michael

[jbird604]

Probably not that much, but of course the value of any used organ is simply whatever the seller and buyer agree upon. The 940 was a fine organ in its day, one of the better PDI models. If it is truly in perfect condition, that adds to the value. Rodgers speakers of that era generally had lots of foam-surround driver cones, so if those have not all been replaced you could be looking at quite a bit of money and/or time-consuming labor to get that taken care of.

My little organ shop specializes in refurbishing and re-selling Rodgers and Allen organs, mostly from the 80's to early 90's. So the 940 in question, if actually only 23 years old, is a bit newer than the organs we typically have, but still must be considered "old technology" since Rodgers has gone through several generations since the PDI era, and, sadly, they don't fully support those older models now that they are a subsidiary of the GOG, based in Europe. So do some research and think about it before you bite.

For comparison, we have managed now and then to renovate and re-sell a nice three-manual digital Allen around 30 to 35 years old. One of our renovated organs will have been almost completely dismantled for cleaning and maintenance, will have rebuilt tone cabinets and any faulty components replaced. Our selling price will include delivery and placement in the church or home, full installation and wiring up of the speakers, voicing and regulating as needed, and a warranty. We have rarely gotten more than about $15,000 for such an organ, even with all these extras included.

So I suspect the asking price in this case is a tad high, but it depends to some extent on the "extras" they are giving you. If it is fully refurbished, delivered and installed, and with a warranty, it is worth more than a simple "as-is-where-is" deal.

I also suspect that someone will chime in here and say "no way is it worth that much," and they may well be right.

Came from a small church; Console in immaculate shape; well maintained; church selling due to new purchase to have upgraded technology. Asking price $32,000