Where are all the organs?

[Peegoo]

And the big question......where are they all now?

I can tell you where the remains of one are: in a homebrew Leslie cabinet I constructed from a 1970s-era Lowrey organ. Here's the build thread.

Leslie In a Box: mission complete

This isn't really an amp, so I stuck this thread here in DIY Effects. But it's not a pedal either... I rescued an ancient Lowrey organ from the trash and removed the rotating speaker baffle unit; the rest was in very sad shape as it had been stored outside for some time. As you can see from...

www.tdpri.com

 

[Vibroluxer]

Most times they need to be flipped upside down and oiled to get the tone wheel turning again and they work fine after that.

Usually.

My Hammond, an H1, had a little hopper on the tonewheel that was for oiling the unit. It was very handy.

 

[Old Plank]

I bought a used one back in the 80's when a church was getting themselves a new one, think I paid $75 .... a band buddy welcomed it into his jam shed (they are darned heavy to move and fit thru doorways!) and it's been there ever since. We've had a lot of fun with that thing, adding all sorts of goofy sounds to goofy jams. When he moved his shed down over the banking to a lower location, the organ went right along for the ride. There's a mouse family living in it now, they haven't bothered anything with it, so far, but it'd probably be good to relocate them before they chew up some wiring and foul it up.

 

[scook]

This one is in Luray Caverns, up the road from me.

Great Stalacpipe Organ - Wikipedia

en.m.wikipedia.org

Stalactite organ

 

[ping-ping-clicka]

Sadly, they are at the dump. People don't play music anymore, they program it.

 

[Skyhook]

Awhile back I came across an old organ in a charity shop....one of the ones from the 60s/70s with lots of buttons. Different voice options including piccolo, violin, guitar, clarinette, and built-in percussion with choices such as bossa-nova, tango, salsa, march, etc. I'll insert a photo below so you can zoom in and explore the marvels.

It got me remembering when I was a kid and there would be stores with dozens of these things.
Did people really have these in their living rooms and spend evenings playing polkas and sambas? Did they play along to Lawrence Welk? View attachment 968962
And the big question......where are they all now? It's not like you could put them out on the curb for the garbage man to take away when you no longer wanted it. Is there an enormous organ landfill site somewhere?

Through inheritance I am the owner of two of these things.
Can't remember the model atm, but both are 3-manual(3 keyboard levels) things and one even has an optional external cab.

 

[1293]

I have a pump organ at the cabin. It's furniture.

 

[Old Deaf Roadie]

We had a black Wurlitzer. My mom liked to play hymns, & I tried to mimic rock & blues but the thing didn't sound anything like a B3.

 

[Dennyf]

I have an acquaintance who still lugs a B3 "chop" around, and I've seen a few "house" B3s, such as at the Middle C jazz club in Charlotte, but the home organ thing has gone the way of the cabinet TV and the console stereo.
My dad had a Hammond. It was a "T" series, I think. Solid state, but still a tone wheel organ with drawbars, and a two-speed Leslie drum in front of the built in speaker. As far a I know, my sister still has it sitting in the living room at the old home place.

 

[drewg]

@drewg said, "I love the sound of these old tube organs, and once – just once in my life – was blessed to hear a Leslie in action and was completely enchanted. There's nothing else like it..."........not sure exactly what you meant about just once you heard a Leslie in action....I bet you've heard one more than once. Almost every studio recording ever made that utilized a Hammond used a Leslie. They just go together like bacon and eggs. But you're definitely right about being "enchanting"......they ARE magical.

I meant "live". I've only heard a Hammond with a Leslie live once in my life. (And considering how 'low-fi' my audio equipment has been over the years, it was quite the difference!

 

[aging_rocker]

...the reverberant church...

Band name alert!

I often wonder where all these went - they were everywhere at one time.

Allegedly used by professional musicians such as John Lennon, Kraftwerk, David Bowie and, erm, Rolf Harris.

Maybe the Rolf Harris association killed them off...

 

[Cosmic Cowboy]

Here's mine

 

[TC6969]

Where are all the organs?​

Who cares!