The Organ Forum

I am looking for a practice organ for the house and found this one in the paper.

They claim that everything works and included at pic that showed a nice console suitable for a house with 25 pedals.

How is the sound produced??  Does the organ have the Moog feature??

The asking price is $500 and I was thinking about offering about $200....does that seem realistic?

My interest is church/classical music with tendencies toward theater every once in a while.

Any input would be appreciated. I was successful in hooking up and maintaining my old Allen but I wonder if if the curcuits on the Thomas would be harder to fix?? 

Thank you for your interest.  

The 7181 was the last of the Celebs, and didn't have the Moog synth as fas as I can recall. It's a theatre based organ, with some orchestral influences. OK-ish when played straight. $200? If it's working, that's about right. If not, walk away. Spares for almost all old organs are getting harder to find.

Andy

Thanks for your interest.

I just found a Baldwin for sale down south that would be better for my classical side.....are all those old organs worth about the same because of the parts issue?

What do you think about the Conn 652?.....I played one many years ago at a shopping center and was impressed with the sound.   

As a buyer, you're in agood position. Prices are so low because the whole organ market went into nose dive a few years ago. Spinets are being given away or sold for pennies, but consoles command a slightly higher price, if only because many potential buyers want to gut them and use them to play software based organs.

The spares issue is common to many instruments. If a bespoke part fails, it's often a case of buying another instrument and playing cannibal. Some parts are still around, and you'll find links to people like Organ Service Co and W D Greenhill here in many threads.

I used to have a 652 and I think it's a great sounding organ. Not quite the vintage Conn sound, perhaps, but a really rich one. Again, it's theatre based, but it can make a fair old straight sound, Nice percussions on it and a very handy transposer if you should ever want one!

Andy

The owner of the Thomas felt the organ was worth more than my offer so that particular organ is off the list.

Thanks for your input.  I appreciate it.