You can find details of Topsy here.

 

Here is a list of the other organs that I have owned.

Packard American Organ

This was my first organ which I bought from a school friend after helping him to restore it.  American organs are often confused with harmoniums.  Both use metal reeds to produce the sound.  Harmoniums work like pipe organs.  Air is sucked into the bellows, passes through a reservoir and then to the individual reeds.  American organs work the opposite way round; they suck air in through the reeds into a reservoir which is kept empty by the bellows.  This is supposed to result in a more melllow sound.

This particular organ had a single manual (keyboard) and, like most such instruments, the keyboard was split so that the treble stops only worked on the upper portion and the bass stops on the lower.  This can give unexpected results when the the bass or treble part strays across the boundary.

Standard American Organ

This organ was the ultimate American organ.  It had two full-sized manuals and a full organ pedalboard too.  Like most such organs, it had pedals to allow the player to work the bellows.  However, it was not possible to pump and play the musical pedals at the same time.  To overcome this, there was a retractable handle at the side of the cabinet that could be used by a second person to pump the organ.  It even had a gauge to show how much air was left, cunningly disguised as an ornamental moulding.

This was a splendid instrument  but it was too large for our small house.  I spent several months restoring it but had to sell it soon after it was finished.

Thomas Herald

This was my first electronic organ.  It had a single manual, split like the Packard between bass and treble.  It also had a single bass pedal that picked up the lowest note played on the bass section of the keyboard.  This was surprisingly useful and could be used to provide an alternating bass quite easily.

Selmer

This one was a massive electronic organ that I bought from a second hand furniture shop.  It was blocking their doorway and not working so I was able to agree a very low price for it.

Unlike the Thomas, this one pre-dated transistors and used therm ionic valves.  I think that there were about 72 of them, mostly double triodes so it was quite complicated and gave of a lot of heat.  I had to teach myself enough electronics to understand it and eventually got it into full working order.

It used a drawbar system, similar to that used by early Hammond organs.  However, unlike Hammondsit did not use mechanical tone-wheels but all of the sounds were created electronically.  The drawbars allow you to mix up to eight harmonics to create the sound that you want.

This organ had two full-size manuals and a full pedalboard.

Yamaha FE-70

This is the only organ that I ever purchased new.  Although it worked well, I never felt very involved with it as I had never needed to repair it!

 

 

 

 

Wurlitzer 630-T

This one replaced the Yamaha.  Although it was much more limited I fell in love with the horseshoe console and the lights!

Yamaha PRS-295

After the Wurlitzer, I decided to investigate the possibilities of MIDI and bought a Yamaha keyboard.  I still have this one but miss the advantages of two manuals.

Orla CT55

The Orla is another dual manual and pedal organ.  Its voices are very limited but it does allow me to use the manuals and pedals to capture keystrokes to MIDI format and I am experimenting with this at present.

 

Music

I have owned and restored several organs, reed organs and electronic, over the years although I do not have pictures of some of the earlier ones.

This is my current project, my first pipe organ,  called Topsy 3 .