1-16-20 Still looking update... PLEASE, IF ANYONE HAS A SCHEMATIC FOR THE 1962 THOMAS TL-1 ORGAN, NAMELY THE AMPLIFIER SCHEMATIC, I'D BE FOREVER GRATEFUL. I'VE BEEN LOOKING FOR A FEW YEARS NOW. REPLY TO THIS THREAD, AND OR POST A SCAN OF THE SCHEMATIC WOULD MAKE MY DAY...MY YEAR! -Paul
As a guitar player for the past 36 years and an organ player too for the past 18 it really bothers me when I see my fellow guitar players destroying excellent CONN, GULBRANSEN,HAMMOND,THOMAS, AND WURLITZER ORGANS especially.
When these great organs are gone, these irreplaceable ANALOG DISCRETE ELECTRONIC ( TUBE OSCILLATOR AND DISCRETE TRANSISTOR OSCILLATOR) AND OR ELECTROMECHANICAL ( electromagnetic TONE WHEEL, and electrostatic FREE-REED and KEYED-REED) are all destroyed, mostly due to ignorance of simplicity of repair, and or ignorance of their superior tonal superiority, THERE WILL BE NO MORE MADE EVER!
So with this in mind I tread lightly mentioning that the THOMAS TL-1 spinet organ amplifier I have from 1962 will make an excellent guitar amp. I suppose since I foolishly dismantled the organ before I began collecting and preserving organs to play and to pass to future generations when I'm gone, this lessens the guilt a little bit. If anything it reminds me of how easy it can be to go ahead and tear into an organ that is full of great parts like multiple Blue molded 'Fender' capacitors of varying values, a Special Design " For Thomas Organ Co." 12" Jensen gray frame speaker, a Leslie wooden vertical drum rotary speaker ( with another Jensen 8" driving it), dozens of germanium transistors, and a great little amp with a single pair of 6973 tubes in PUSH-PULL, and 3 or 4 12AX7's, two of which are for the active VIBRATO circuit.
As a guitar player for the past 36 years and an organ player too for the past 18 it really bothers me when I see my fellow guitar players destroying excellent CONN, GULBRANSEN,HAMMOND,THOMAS, AND WURLITZER ORGANS especially.
When these great organs are gone, these irreplaceable ANALOG DISCRETE ELECTRONIC ( TUBE OSCILLATOR AND DISCRETE TRANSISTOR OSCILLATOR) AND OR ELECTROMECHANICAL ( electromagnetic TONE WHEEL, and electrostatic FREE-REED and KEYED-REED) are all destroyed, mostly due to ignorance of simplicity of repair, and or ignorance of their superior tonal superiority, THERE WILL BE NO MORE MADE EVER!
So with this in mind I tread lightly mentioning that the THOMAS TL-1 spinet organ amplifier I have from 1962 will make an excellent guitar amp. I suppose since I foolishly dismantled the organ before I began collecting and preserving organs to play and to pass to future generations when I'm gone, this lessens the guilt a little bit. If anything it reminds me of how easy it can be to go ahead and tear into an organ that is full of great parts like multiple Blue molded 'Fender' capacitors of varying values, a Special Design " For Thomas Organ Co." 12" Jensen gray frame speaker, a Leslie wooden vertical drum rotary speaker ( with another Jensen 8" driving it), dozens of germanium transistors, and a great little amp with a single pair of 6973 tubes in PUSH-PULL, and 3 or 4 12AX7's, two of which are for the active VIBRATO circuit.
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As a guitar player for the past 36 years and an organ player too for the past 18 it really bothers me when I see my fellow guitar players destroying excellent CONN, GULBRANSEN,HAMMOND,THOMAS, AND WURLITZER ORGANS especially. Please continue to read this opening post to a thread that I hope can enlighten and invite you into the great world of electronic organs.
Meanwhile I hope one of you might have a copy of the THOMAS TL-1 ORGAN SCHEMATIC. A T-1 and TL-1 are the same organ, just that the TL has a Leslie insert. Feel free to shoot me a PM on the Organ Forum since I am there more. My screen name is paulj0557 on both Youtube and the Organ Forum.-Thanks
I have been a TONE HEAD musician since I got my first used $25 Black face Fender Bandmaster back in 1981. I quickly followed it with a SOUND CITY 120R, a Vox Pathfinder early tube version, and I traded a very tired Watkins Copicat Mark IV 'For Guild Guitars USA' that I'd used all through Jr. High and High School for 3 FENDER AMP CHASSIS' to play with, mod, and learn from- A SILVER FACE FENDER TWIN REVERB, A BROWN FACE BASSMAN, and a BLACK FACE BASSMAN in the head.
When these great organs are gone, these irreplaceable ANALOG DISCRETE ELECTRONIC ( TUBE OSCILLATOR AND DISCRETE TRANSISTOR OSCILLATOR) AND OR ELECTROMECHANICAL ( electromagnetic TONE WHEEL, and electrostatic FREE-REED and KEYED-REED) are all destroyed, mostly due to ignorance of simplicity of repair, and or ignorance of their superior tonal superiority, THERE WILL BE NO MORE MADE EVER!
So with this in mind I tread lightly mentioning that the THOMAS TL-1 spinet organ amplifier I have from 1962 will make an excellent guitar amp. I suppose since I foolishly dismantled the organ before I began collecting and preserving organs to play and to pass to future generations when I'm gone, this lessens the guilt a little bit. If anything it reminds me of how easy it can be to go ahead and tear into an organ that is full of great parts like multiple Blue molded 'Fender' capacitors of varying values, a Special Design " For Thomas Organ Co." 12" Jensen gray frame speaker, a Leslie wooden vertical drum rotary speaker ( with another Jensen 8" driving it), dozens of germanium transistors, and a great little amp with a single pair of 6973 tubes in PUSH-PULL, and 3 or 4 12AX7's, two of which are for the active VIBRATO circuit.
Yeah, it is rather easy busting down an organ like this if you don't know better, but the fact is we all should know better. See the reason all of these good parts are in this organ is because it is a great great musical instrument! Organs made from 1935 to 1968 especially, are EXCELLENT MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS MADE TO LAST MANY MANY GENERATIONS WITH MINIMAL MAINTENANCE EXCEPT A FEW NEW CAPACITORS IN THE POWER SUPPLY EVERY 25-50 YEARS. This 30+ year run of organs weren't the particle board band in a box, overly automated, crappy single master oscillator chip filled garbage that came along in droves in the 70's.
NO! These were the finely crafted instruments with a timeless musical power and beauty so well defined that EVERY MANUFACTURE during that 30+ year run of designing, building, and selling their organs just got better and better! Nobody made junk during that period, just different shapes and flavors. And more than just the great Hammond Tone Wheel organ was and IS great! After all, all of the major ingredients up to 1968 were DISCRETE. Meaning 1 part does 1 job. A discrete transistor is a single transistor, not half a million crammed into a chip! That said, the engineers and testing musicians concentrated not on goofy rhythm sounds and 'helper automation' like walking bass lines and shopping mall peddlers for a fad that made instant musicians out of passersby during the holidays. No, no these GREAT GREAT MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS 1935 to 1968 PRECEDED ALL OF THAT MESS.
So why do I say 1968? It was in 1968 that the EPROM was introduced. In it's most basic form it was able to function as a simple sequencer for drum patterns, followed by left hand and pedal rhythm accompaniment to accent the down beats while the newbie customer just holds their left hand and foot on the keys and pedal. A brainless activity so they could plink out the single note melody line in their right hand. Wow, a song! Sort of'. So suddenly the trend was to tap into a new market of buyers.
Fact is ALLL of the great organs had ALREADY been made! The manufactures excellent built and sounding previous models on the used-organ market were their own worst enemy! So what to do except please these new fad chasers, and of course give them some incentive as well. Ultimately the organ makers were of sound mind and principles and really did want to offer a good product. They were also wise. If an instrument had these helpful features AND was made like the great instruments from before then perhaps a more refined buyer could approach the instrument that can help him get started and then as he progresses he can ween off of the automation accompaniment. So the stores sold various 'methods' for learning organ like the 'Pointer System'.
By around 1975 Integrated Circuits were getting more sophisticated and cheaper. The TOP ORDER SYNTHESIS CHIP SETS did away with the previous superior TONE GENERATORS which were made from individual common discrete components ( tubes, transistors, and even the tone wheel Hammond organs were getting competition). I haven't mentioned the little known to the general music world- WURLITZER ELECTROSTATIC REED ORGANS 1946-1961, but these were and still are right next to Hammond tone wheel organs as being the ONLY other ELECTROMECHANICAL TONE GENERATION system ever made. This is very important to remember and to explore because the up front, instant attack, and dynamically rich biting tone that comes from a Hammond organ, or an electric guitar for that matter, is also afforded from the WURLITZER ELECTROSTATIC FREE-REED especially. The reeds are NOT used acoustically, but instead ALL of the reeds are hermetically sealed in metal containers and suction is placed on the containers so that all of the reeds are in constant vibration from the instant the organ is turned on. ( SEE TECHNICAL ARTICLES ON HAMMOND AND WURLITZER ORGANS AS DESCRIBED ABOVE, BUT IN EXCELLENT DETAIL WITH AUTOMATED DIAGRAMS here> https://www.nshos.com/index.html
Here is the ELECTROSTATIC FREE-REED 1953'-1961' https://www.nshos.com/wurliContents.htm
( WURLITZER free-reed model KEN GRIFFIN played btw. I play the spinet version of this 4600, the 4410 on my Youtube channel- paulj0557 )
ELECTROSTATIC KEYED-REED 1946'-1953'
NOTE: the electrostatic KEYED-REED organ is essentially the same technology, but the reeds only go into motion when it's corresponding key opens the port to allow air through. These KEYED-REED organs were the first made, from 46' to 53' and are excellent for classical and Liturgical playing due to the slightly slower attack of the notes. Wurlitzer designed the FREE-REED as a response to the Hammond taking the whole market for popular music and jazz. The Hammond has instant attack because all of the tone wheels are in motion and are under load to it's corresponding pick-up coil from the instant the motor puts the generator into motion.
The Wurlitzer electrostatic reed organs have a much more smooth, rich, and full frequency FLUTE than Hammond tone wheel organs for what it is worth. Also the Wurlitzer has STRING and (of course) REED voices as well. The SUSTAIN I is for FLUTE voices, and SUSTAIN II is for STRING/REED voices. There is also an ATTACK tab which affects the FLUTE only and with ATTACK OFF the organ has a slower onset like the 'more pipe like' KEYED-REED models made previously.
WURLITZER only stopped making electrostatic reed organs because the recently introduced transistor to the mass market clobbered the quality-to-cost-to-profits margin. Wurlitzer staff said that the electrostatic free-reed organs were so perfected and had excellent consumer acceptance that they could have continued to manufacture them indefinitely.
THIS IS WHY WE MUST PRESERVE THEM! JOIN THE EFFORT OKAY
I have 11 organs, including these models:
WURLITZER: 46' SERIES 31 'ORGATRON' ELECTROSTATIC KEYED-REED ORGAN and it's companion 5'-tall MODEL 310 'VIBRATO' CABINET ( with Don Leslie's first rotor design, he contracted for Wurlitzer. Incidentally Don Leslie designed the FREE-REED system on the 53'-61' WURLITZERS.)
56' FREE REED 4410 SPINET ( I play it on a video on my Youtube opening page to my channel, screen name paulj0557 )
65' 4300 TRANSISTOR DISCRETE COMPONENT SPINET ( listen to JOHN DELUCA WURLITZER 4500/4502/4300 on Youtube. An EXCELLENT ORGAN!!
1955' HAMMOND S6 CHORD ORGAN ( fully functional and 100% original, has the add-on AO-35 NECKLACE REVERB)
...several LESLIES, HAMMOND TONE CABINETS, and WURLITZER BRASS HORNS
- A 1975' GULBRANSEN RIALTO II
- A 1970 HAMMOND X66 & it's SERIES 12-77 MATCHING CABINET
- A 1958 CONN CLASSIC 815 CONSOLE ORGAN WITH ADD-ON KEY-PERCUSSION,REPEAT PERCUSSION. THIS IS MY FAVORITE ORGAN SINCE IT SOUNDS AMAZING!!! LISTEN TO - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xACN5NsGh2U and you'll see why [ John is playing a Conn Classic 800 series like mine, not a Wurlitzer. It's pure heaven! My 815 I saved from being scrapped after I saw it on ebay as only the preamp being sold from it. I immediately contacted the seller, who turned out to be near my location here in Columbus Ohio and gave him $300 for the organ and two 1-15"/2-10" CONN UTILITY SPEAKER CABS
Lots of great organ videos on my Youtube channel as well. I upload full organ albums. This CONN CLASSIC is ALSO ON YOUTUBE AS - ORGANS ON THE MARH, JOHN GART -- and -- GEORGE WRIGHT PLAYS THE CONN ELECTRONIC ORGAN [ it's the exact same model as my CONN, an 810 CLASSIC], and finally -- PAUL MICKELSON CONN CLASSIC ORGAN
My motto is - SAVE JUST ONE, EVERYONE CAN MAKE ROOM FOR ONE ORGAN IF I CAN MAKE ROOM FOR 11. WURLITZERS ARE THE PRETTIEST AND BEST MADE, BUT THE HAMMOND X66 IS A WORK OF WONDERMENT AND THEY SPARED NO EXPENSE. AMAZING ORGAN TO HAVE!!
Meanwhile I hope one of you might have a copy of the THOMAS TL-1 ORGAN SCHEMATIC. A T-1 and TL-1 are the same organ, just that the TL has a Leslie insert. Feel free to shoot me a PM on the Organ Forum since I am there more. My screen name is paulj0557 on both Youtube and the Organ Forum.-Thanks
I have been a TONE HEAD musician since I got my first used $25 Black face Fender Bandmaster back in 1981. I quickly followed it with a SOUND CITY 120R, a Vox Pathfinder early tube version, and I traded a very tired Watkins Copicat Mark IV 'For Guild Guitars USA' that I'd used all through Jr. High and High School for 3 FENDER AMP CHASSIS' to play with, mod, and learn from- A SILVER FACE FENDER TWIN REVERB, A BROWN FACE BASSMAN, and a BLACK FACE BASSMAN in the head.
When these great organs are gone, these irreplaceable ANALOG DISCRETE ELECTRONIC ( TUBE OSCILLATOR AND DISCRETE TRANSISTOR OSCILLATOR) AND OR ELECTROMECHANICAL ( electromagnetic TONE WHEEL, and electrostatic FREE-REED and KEYED-REED) are all destroyed, mostly due to ignorance of simplicity of repair, and or ignorance of their superior tonal superiority, THERE WILL BE NO MORE MADE EVER!
So with this in mind I tread lightly mentioning that the THOMAS TL-1 spinet organ amplifier I have from 1962 will make an excellent guitar amp. I suppose since I foolishly dismantled the organ before I began collecting and preserving organs to play and to pass to future generations when I'm gone, this lessens the guilt a little bit. If anything it reminds me of how easy it can be to go ahead and tear into an organ that is full of great parts like multiple Blue molded 'Fender' capacitors of varying values, a Special Design " For Thomas Organ Co." 12" Jensen gray frame speaker, a Leslie wooden vertical drum rotary speaker ( with another Jensen 8" driving it), dozens of germanium transistors, and a great little amp with a single pair of 6973 tubes in PUSH-PULL, and 3 or 4 12AX7's, two of which are for the active VIBRATO circuit.
Yeah, it is rather easy busting down an organ like this if you don't know better, but the fact is we all should know better. See the reason all of these good parts are in this organ is because it is a great great musical instrument! Organs made from 1935 to 1968 especially, are EXCELLENT MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS MADE TO LAST MANY MANY GENERATIONS WITH MINIMAL MAINTENANCE EXCEPT A FEW NEW CAPACITORS IN THE POWER SUPPLY EVERY 25-50 YEARS. This 30+ year run of organs weren't the particle board band in a box, overly automated, crappy single master oscillator chip filled garbage that came along in droves in the 70's.
NO! These were the finely crafted instruments with a timeless musical power and beauty so well defined that EVERY MANUFACTURE during that 30+ year run of designing, building, and selling their organs just got better and better! Nobody made junk during that period, just different shapes and flavors. And more than just the great Hammond Tone Wheel organ was and IS great! After all, all of the major ingredients up to 1968 were DISCRETE. Meaning 1 part does 1 job. A discrete transistor is a single transistor, not half a million crammed into a chip! That said, the engineers and testing musicians concentrated not on goofy rhythm sounds and 'helper automation' like walking bass lines and shopping mall peddlers for a fad that made instant musicians out of passersby during the holidays. No, no these GREAT GREAT MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS 1935 to 1968 PRECEDED ALL OF THAT MESS.
So why do I say 1968? It was in 1968 that the EPROM was introduced. In it's most basic form it was able to function as a simple sequencer for drum patterns, followed by left hand and pedal rhythm accompaniment to accent the down beats while the newbie customer just holds their left hand and foot on the keys and pedal. A brainless activity so they could plink out the single note melody line in their right hand. Wow, a song! Sort of'. So suddenly the trend was to tap into a new market of buyers.
Fact is ALLL of the great organs had ALREADY been made! The manufactures excellent built and sounding previous models on the used-organ market were their own worst enemy! So what to do except please these new fad chasers, and of course give them some incentive as well. Ultimately the organ makers were of sound mind and principles and really did want to offer a good product. They were also wise. If an instrument had these helpful features AND was made like the great instruments from before then perhaps a more refined buyer could approach the instrument that can help him get started and then as he progresses he can ween off of the automation accompaniment. So the stores sold various 'methods' for learning organ like the 'Pointer System'.
By around 1975 Integrated Circuits were getting more sophisticated and cheaper. The TOP ORDER SYNTHESIS CHIP SETS did away with the previous superior TONE GENERATORS which were made from individual common discrete components ( tubes, transistors, and even the tone wheel Hammond organs were getting competition). I haven't mentioned the little known to the general music world- WURLITZER ELECTROSTATIC REED ORGANS 1946-1961, but these were and still are right next to Hammond tone wheel organs as being the ONLY other ELECTROMECHANICAL TONE GENERATION system ever made. This is very important to remember and to explore because the up front, instant attack, and dynamically rich biting tone that comes from a Hammond organ, or an electric guitar for that matter, is also afforded from the WURLITZER ELECTROSTATIC FREE-REED especially. The reeds are NOT used acoustically, but instead ALL of the reeds are hermetically sealed in metal containers and suction is placed on the containers so that all of the reeds are in constant vibration from the instant the organ is turned on. ( SEE TECHNICAL ARTICLES ON HAMMOND AND WURLITZER ORGANS AS DESCRIBED ABOVE, BUT IN EXCELLENT DETAIL WITH AUTOMATED DIAGRAMS here> https://www.nshos.com/index.html
Here is the ELECTROSTATIC FREE-REED 1953'-1961' https://www.nshos.com/wurliContents.htm
( WURLITZER free-reed model KEN GRIFFIN played btw. I play the spinet version of this 4600, the 4410 on my Youtube channel- paulj0557 )
ELECTROSTATIC KEYED-REED 1946'-1953'
NOTE: the electrostatic KEYED-REED organ is essentially the same technology, but the reeds only go into motion when it's corresponding key opens the port to allow air through. These KEYED-REED organs were the first made, from 46' to 53' and are excellent for classical and Liturgical playing due to the slightly slower attack of the notes. Wurlitzer designed the FREE-REED as a response to the Hammond taking the whole market for popular music and jazz. The Hammond has instant attack because all of the tone wheels are in motion and are under load to it's corresponding pick-up coil from the instant the motor puts the generator into motion.
The Wurlitzer electrostatic reed organs have a much more smooth, rich, and full frequency FLUTE than Hammond tone wheel organs for what it is worth. Also the Wurlitzer has STRING and (of course) REED voices as well. The SUSTAIN I is for FLUTE voices, and SUSTAIN II is for STRING/REED voices. There is also an ATTACK tab which affects the FLUTE only and with ATTACK OFF the organ has a slower onset like the 'more pipe like' KEYED-REED models made previously.
WURLITZER only stopped making electrostatic reed organs because the recently introduced transistor to the mass market clobbered the quality-to-cost-to-profits margin. Wurlitzer staff said that the electrostatic free-reed organs were so perfected and had excellent consumer acceptance that they could have continued to manufacture them indefinitely.
THIS IS WHY WE MUST PRESERVE THEM! JOIN THE EFFORT OKAY
I have 11 organs, including these models:
WURLITZER: 46' SERIES 31 'ORGATRON' ELECTROSTATIC KEYED-REED ORGAN and it's companion 5'-tall MODEL 310 'VIBRATO' CABINET ( with Don Leslie's first rotor design, he contracted for Wurlitzer. Incidentally Don Leslie designed the FREE-REED system on the 53'-61' WURLITZERS.)
56' FREE REED 4410 SPINET ( I play it on a video on my Youtube opening page to my channel, screen name paulj0557 )
65' 4300 TRANSISTOR DISCRETE COMPONENT SPINET ( listen to JOHN DELUCA WURLITZER 4500/4502/4300 on Youtube. An EXCELLENT ORGAN!!
1955' HAMMOND S6 CHORD ORGAN ( fully functional and 100% original, has the add-on AO-35 NECKLACE REVERB)
...several LESLIES, HAMMOND TONE CABINETS, and WURLITZER BRASS HORNS
- A 1975' GULBRANSEN RIALTO II
- A 1970 HAMMOND X66 & it's SERIES 12-77 MATCHING CABINET
- A 1958 CONN CLASSIC 815 CONSOLE ORGAN WITH ADD-ON KEY-PERCUSSION,REPEAT PERCUSSION. THIS IS MY FAVORITE ORGAN SINCE IT SOUNDS AMAZING!!! LISTEN TO - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xACN5NsGh2U and you'll see why [ John is playing a Conn Classic 800 series like mine, not a Wurlitzer. It's pure heaven! My 815 I saved from being scrapped after I saw it on ebay as only the preamp being sold from it. I immediately contacted the seller, who turned out to be near my location here in Columbus Ohio and gave him $300 for the organ and two 1-15"/2-10" CONN UTILITY SPEAKER CABS
Lots of great organ videos on my Youtube channel as well. I upload full organ albums. This CONN CLASSIC is ALSO ON YOUTUBE AS - ORGANS ON THE MARH, JOHN GART -- and -- GEORGE WRIGHT PLAYS THE CONN ELECTRONIC ORGAN [ it's the exact same model as my CONN, an 810 CLASSIC], and finally -- PAUL MICKELSON CONN CLASSIC ORGAN
My motto is - SAVE JUST ONE, EVERYONE CAN MAKE ROOM FOR ONE ORGAN IF I CAN MAKE ROOM FOR 11. WURLITZERS ARE THE PRETTIEST AND BEST MADE, BUT THE HAMMOND X66 IS A WORK OF WONDERMENT AND THEY SPARED NO EXPENSE. AMAZING ORGAN TO HAVE!!
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