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Though my first experience of electronic home organs was in 1979, the first ones date back to the late 1920’s when there were attempts to replicate the sound of church organ pipes using electronic oscillators through speakers.
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Hammond Organs became the first big household name for home organs in the 1960’s, but their development started right back in the 1930’s when Laurens Hammond used tonewheel generators – whilst they were still a long way from producing the real sounds of instruments, they became a classic sound we remember and musicians still use today.
I remember in the 1970’s, players used Hammond “drawbars” which slid in and out to produce different sounds. The selection of 9 drawbars all related to different lengths of pipes ( like on a church organ) and all the many combinations all produced different sounds. The white drawbars gave you pure sounds, all one octave apart, but when you used the black ones, the notes produced gave you intervals of 3rd 5ths and 6ths and they could make you more “dischordant” sounds.
You could even produce sounds that mildly resembled instruments like trumpets and clarinets, but you did to have a good sense of imagination to really recognise the sounds as specific instruments. Hammond used to publish lists of set ups for sounds like “888842000” then later on they included a selection of Drawbar Cards which pushed up against the drawbars to make different classic settings. You’d pull our all the drawbars, then slide the card up to them to leave the ones out that made the sound.
I remember once hearing about a regular fault caused by dust that gave a clicking sound when notes were plates, and as the jazz organists got to like it’s sound, Hammond put a button on their organs to produce that sound for future models In the 1970’s many homes had a home organ, it became a craze like the stylophone, or something like a radiogram that many houses bought.
The piano had always been a popular piece of furniture and as many people went to church, organs could be used to play all kinds of music including hymns, so they really became popular.
” I remember starting to learn the home organ at the age of 12, back in 1979 my father bought a small one and we both had electronic organ lessons in the local music shop. “
I remember starting to learn the home organ at the age of 12, back in 1979 my father bought a small one and we both had electronic organ lessons in the local music shop. They used to sell Hammond, Cavendish and Gulbransen organs.
I used to spend hours at home learning and experimenting with the buttons and rhythms. Then i was lucky enough to land my first Saturday job in a new music shop opening in my home town and i started to sell them for a living. The store i worked in stocked about 20 organs, and these were made by Yamaha, Farfisa, Technics, Elka and Eminent.
I had the opportunity to play on them all and demonstrate their best bits to customers coming in to browse. I was lucky enough to go to the trade shows held in London to see all the latest models being displayed and used to love trying out new ranges to see what they sounded like. All the manufacturers would rent rooms at a selection of the top London hotels and courtesy buses took you between them.
We used to go to the Hotel Russel, the Bloomsbury Crest and the Connaught Rooms, all full of home organs by different manufacturers. All of the manufacturers wanted to introduce new technology, so they were all trying to woo their customers with new features.
I remember being so excited when the Technics U series was replaced by the more exciting, more digital E series. Instead of the tabs which were just up and down switches on the U series, the E series used buttons with a light on, so if you selected a set up, all the lights would change to the new setting without having to lift up the tabs that weren’t used. This was groundbreaking!
Then Yamaha brought out a new series of home organ called FS. These were top of the range models and the top model, called the FS70, had motorised sliders, so every time you changed to a new setting, all the sliders whirred and moved to their new positions.
“Most home organs still played today use the digital approach, with lights on their buttons, and selections can be memorised so they can be easily found again.”
Most organs still played today use the digital approach, with lights on their buttons, and selections can be memorised so they can be easily found again. Sounds on the newer models have been vastly improved from the Hammonds of the sixties and seventies. Technology improved and the latest models have sampled voices. Samples have been made of the sounds of individual instruments, and as the organist plays the keys, the samples of the sounds from the specific instrument can be heard, so you’re listening to an almost exact performance.
We can still offer warranties on these and they are still reliable. They also are of the new breed with many presets to help you get a good sound easily and they offer very accurate sounds compared to those early models too.
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These items are sold on behalf of Yamaha, and are sent to us on a per-order basis, typically within 5-7 working days, unless an ETA is otherwise stated.
We'll contact you the moment your purchase arrives with us to organise delivery, based on your selected option.
Example products: Yamaha DGX670, Yamaha P-525, Yamaha YDP-S55, Yamaha Clavinova.
These items must be sent with a heavy-goods courier (typically APC or FedEx). On occasion, depending on which is fastest, we will drop-ship directly from Yamaha to your address via Dachser.
Tracking will be provided by the haulier, with a typical arrival time of 1-2 working days.
*If you have included the optional £180 "Yamaha Premium Service" home delivery & setup option offered on selected products, we will contact you regarding arrangements after purchase.
**The Yamaha CSP Series, Yamaha CVP905 & CVP909, Yamaha CLP875, 885 & 895GP, and Yamaha NU1Xa are all sold on behalf of Yamaha and arrive with us on a per-order basis. As soon as your piano has arrived, we will contact you to organise the appropriate dispatch method. ETA for stock is shown on the product page for those items.
***If you have included the optional £99 home delivery & setup option offered on selected products, we will send your details direct to the installation team, who will contact you within 48 hours to make arrangements.
Depending on which option is most appropriate, we will either contact you to discuss a bespoke ePianos delivery surcharge for goods we can’t package for a 3rd party courier, or otherwise dispatch goods via FedEx or APC.
If a courier is used, tracking will be provided by them directly, with a typical arrival time of 1-2 working days.
Example products: Yamaha PSR-SX920, Yamaha P-225, Yamaha NP-15.
These items will be sent via courier (typically APC or FedEx). On occasion, depending on which is fastest, we will drop-ship directly from Yamaha to your address via UPS or Parcelforce.
Tracking will be provided by the courier, with a typical arrival time of 1-2 working days.
Smaller items, such as books, discs, etc, will be dispatched via Royal Mail second class.
After purchase, you can download the file either from the order confirmation page or the "Downloads" tab in "My Account".
If you have selected the option to receive a pre-loaded USB stick, then this will be dispatched via Royal Mail.
We will contact you regarding any pre-ordered items, and let you know when they arrive so as to arrange delivery with you at a convenient time.
Used items can also be purchased using either of the following options (minimum loan amount of £250 after deposit):
Total amount payable: £893.32
Available finance options are displayed at checkout. Alternatively, please get in touch and we’ll be happy to discuss the options, or email a finance application to you. Find out more by clicking here
Our seasonal opening hours are as follows:
We are closed on all bank holidays, therefore the processing of sales and deliveries will be delayed.
For orders of any stock displaying a 7-10 day lead time, we will contact you as soon as the item arrives with us to schedule a delivery with you.
Occasionally, there may be availability issues with our suppliers, in which case we'll get in touch with you to see if you're happy to wait, or if you'd like to cancel the order and receive a full refund.
This is a special order "agency" item, and comes to us directly from Yamaha on a per-order basis.
It typically takes 7-10 days for this item to arrive with us, whereupon we'll contact you to discuss the arrangement of delivery.
For any pre-orders, we will contact you as soon as the item arrives with us to schedule a delivery with you, and update you with an ETA.
Occasionally, there may be availability issues with our suppliers, in which case we'll get in touch with you to see if you're happy to wait, or if you'd like to cancel the order and receive a full refund.
*Cashback amount varies product to product, as indicated.
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