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When the cost of production in Italy became so high, and with dwindling sales throughout Europe, the Orla organ company had little option but to cease production, to continue to design and research Orla organs, but to pass on manufacture to a cheaper source.
The beautiful town of Castelfidardo in Italy sits off the East coast just south of Ancona. This quiet town in Italy became synonymous with musical instrument production. From great names like Farfisa, Elka, Orla, Galanti, Gem, and numerous accordion manufacturers all situated in the town. Most of the townsfolk were involved in the production of some fabulous instruments, and in the heyday, the town prospered.
Even the famous Woolworth high street chain had the Bontempi chord organs from here and the Bontempi family still have links there today. Sadly now, the factories remain, but the once beautiful reception areas of the factories that received its clientele, now lay dormant, dusty and cold.
One man in particular had no intention of closing his doors and continued to produce up until the last decade. Lets for now, call him Mr Orla… In the later years of organ production, Mr Orla made some of their finest instruments including the Orla Sport single keyboard, their Theatre range and even the beautiful Modena. Mr Orla was determined to continue the family tradition of producing these wonderful sweet sounding organs and keyboards for as long as possible.
With a close relationship with the guys at Orla UK, the development and voicing of instruments continued as long as it could. Testimony of Orla UK’s commitment to a fantastic instrument, was the amount of collaboration into the actual sampling and sound creation built into Orla organs to ensure Orla’s large UK fanbase were catered for.
This practice continued up until the costs of production became impossible and Mr Orla had no option but to close the doors and the last organ producer in Castelfidardo ceased manufacturing.
Not being one to sit on his ‘CULO’, Mr Orla took the blueprints, design, and secrets to China in the hope of his beloved Orla’s being produced there. If you look at for instance, the Orla Grand Theatre.
Take a look at the carpentry skills involved and also the weight of these items for shipping, these beautiful instruments with their cabinets and carpentry would have to have lighter materials as shipping alone would price the new instruments out of the market. After speaking to the Ringway Electronics company, Mr Orla knew there just might be a way….
After months and months of talks, testing, prototypes, and hundreds of telephone calls and visits, products started to come off the assembly lines in China.
So proud of these products were the Ringway company, they asked that the Ringway name was used on the product. After months of negotiation and wrangling, a compromise was struck and Ringway by Orla was born. A Chinese made organ with the heart of Italy was now available to us here in the UK.
Now we have organs like the Ringway RS620 in beautiful Black Gloss and the RS1000 in its stunning white polyester gloss, and newer models like the RS800 and A2000. A far more modern approach into organ manufacture. The little RS620 has a footprint of the same as a 5 octave keyboard so it now brings two manuals and a 21 note pedal board in such a compact unit that takes up the same space as a keyboard.
I must also add, this instrument may be little in its footprint yet its specification is huge including a 5 octave lower manual that you can split giving you effectively three manuals. It really did shake the market when it landed and was very competitively priced at just under £3000. Nowadays you can find these little Goliaths for an absolute song and are very nice to play… Take a step up to the RS1000 and the world is your oyster.
These beautiful organs are equipped with ‘Fatar’ professional keyboards and represent such a bargain in the market today. The Ringway name seems to have stuck and yet despite the collaboration with Orla, it seems the Ringway company of China has won through.
Today, the Ringway company continues to produce Organs and electronic pianos in their huge factories in Changzhou. Build quality and reliability are the watchword for this company and now, even the Japanese have taken Ringway to their hearts and Ringway organ festivals are now very popular over there, although a very different sound chip is used for chinese and japanese instruments.
We are very lucky here at Whitley Bay Organs to have collectively 50 + years of experience in organs and both David and myself would advocate the Ringway Organ. They represent fantastic value for money and are a delight to use.
Our stock changes daily and we always have such a wonderful selection of used quality pre loved instruments here in Banbury, including both Ringway models. We even have a very rare RS620 in a wood finish
Why not take a look at our Videos and see David having some fun on the RS620?
So, stay safe, keep playing the music and enjoy ……
Paul Cook (sales)
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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.
Comments:
Hi Paul
Do you have access to Orla baby grand pianos? I’m looking for a way to buy an Orla 500 baby grand.
John
Hi John, we only have used Orla models, but none are Baby grands- we do the Yamaha digital grands like the CLP765 and CLP795, also the N3x- though stock is quite slow coming through at the moment- let me know if one of the Yamahas might interest you
best wishes
David
Is there anyone who can repair my Orla organ? DLX GT 9000, all lights flashing but no sound!
Hi Alison, yes we have an engineer- email us on sales@epianos.co.uk with all the details and i’m sure we can get it sorted