[sdiy] Thomas Playmate Leslie Organ

[rkmoore at memphis.edu]

The little leslies are nice, though.  I pulled a small leslie out of a
Conn Prelude organ and put it in a separate cabinet with a switch to
turn the motor on and off.  The speaker in it can't be larger than about
6 inches, but it sounds pretty nice for recording.  Until I can scratch
together 1000 dollars for a used 122 or 147, it will do.

Sorry about the late posting.  I've just moved to a new place and
started a summer job (army research lab in northern VA if anyone is up
here)  and I'm way behind on the SDIY messages.

Richard Moore

----- Original Message -----
From: sasami at hotkey.net.au (Ken Stone)
Date: Tuesday, May 9, 2006 4:11 pm
Subject: Re: [sdiy] Thomas Playmate Leslie Organ

> You are better off without it. Thomas organs offer very little of 
> value to a
> synth enthusiast. Lousey when they work, and useless when pulled 
> apart.
> Ken
> 
> 
> >What appeared to be a good find met my eyes this afternoon.  In front
> >of a house being gutted was an organ with two keyboards 
> (manuals?) and
> >foot pedals.  A closer examination revealed that it was an old
> >solid-state Thomas Playmate with a rotating Leslie speaker.
> >Unfortunately, the keys are discolored and covered with mildew; a
> >couple of keys were broken... the rest will probably disintegrate
> >easily (?).  Popping open the top of the cabinet open revealed that
> >there had been a rat infestation; also, the tunable inductors were
> >badly corroded. Most of the key mechanisms appeared functional, but
> >the stench permeating the air around the organ was, well, putrid. 
> :-(
> >
> >A telephone call to the owner revealed that he wanted $50 for it, but
> >I talked him down to $25... I should have just offered to haul it 
> away>for free.  After the second closer examination, I called him 
> back and
> >said that I wasn't interested.  At the time, I had no way to get it
> >home.  It probably would have, barely, fit into the back of the 
> 1970's>station wagon that I was driving, but getting it inside the 
> cargo area
> >by myself without damaging the car wouldn't have been a simple 
> feat...>the weight probably would have taken the gas mileage down 
> to some
> >negative number as well while getting it back here.  :-(  Ah well...
> >
> >-- 
> >R. D. Davis www.rddavis.org  The difference between humans & 
> other animals: an
> >Dangling Spiders Electronic     unnatural belief that we're above 
> Nature & her
> >  Music Studio     410-744-4900   other creatures, using dogma to 
> justify such
> >www.danglingspiders.com             beliefs and to justify much 
> human cruelty.
> >
> >
> _______________________________________________________________________
> Ken Stone   sasami at hotkey.net.au or sasami at cgs.synth.net
> Modular Synth PCBs for sale <" 
> target="l">http://www.blaze.net.au/~sasami/synth/>Australian 
> Miniature Horses & Ponies <" 
> target="l">http://www.blaze.net.au/~sasami/>
>