Schober Organ Notes No. 52
OVERTURE
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THANK YOU FRED HENN
When Fred needed help with his Schober after Schober's demise, he found
it. That could have been the end of the story, however being the person
he is and realizing that there must be others in need of help, he decided
to share. He put untold hours of work and many many dollars of his money
into finding other Schober "orphans" and publishing and distributing Organ
Notes. He has helped anyone who has asked for any kind of help and many
a Schober is still giving pleasure to its owner because of Fred. Fred explained
in ON 51 why he is stepping aside as headmaster. We all regret his decision.
We all wish him success and happiness in his endeavors. Most of all we
all want to say THANK YOU. You will always be Founder and Headmaster Emeritus
of the Schober Orphans.
A SHORT INTRODUCTION
I am very flattered and glad that Fred picked me to succeed him as headmaster
of our group. Thank you Fred, I hope that I can do half as well as
you did.
A short introduction is in order. I fell in love with organs when I
saw my first ESTEY reed organ when my parents and I visited friends in
Vermont. When they bought a camp here I set about to find one. The stop
pulls fascinated me. I finally bought a wonderful ESTEY for $5 and got
it to play by cutting the pedal straps from an old convertible top the
first night that I had it. Then however I started to want an organ with
more stops and was lead to Schober by their advertisements in electronics
magazines. To make a long story short I could never afford the kits. When
I finally thought I could and went to the building where I had visited
Schober and Jim Ramsey years ago, they were gone. I gave up for a while,
then about two years ago I tried to find another kit organ manufacturer
but could not. I put an ad in Antique Radio Classified and was led to Ray
DeVault. He steered me to Fred, and as of March 1997 I am a member of the
Schober orphans. I have rescued two Consolette's. I gave those away when
I was given a wonderful Theatre. I now also have a three manual based on
a Recital, which I am trying to restore. Unfortunately most of the electronics
are bad and much of it got lost during a long trip when I had it shipped
half way across the country. But with the help of many of you I am making
progress.
WANTED
Now I would like to ask a favor. If any of you have anything of interest
that could be published in ON please send it to me. If you have any ideas
for articles or stories, any questions, please let me know. This is our
publication, the more of us that participate the more interesting it will
be.
*NEWS*
LDR SUCCESS
First let me thank Lloyd Shemp and George Reim for sending me old LDR's
that I could experiment with. Fred Henn for his help and encouragement.Bob
Large for sending me a LED/LDR to show what does not work as a replacement.
And again Bob Large for testing one of my home made ones in his Theatre
Schober. He writes: "If anything, my Schober Theatre Organ is in better
shape with your LDR than with the original! I've been playing it for some
three weeks (at least when the spirit moves me) and my reaction is highly
satisfactory..."
HOW TO FIX A SCHOBER LDR
There are several Schober LDR sizes all with the same part number (04LDR-1),
but of somewht different size. The most common one I think is one that
is 30mm long and has a 7mm diameter. Every bad LDR that I have ever seen
has had a good lamp and a bad photoresistor. I will describe how you can
fix this LDR. If you have a different size, contact me and I can tell you
what to do.
Test the lamp with an ohm meter, if it tests good proceed as follows:
Place a utility knife or blade exactly 7mm from the dot (resistor) end
and rotate the LDR on a hard surface until the resistor is cut off. You
now have the lamp left. If you could not test the lamp because you do not
have the equipment, test it now by attaching it to a 6V battery.
Take the cap of one of these cheap BLACK Paper Mate pens (see
ON 51) and cut off
the clip from the open end and the closed top of the cap so that you
have a 16mm "tube "left. Push the lamp of the Schober LDR about 3-4mm
into this "tube". Take a photoresistor (see ON 51 for part number and retailer)
and push it into the opposite end of the "tube" until it meets the lamp.
Break the eraser off a standard pencil. Push the eraser behind the photoresistor,
making sure that one wire is to the left of the eraser, the other to the
right. It will all fit snugly. Mix some 5 minute epoxy and fill the space
behind the eraser. Encircle the joint between lamp and "tube" with epoxy
from the outside. When the epoxy has dried, there it is, a perfect replacement
for the original.
Alexander Kruedener
THEORY
Larry Smith writes: "My personal opinion about the problem with the gold
keying wires in the keyboards is that chlorine from the tapping fluid migrated
in the oil to the gold wires and formed gold chlorides on the wires, thus
causing the scratchiness, made worse however by the low voltage of the
signal."
EMAIL ADDRESS CHANGE
Bill Kohrumel has changed his email address to: bk3@inlink.com
*SCHOBER RELATED ADS*
FREE SPINET
A spinet Schober that needs some TLC is offered for free to someone who
could appreciate its value. All documentation is available. Call or write:
Kenneth Somerlot, 5065 Lake Drive, Owosso MI 48867-9739, (517)723-1912.
Email: somerlot@shianet.org
CONSOLETTE II
Virginia Tillson says her husband had built a Consolette II and made a
specially nice console for it. She is selling it, and may part it out if
no one is interested in the complete organ. Contact her at: PO Box 267,
Canaan, NH 03741. (603) 523-4213
THEATRE
Wayne Farrell has an "excellent condition" Schober theatre organ with a
110 Leslie speaker that he wants to sell as his son wants a Hammond B3
instead. Contact him at: Email: wfarrell@stonemedia.com.
WANTED: SCHOBER ORGAN
Does anyone have a Schober Organ in the vicinity of Ft. Meyers Florida
that they wish to give away? A former business associate of the Schober
Orphans founder Fred Henn is looking for one. Contact: John E. Maher, 224
Tellidora Ct., Ft. Meyers FL 33908, (914)454-0780.
*SWAP, SELL OR GIVE AWAY ADS*
NEW SECTION
I want to try this new section for non organ items that our readers may
want to swap, sell, give away for the shipping costs or trade for organ
related items. Since many of you have your Schobers in good condition and
do not need parts or advice etc. this may create a little extra interest
for you. So please send in an ad for this section. I will start it off.
FREE
Power supply for computer, 286 mother board, disc drive. For shipping costs.
Contact Alex Kruedener
SWAP
Four disc CD ROM drive changer. Contact Alexander Kruedener.