Schober Organ Notes No. 54

OVERTURE


Again we have gained a few members. Welcome and please let me hear from you. Ideas for articles, articles on what you have done to fix or improve your Schober, ads, everything is welcome. Some of the things published in this newsletter are experiences, repairs, suggestions from other members. Not everything may be good advice. Not every opinion might be right, see "Capacitor Controversy" in issue 53, and "Microphone Controversy" in this issue. Consequently I have been advised to make this DISCLAIMER: Follow advice and accept information as being reasonable, at your own risk!
 

*RECITAL AND CONSOLETTE II COMBINATION ACTION PARTS*


Parts for the mechanical tripper action combination action and the often failing stop tabs are still available, as well as a repair guide. Contact Klann Organ Supply, 301 4th Street, Waynesboro, VA 22980-1152.
 

*ORGAN REPAIR TECHNICIAN*


One of our new members is Marion L. Clemens (The Piano & Organ Man). He recently retired, but says he would be glad to hear from members of our group who have questions regarding their organ. He may be able to help. His address is 10129 Lapeer Road, Davison, MI 48423, telephone # (810) 653-2439.
 

*NOISY PERCUSSION*

David Bruce wrote that his percussions were unusable because of noise and hiss. He pulled the board out of the organ, and cleaned the board. "Then the trouble shooting began. I found most of the noise being induced at the amplifier stages by noisy carbon resistors. The only way to prove it was to replace them, it was all that was left after replacing capacitors and so on, and BINGO!…I replaced the bias resistors on the first emitter follower stage of the preamp with metal film resistors and that took away most of the hiss and noise. I also replaced the other collector and bias resistors in the preamp circuit on the percussion board, that made only a marginal difference. I think the bias resistors on the first stage were the key”.
 

*DIGITAL TONE*

"We would be interested in hearing from anyone in the group who may want to look at putting digital tone generation into their existing instruments. We are talking to the supplier in the UK about possibly being able to do this via modular form for people to retrofit existing instruments. The system can handle pipe tone, percussions, digital reverb system built-in, can drive pipes and or real instruments, has in-built MIDI capability, combination action and I believe (not entirely sure yet) record/playback. If anyone from the group wants to contact us it is probably best for them to use our email address: Lis&david@theatreorgans.com. Lis & David."
 

*MICROPHONE CONTROVERSY*


One of our members sent the article in ON 53 "MICROPHONE" to a friend who is an engineer at a local radio station. This friend disagreed with the gist of the article. He wrote "The only thing that I can agree with in this statement [article] is that the $200 mikes can't come close to these specs. They cannot, nor would they want to. The microphone element is only a very small part of the design of a microphone. The mount for the element, dead space behind the element, venting of the element and relationship of the element with the front of the microphone, along with shielding and impedance matching, all will affect how that microphone sounds. I have a relatively inexpensive EV microphone ($150) whose specs are far less than the claimed specs of the Digi-Key electret microphones, or even the most expensive Radio Shack microphones…The first thing you will notice is that with the EV microphone, you really don't hear much of anything until there is really something to hear. The problem with electrets is they make their own noise and are so "peaky" in response that you hear things that really are not there…A good microphone does not add anything that is not there…I won't even bother talking about taking a transducer designed by Koss for headphones and replacing a transducer made for a microphone. That would be like taking an diesel engine designed for an 18 wheeler and putting it in a Volkswagen bug!" The engineer and our member were very concerned about hurting the feelings of the person who had the Microphone ideas. I don't think anyone would be hurt by a differing opinion. That's our function. Present ideas, have discussions, make up our minds as to what's best. Please send in your thoughts, ideas and schemes. It makes for interesting reading. Thank you to our member and his friend for their input!
 

*INFORMATION WANTED*


Does anyone know of a Robert B. Pachaly or a Pachaly Group who was in some way involved with Schober? If you do, please contact bond@discovernet.net.
 

*NEW FRED HENN ENTERPRISE*


Fred Henn, our founder wrote: “As I mentioned in ON 51, my intention is to form an Alternative Medicine group with a structure like this Schober Orphan's group. Yes…there will be a newsletter to disseminate the information that's gathered. My intent is to use the arrangement that I used just prior to when I turned the gavel over to Alex Kruedener: One SASE and one loose first class stamp for each issue you want to receive. If you'd like more details, please contact me.” Fred Henn, 230 North French Rd., Amherst NY 14228-2033, Phone (716)691-9495 email: oranur@juno.com
 

*NEW E-MAIL ADDRESS*


One of our Assistant Headmasters, Bill Kohrumel has changed his e-mail address to: bk3@usmo.com. Bill does the graphics and set up of Organ Notes, keeps our membership/address list, and helps with everything else.
 

*INK CARTRIDGES*


Has anyone noticed that the relatively inexpensive Ink-Jet printers require very expensive ink cartridge replacements? You can save a lot by refilling your used up cartridges. Bob Bainbridge gave me the name of a reliable source for refill kits. Contact Chris Cote at: fisher@nwinfo.net. Bob writes: "Chris will need to know the Printers name…The first time you fill an empty cartridge you have to open up the factory fill hole, which is a soft plastic plug about 1/8 inch diameter, by pressing in the point of a small drill (furnished). Do not drill out the hole, but unscrew it, which leaves hole which will take a syringe needle (furnished) with which you inject ink into it."
 

*USEFUL WEB SITES*


Fred Henn sent in the following:

Organ Group = www.web1234.com.aoai xxxx
Banda Records Co. = http://theatreorgans.com/cds/banda.html
E-mail Greeting Cards = www.123cards.com
Sell items = www.ebay.com
IRS on-line service = www.irs.com
Schober web site = www.cloud9.net/~pastark/schober.html
Do you have any? Please send them to me.
 

***SWAP AND SHOP***

*SCHOBER RELATED ITEM*.

Two Recital Organs:  Dr Robert A. Stier wants to dispose of two Schober Recital Organs. He built one, which is loaded, including a Schulmersch Chimatron. He does NOT want to part it out. He is also helping to find a new owner for the second Recital, as the present owner is moving to smaller living quarters. Please write to him at: 1010 Comstock Court, Spokane, WA 99203. He will answer by phone or letter.
 

Swap

Fred Henn has the following: An Organ Tester. A set of later style (silicon transistors) #11804 percussion keyer boards. A #11237 (germanium transistor, some missing) percussion voicing board. Stripped keyboards. Keycaps & screws. Theatre stops & misc. Recital Stop Tabs. Reverbatape. #05106 pilot light assembly, #045100 SCRP for power supply. Swell shoe assembly. 22v ? power supply. What do you have? [Fred's address etc. is listed above under "New Fred Henn Enterprise".]
 

*NON SCHOBER SWAP, SELL, OR GIVE AWAY ADS*

Wanted

Fred Henn writes: "I've decided to learn more about Microsoft type programming, but to do so I'll need either a Microsoft or a Borland Compiler program which I'll take in swap for anything I have listed in the ad above or below."
 

Swap

Fred Henn has the following items to swap: From a Baldwin 5 Organ, Swell control box w/multi leaf switches & resistors. Brass "great" and "Main Full Echo" plates. Hinge pins. Swell Shoe assembly. Feature Strips. Keyboards and misc. items. And: Set of "metal" chimes, not mounted. Set of amplified computer speakers (MidiPro MD58), needs 6v power supply or batteries. A 3 button Micro mouse w/ 9pin connector. A mono cassette recorder with a lot of hook up wires. RCA phono to 5-pin DIN plugs. A 6' cable with 2 RCA phono plugs on one end and a 4 pin DIN jack on the other. And 4 wall transformers, 12vdc/40ma, 24vac/1.2 amp., 15vdc/1 amp., 9.5vdc/50ma.. Notcher for 5.25" discs. Mystery box marked "AMPHENOL poke home contacts". [Fred's address etc. is listed above under "New Fred Henn Enterprise".]
 

*IN FUTURE ISSUES*


Hopefully by the time the next issue is in the works I will have a scanner. Then I will send some photos of Bob Bainbridge's fabulous Robertone Mark 8 organ to Bill Kohrumel for inclusion. Another portrait is also in the works. If you have an interesting story about yourself and your Schober, or someone else, please submit it! I'm also working on making the little airbags for the Schober Theatre "puff of air" presets, and Recital pedal spring replacements. George Reim sent in information about his preset system, which is quite ingenious. What problems do you have? Let me know please.
 

"SUBSCRIPTION" POLICY*


If you are "subscribing" to the printed version of Organ Notes, please send me as many SASE's as copies that you want, PLUS two extra stamps for every six issues you send SASE's for. When I mail you your last issue, I will let you know that I have no more SASE's for you. E-mail subscribers need only notify Jack Gildar if your E-mail address changes.

Please Address All Correspondence And SASE DONATIONS TO: ALEX KRUEDENER, 73 N. Lamphear Road, Jamaica, Vermont. 05343 Ph: (802) 874-4894. Email Kruedener@juno.com