lincoln chordmaster

lincoln chordmaster

This is a lincoln chordmaster organ made somewhere in the years between 1950-1970. I decided to start this blog because of the lack of useful information I could find on the net about these absolutely awesome instruments.

So, in full disclosure; I'm no technical expert when it comes to these organs, just an aficionado in the sense of being a player and enthusiast. 

The organ pictured here is one that I picked up from an estate sale today, but i've owned several over the last decade or so, when i got my first one from an op shop as a kid.

It's been hard over the years to find information about the manufacturing of these beautiful sounding chordies but, as far as i can gather from the abundance of them over here and the lack of info about them on foriegn sites or message boards, they were probably Australian made*. 

I also assume that they were done in small (possibly 100 per) runs because, of the 4-5 that I've owned and the other handful that I've seen, they all have minor variations to buttons or design and include a two digit number inside their shells.

(*Addendum - They were actually made in Italy and shipped in large quantities to Australia during the European Migrant boom of the 1950's. At the time they were sold as "Table accordians")

As far as the specifics of the organ, i can't say all too much, other than what i've gleaned from playing them and opening them up. So let's try that...

the guts 

     

5 small screws to take the grille off, two large ones to separate the chord section and then 4 more medium sized removed to take off the ply-board rectangle that holds the keys and fan.

the guts - the underside

The first thing you'll notice is the simplicity. All of the sound from these machines comes from that small fan blowing through the open/close passageways that meet the reeds of the keyboard (above) and chord section (above and below)

One of the main issues that come up with the chordmaster is that a chord and/or a button may get stuck down with droning or, otherwise, no sound being produced. There's a simple fix for that problem though, which will be easier to illustrate using the picture below;

Each of these vertical rods triggers another smaller, connecting horizontal rod. If the chord/button is stuck down, then you can use your hands and tweezers to gently bend the two rods into their original position. There's no trick to this, you can do it just by sight.

the shell

The compartment which holds the chord section of the keyboard receives air through the opening you can see in the picture above and blows it forward, through the reeds, towards the player.

the keys 

The air comes through the openings created by pressing any particular key, relative to the position of that key to that of the keyboard, through the front grille section.

the fan

The fan is a mystery i'll leave to brighter and more curious minds. It's endearing for it's charm and the absolutely integral part it plays in keeping Admiral Chordmaster General Elite running smoothly, but it's loud and possibly not the best choice for the function it serves. 

cheers