From holsen5629@aol.com Tue Jul 06 19:27:13 2004
Subject:Re: The original vs. state of the art

<< For some reason transistors were not used in most organs until the early
1960's.  I am basing that on the fact that Allen organs switched to transistor
oscillators in 1959, and when Rodgers organs started in 1959 or 1960, they
used transistor oscillators. >>

Gulbransen engineer Dick Peterson claimed he designed the first "Transistor"
spinet organ in 1957. Rodgers started using transistor oscillators in console
models about the same time, so who actually was *first* is disputed.
However, it probably doesn't make much difference. Early germanium transistor
generators weren't all that stable, so manufacturers like Lowrey, Conn, and even
Hammond (Everett) continued to offer new organ models with vacuum tube
oscillators well into the 1960s. The extensive (not occasional) use of integrated
circuits in electronic organs didn't happen until the early 70s.

Harvey Olsen

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]