Whithall Grand Prix Organ

[andrewdodds]

I have a whitehall Grand Prix with ducati parts and im dying for information. I know its a little bit random but please if you know anything let me know. I bought a Whitehall Grand Prix For thirty bucks. The fuse and Cap was gone and the Power cord was Cut. I hooked up a Polarized two prong cord with the larger prong as a the negative or uncharged. I put a 2 amp 250 watt fuse and used a different fuse cap to finish the connection. I don't know the average fuse size amp or volts, and I don't know if i need a certain gauge wire or volts coming in. I used the cord from a old lamp. Please, If you can tell me anything about this organ and what i can do to get it to turn on, respond. It didn't turn on when I hit the switch. Any suggestions?

[Enzo]

Holy cats. Not sure what to tell you. Never heard of it. If I had it i would be making sure the fuse and power cord were in fact sending AC power to the main transformer. After that I would make sure whatever shuts power off and on functioned. Then I would search out the obvious power supplies and see what was what with them.

[andrewdodds]

This is mostly all I can find on it Combo Organ Heaven: Whitehall I talked to people at a electronic store and they said the old cord may not be giving it enough power, but others have said it should work. The fuse holder has a missing cap. I bought a new fuse holder, but i was recommended to not put it in until I knew what amps and volts the organ took. The biggest problem im having is knowing the actual amp and volt amount. Is there a default sort of fuse these organs take? I was told it was a house brand of Farfisa. I think its related to ace tone, it has some of the same tabs and is in the same style. I know it was sold by Montgomery ward a mail in catalog. Is there a transformer that is default for combo organs?

[Enzo]

First, it is just an organ, not a welder or space heater, so most any average size power cord will be fine.


Same thing with a fuse holder. The thing is not going to need 20 amps of power. ANy fuse holder you might get at the electronics store will work fine. Fuse holders are rated for maximum current they might have to handle, you can use it with any lesser amount than that maximum. SO if your fuse holder says 10 amps, that means you can use up to a 10A fuse in it. Your organ probably wants more like 2 amp fuses.

No there is no default anything. If this unit was made by Farfisa, then it may well share some parts like transformers with some FArfisa models. But they won't be off the shelf transformers you could buy at a transformer store. Of course someone who really knows what he is doing might figure out that the transformer from some KAwai unit could be adapted, or something like that.

Does the thing have any little print on it like 150w 120v? Your fuse could be any number of sizes.

[Steve Conner]

Did you use the cap from the new fuse holder with the body of the old fuse holder? If you use two different parts like that, it's not guaranteed to make contact. You need to replace the whole holder.

Wouldn't get your hopes up though, somebody probably removed the cord and the fuse because the thing was broken.

[Rhodesplyr]

I'd never heard of this model either, and I work on combo organs. Looking at the few photos, it definitely looks Farfisa-ish.

I'd warn you that these things were not built to last 40 years, and the likelihood of plugging it in and having it work is VERY low. You have to know what you're doing to fix the tone generator boards, and the internal wiring is usually fairly complex. Farfisa liked to use very thin coax cables that tend to break off the terminals and can be tricky to resolder, especially if several of them break off and you don't know which wire goes to which terminal.

If you don't already know a good bit about electronic circuits, an Italian-made transistor combo organ is not the best place to start :-(

[andrewdodds]

Thank you to everyone, Your advice helped.

I posted Pictures of it here.( http://music-electronics-forum.com/u...563-albums129/ )

I ve gotten it working, But with a lamp cord. You can see in This picture ( http://music-electronics-forum.com/u...bums129-11100/ ) That there is a oval/pill shaped hole is where a cord would plug in. Does any one know what kind plug and cord i could use to put in this space, so I dont have to solder in a cord that could get ripped out.

The round hole is for the fuse holder, The only new one i found was from radio shack, It works perfectly with a 2am 250v fuse in it, but is to big in diameter to fit in hole. Will I damage the value of the organ If I make the hole bigger?

Is replacing the black vinyl that is on it a bad idea?

[Rhodesplyr]

You might be able to find an old stock socket like that at some electronics surplus place like Surplus Sales of Nebraska. I think it's the type of socket they used to use for old electric shavers and some kitchen appliances. You could also just fasten a metal plate behind the hole to mount a standard IEC or some other power connector. If you want to find parts that fit the existing chassis holes, you're going to need to give yourself a crash course in the standard parts suppliers like Mouser, Digikey, Allied, Mojotone, etc... Radio Shack stocks a few token odds and ends, but it's not their business anymore. The vast majority of local electronic parts dealers have gone out of business over the last 10 years. People scream about the price of mail-ordering parts, but if you want something specific, there aren't a lot of alternatives.

Unless it's in terrible shape, I'd resist the urge to replace the vinyl.

I'd suggest you sign up as a member of the Yahoo Combo Organ group for help with this thing.

ComboOrgan : This list will be used to discuss combo organs (Farfisa, Vox, Panther, etc.) and the music made with them, as well as share inf

There are other owners of this model on there, so they should be able to help.

[earthcake]

I have the whitehall grand prix organ single. Someone told me that it was made by farfisa, he said he could tell by the shade of the black bass keys. I don't know if that's true, but it is made in Italy. Does anyone have any idea of the value of this organ? Thanks!