How much would it cost for a Organ tuning?

Question

A lady is giving one away for free and the only thing is it needs to be tuned I have looked online and I know it hasent been tuned in a long time so the strings need to be raised and it has white 45 keys 22 bottem row 23 top can I get an estimate

Answer 1

I'll back up "i jones". Organs don't have strings. I should know. Working on organs has been my living for 25 years. What you have is a 2 manual electronic organ. Probably a Lowery, Hammond, Baldwin, Wurlitzer, etc,.. It's most likely an older analog model. It's unlikely that it just needs tuning. More likely it is loaded with capacitors that have dried out and gone out of value making the tuning go way out. It's unlikely that it can be tuned without replacement of the capacitors. But yes, do a Google search for an electronic organ man in your area and see if you can get an estimate. Such should cost less than $100 and he may even go ahead and set the oscillators into tune if it can be done without replacing parts. The long and short of it is that it will either be fairly cheap or it won't be worth fixing.

Answer 2

An organ tuning? First you have to tell us about the organ. I can imagine several hundred or even thousands for a large pipe organ. Modern digital organs won't require tuning at all since it is all sample driven (though voicing to the room is very important).



An old analogue (which I imagine this is) with off-set four octave keyboards, will probably require more work than "tuning" the oscillators. Most likely it will require replacement of some capacitors and/or other components. Almost certainly will require cleaning the key contacts as well. (I can't imagine why the upper manual would be 49 notes.)



Your first problem is finding someone who can and does work on them.



Then again, if your assessment of "the strings need to be raised" is based on Celeste stops, it may not need service. A Celeste is detuned slightly to create a chorus effect when used in conjunction with other stops.



Mutations (5 1/3, 2 2/3, 1 1/3, 1 3/5) it may not need service at all. Those are tuned to harmonics of the fundamental, and are never used alone as a speaking stop.



Mixtures (labeled with roman numerals III, IV, or V) are made up of (3, 4 or 5) ranks of pipes intended to sound together usually use octaves and fifths (or occasionally thirds) in almost every case the mixture will fold back on itself -- as you run out of "pipes" at the top, those an octave lower will begin to speak.



... piano tuners are becoming rare enough, qualified organ tuners more so, people working on transistor and tube organs are perhaps a 10th of that lot.



EDIT: Aéoline, Aéoline céleste, Cello, Viol da Gamba, Salicional, Voix céleste are all examples of string stops; there are probably many more named on Theater organs.

Answer 3

Organ Tuners

Answer 4

Are you sure it's an organ? I have never heard of an organ with strings. Pipes, yes. Reeds, yes. Electronic, yes. Never strings.



At any rate, you'd do better to call around to places in your area that might provide such a service and ask what they charge, rather than ask someone on the internet who would have no clue what prices in your area might be like.

Answer 5

It depends on who is doing it. An average piano tuning is around $80. I didn't realize that organs needed tuning.