The Thomas Organ Company is a
manufacturer of electronic keyboards and a one-time holder of
the manufacturing rights to the Moog synthesizer. The Company
was a force behind early electronic organs for the home. It
went out of business in 1979.
Founded by Edward G. Thomas as the "Thomas
Organ & Piano Co." in 1875, the company's first instruments
were pipe organs, moving later to pump organs. In the early
1950s, Thomas George invented the Thomas electronic organ with
its single manual and ten stops. Thomas reorganized the
company in 1956 into the Thomas Organ Company of Sepulveda,
California.
Unlike later electronic organs with
conventional tab stops, early Thomas electronic organs
utilized a dial control for their stops, presumably to add a
certain familiarity to its users since the dials worked much
like those on a radio or television. This may be evidenced by
the introduction of the Talking Organ with its
"Built-In Teacher," a phonograph intended for use with
instructional recordings
Features
Like most American furniture of the 1950s,
early electronic organs were massive affairs; indeed, the
company's largest market was the home market. Thomas'
introduction of the "streamlined" console and the introduction
of solid state electronics made Thomas the preeminent
manufacturer of home organs. That latter introduction to the
Thomas line led to developments much like those found of
synthesizers of later years; one later version, the 1973
Monticello, actually incorporated a synthesizer in its
upper manual which actually was a moog synthesizer. It was
found on the MONTICELLO Models 371 & 372 and also on the
CELEBRITY Model 871.
- Repeat Percussion
- Playable from either manual, Repeat Percussion emulated
the sound of percussive instruments such as a marimba or
banjo. The repeat rate was easily adjusted via a thumbwheel
on most models and rotary control on smaller models such as
the AR1
- Vibra-Magic
- This innovative feature allowed sustained notes to have
gradual vibrato added, again at a setting that could be
determined by the organist. Other makers soon followed,
giving their variations the more generic name of "delayed
vibrato" or similar name
- Leslie speaker
- This rapidly spinning speaker, located in its own cabinet
within the organ's console, added depth to the otherwise
relatively flat sounds generated by the oscillators. Leslie
speakers were not an invention of Thomas but were certainly
used by them.
- Band Box
- This predecessor to the modern drum machine recreated
rhythms from a simple foxtrot to a bossa nova, with
individual percussion instruments added by the organist via
rocker switches. These individual instruments had the
aforementioned Repeat Percussion feature allowing the sound
of a drum roll or maracas. They also had their own
individual triggers, allowing the organist to recreate
rimshots, cymbal crashes and even the pop and fizz of a
champagne bottle either via buttons on the control panel, at
the lower manual or at the pedal board
These features and others were incorporated
across the product line throughout the 1960s, including small,
relatively inexpensive spinet models with 37-note manuals (the
AR1) and a unique 13-note pedal board, another Thomas Organ
innovation, although one which was too narrow to allow true
heel-toe playing. Thomas however did lengthen the pedals to
enable theoretically at least heel and toe playing. Especially
remarkable was the fact that the spinets started around
US$500. Larger models included the Concert Serenade and
the Lawrence Welk, each with two 44-note manuals and a
25-note pedal board. Larger still were the Celebrity
with two 61-note manuals and a 32-note pedal board (revised to
a 25-note version in later editions), the American Guild of
Organists-compliant Impresario theatre organ, the Model
710 church organ and the Model 900 3-manual theatre organ.
Popular kit versions were made available
via Heathkit and fully assembled versions under the Silvertone
brand were sold by Sears, Roebuck and Company.
The 1960s had the Thomas Organ Company at
the height of its popularity. The company became the importer
of the English-made Vox combo, the electronics of which would
turn up in Thomas models. Thomas also took over manufacturing
rights of the Moog synthesizer and enjoyed heavy celebrity
endorsement from the likes of Lawrence Welk, whose organist
Bob Ralston both played a Thomas on The Lawrence Welk Show
and on tour at organ and piano shops to demonstrate the
greatly improved tonal quality of the new models, and Lucille
Ball, who featured a Thomas on at least one episode of The
Lucy Show. Welk had a high-end model named after him in
1968, the aforementioned Lawrence Welk spinet model.
Another innovation during that time was
Color-Glo, an instructional system which illuminated the keys
of the manuals (and therefore their corresponding notes in
reverse relief) from behind with fluorescent lights. The lower
manual had red, green and black colored bands behind the notes
necessary to play a second-inversion C, a first-inversion F
and a third-inversion G. The lowermost C, F and G pedals had
colored bands across their tips corresponding to the chords.
The idea was that a rank beginner could create music simply by
following the very simple music books and implementing chord
changes simply by "matching the colors," as it were.
Joe Benaron was President of Thomas during
its heyday. Ennio Unchini was the Italian importer.
