What is the value of a 1960 Thomas Organ Model BL3C?

Answer 1

This instrument is really only worth a few dollars at most. Parts cannot be purchased. The manufacturer is out of business and the product has no significant salvage value.

If it has sentimental value, than I apologize. 25 years is old for any Electonic product.

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A Thomas Californian 263B should bring about $50-$250 depending on demand. As a buyer the electronic organ is a super bargain and the rewards far far outweigh the monetary value.

A more appropriate term to 'old' these days is vintage. If an old guitar is a vintage guitar, then so must an old electronic organ be a vintage electronic organ. However, since organs and their types are no longer household words this really doesn't matter. The electronic organ is the most misunderstood and unappreciated musical instrument of our current digitally obsessed society. The fact is, NO digital electronic instrument can come close to the tonal power of a real analog electronic ( tubes, transistors, or LSI- large scale integrated circuits), and or electromechanical organ.

I happen to own several organs and know that all of the aforementioned is true when basing worth on a dollar amount, and actually of all of the Thomas Californian organ line, the 263B is the best next to the Quadraphonic. The 294 Californian Deluxe is the better of the models that use TOS ( top order synthesis) integrated circuits for the tone generation where there is one master oscillator that tunes the entire range of the keyboard. The TOS models don't have the biting up front tone that the 12 individual transistor (TI) oscillator models have. The 263 ( and lower) and Quadraphonic use a 12 individual tone generation system and contrary to the writer of the first 4 lines of text above, all parts for the 263 are common every day transistors, capacitors, resistors, diodes, and the wire wound chokes ( AKA- Thomas Organ Cry Baby Wah Wah) just don't go bad.

As far as the parts for the TOS organs, they too are available too- Brand new TOS tone generator chip replacements are inexpensive and easy to install. The General rule of thumb is that if it is numbered below 263 or Quad it is a transistorized tone generator spinet, and if it is higher than 263 it is a larger cabinet TOS model. The Thomas highest end model- the Trianon used the same TOS chips and because it used more filtering and had more voices it is a superior organ, but with this said the Californian 287 and 294 sound great, the 284 sounds somewhat cheap and contributes to the myth about 1970's organs being cheesy. ALL of the 263 or lower spinets sound incredible. Worth is low, but value of electronic organs is high.

No current day organ can achieve the tonal personality of analog organs. Unfortunately the demand is low and the supply far far outweighs the demand. This is why it is so great being a fan of electronic organs, you can get what you want for peanuts. For instance I paid $30 for a pristine Californian 263B, paid $100 for a mint 81' Hammond Elegante, was given a Gulbransen Rialto II free... the point is don't worry over trying to make money from an organ as much as finding a good home for it- someone who will play it and cherish is, and maybe even pass it on to future generations.

Nearly every brand still has parts suppliers. In fact Wurlitzer in particular has enough parts for several generations into the future via former employees who bought it all when the plant closed and they also service the mailable light weight chassis. There are ceramic 'circuit packs' that you often see in organs. These are to aid in manufacturing, reliability, space, and serviceability, but all are represented on schematics for the actual parts that are inside and can be repaired, or completely rebuilt using common parts. One last thing, organs are very incredible musical instruments. They are manufactured with the basic voices of tonality that cover the entire range of music- Flute ( tibia), Diapason, reed, horn, and strings. These are organ tones designed to sound this way, not just inferior attempts to try to sound like the real instruments, but genuine voicing of a real electronic musical instrument that can play more styles of music than any other instrument.

Answer 2

The value of The Thomas Organ Company's organ with the model 263-B is considerably more than the value of there older models like the 235 model which you can't find replacement parts for and there aren't as many features as the 263-B which is worth anywhere from $1,200-1,700 if it doesnt have the extra input, tape input and speaker outputs in the front right corner under the keyboard. If it has that its worth $2,500-$3,000 if it works. If you have anymore questions feel free to post, and i will try to answer them.

Answer 3

267 four channel

Answer 4

2500