I am from the UK and 65 years of age. I have just stumbled upon yhis video, and, as an 11 year old in 1969 my parents got me this one christmas. Being from the uk, mine was branded Rosedale, with a big square sticker on the front. I think they paid around 30 pounds for it. It didnt come with legs. I watched this as i was keen to know what was inside. Where the electric cable goes into yours has started me thinking, as that was where there was a black toggle switch for the on / off. So I reckon that at some point the switch must have broken and iy was bypassed. My cable came in at the rear not the side, and when you are cleaning the cabinet towards the end, I can see a tiny slot at the bottom rear as seen looking over from the top. This is where I think the cable originally came in. Finally, nearly 50 years on, I have upgraded multiple times, finally to a Roland digital piano, and i play boogie woogie and blues. But it all started off with that Rosedale, key numberings and one finger....! Happy memories.
Nice to see a youngster so interested in seeing how things work. Reminds me of me. When I was young I didn't play with toys, I took them apart and put them back together
Thank you for showing this, you did a good Job. I had one of these in 89 as a teenager, so let me help a bit. The Hole at the side where you pulled the Cable through once held an On/off switch, black Plastic lever Switch with a Brass fitting. The metal Parts on the underside are for round Legs, brown in Color as the Organ and equipped with brass endcaps.The Organ I had had also an Airflow regulator disc mounted to the bottom opening. That small slit on the Top held once the Backrest for a Songbook. It was made from Plastic, slightly curved Top and two large Cutouts to make it more lightweight. Magnus even offered Songbooks with Notes and Numbers, you can also make your own.This way i learned a few notes and Church songs. Play it on a table, it can take in the air better and the gaskets won't rip. Hope this helps a bit.
Outstanding! Dude; my 97 year old mother finally matriculated from her home to an assisted living facility. While sorting out her 61 years of accumulated stuff, I found our Magnus 306 nearly identical to the one you restored here. Ours doesn't generate tones, but the fan still hums so there is hope. Your video shows how easy it is to disassemble one, so I now have the courage to open it up and see where the problem lies. Hopefully I can fix it so that the little Magnus can make it through our future generations. Much Gratitude to You for Working on Yours and Sharing This Video!!! (BTW: I'm 71 now; but ever since I was a kid, I couldn't resist taking stuff apart to see what makes it ti. Keep it up! We need more like you!)
I will keep my story about my experience with a similar Magnus chord organ to myself. Let's just say that gift from Christmas '66 spawned a life-long association with music for me. This channel's content is very good and a refreshing break from much of the vapid stupidity that pervades the internet.
I am a... 73 year old man ....from South Africa .......Last weekend Saturday 15 June ........my wife and i went to a church basaar in our town ....and ..browsing through the.....yard sale table...... i came across this little organ ..i was hooked ...!!.....and i said sternly ..!!...This little organ is going home with me ...!!!!...South African rands converted to Dollars ...it..worked out to ....$4.00.......Which i think was a bargain ...!!!!...Everything works hundred percent ...I have a large Casio Keyboard .......but this Rosedale Electric organ is now .....my museum piece !......Mine is a 1960 model with the side switch... ......only 15 keys and only 6 chords ....so it is still smaller than yours .....But i love playing it ...and in my opinion a great bargain....!!.........Greetings ....
In the 60's and 70's these were a LOT of people's first keyboard. They were no Hammond or Kimball for sure But, They were inexpensive enough that Mom and Dad weren't going to lose sleep letting a 6 year old bang on it (OK, they would lose sleep if you fired it up at 6am..LOL) There were cool "play by number" music books for them. These little boxes got a lot of kids in to music in the pre digital KB age! Nice to see that there is interest in these old beasts! For what they were they were cool. Although I drove my mother nuts playing the "Marine Corps Hymn" for a solid half-hour! 👍😜👍
I'm sure by now Jack, that you have found out that this is a small electric version of a reed organ. Reed organs were very popular in the late 19th century and early 20th. They are now considered antiques even though they were manufactured by the hundreds of thousands in their heyday. Most of those organs were foot pumped and required no electricity. The reeds in your organ are made of plastic but in the original organs they were made of brass. I have 3 reed organs in my house and I play one in my church. The one you have is representative of a basic organ which could be used to introduce children to playing a keyboard instrument and which was rather inexpensive. I bought one for my son many years ago and my cousin and best friend also each had one. If you are interested in finding out more about reed organs, you might want to check out the Reed Organ Society. I enjoyed your video and I hope you will keep up the good work.
Thank you so much for this teardown/restoration. I think you'll love this organ - I played one a long time ago when I was a kid at my grandparents' house. I received a similar organ yesterday in the mail from an online auction at Goodwill. The.gaskets must be leaking because the fan turns on but air is escaping and not allowing pressure to build up behind the keys. Your video gives me the confidence to take it apart and add new gasket material and tape to make it airtight and give it a good cleaning. Cheers!
Update: it's now working perfectly just 2 hours later! Such an easy, cool mechanism to work on. It's basically a big harmonica with a fan. Thanks again.
Well done kiddo You should get yourself a nice small fold down table to sit at and work on , be nicer for your legs etc. I had one of these when I was small child , mine stood on four tapering legs . Nice clean up !! from Ipswich Suffolk Great Britain
I'm pretty sure the Magnus 391 is the first instrument I actually played instead of just pressing keys. If not it was the second. In either case, is great to see one cleaned up rather than left to fall apart like so many of them!
Nice work. Glad to see someone else not afraid of tedium. I just dismantled an electric chord organ to clean it. I haven't been able to find an exact model but it's similar to many other Magnus organs. Mine is called a 'Monet' and has the legs and detachable sheet music prop on the top. A small stage type light sits in front of that to illuminate your sheet music. There's also a lever on the bottom of the chassis that slides left or right which acts as a baffle type volume control. The left hand 'chord buttons' are actually black and white keyboard keys.
Found a very similar organ from the same brand on the street last week! Currently in the middle of my own restoration work on it, including improving some pretty poor component fitment and some escaping air pressure caused by bowed particleboard. Glad to be seeing someone else's experience with these weird little doohickeys on here too!
Good job!! Thanks for the video! Loved your TLC treatment on the organ!! I bought a Magnus model 500, I gave a lot of TLC on the outside, it is a wooden case, not plastic. I noticed one of the keys intermittently gets stuck down. I’ll have to take it apart and operate!! 😊
I have a full size model. Just one thing. Do not keep it on the rug like that. The fane underneath will OVERHEAT Keep it up and way from the floor. PS those things you took off underneath, the organ came with legs and a bench that had hinges on it. So you could store your Cord Organ " Paly by Number" books when sold new. It also had a piece on top to hold the books in front of you. Whale you were playing it. ( Hope this help? ) :-)
I just bought a bontempi B4 for $20, took it apart and cleaned it, interesting to see the differences and similarities. I've seen people add piezo pickups to these so you can plug it into an amp, may do that with mine later.
Oh wow I haven’t seen one of these since I was a kid. My great grandmother had one of these and it was actually passed on to me and my mother. It’s in my basement somewhere...I should probably go find it. I bet it still works. They’re a relatively simple machine.
I'm not sure if you are aware, but in certain remote regions of Ubekistan, American Samoa, and West Virginia, there's a diabolical curse that says anyone playing a goodwill chord organ in their bare feet are doomed to 7 years and 37 days of horrible luck with either women, or ferrets!!! (I can never remember which?) So don't say you haven't been warned, and I hope you are prepared for the outcome! We'll be prayin' for ya' (and will also be sacrificing a goat, just to be on the safe side).
SO STOKED to find this video, man! I just acquired one not too long ago! (In about the same manner “I didn’t know what it was, but I saw it && I had to have it.” - mine set me back $10 && turned out to be a belonging of a distant relative haha) It’s a different brand, but super excited to see a tear down of something similar!
Great job on the cleaning, that model actually came with long legs that screwed into the bottom. you can still buy them at any hardware store. it's also missing the music rack, and if you decide to set it on the table try to keep it off the table at least a half an inch so you can get your flow to the unit, it will make it sound a whole lot better. By the way thanks for the blast from the past I was a chord organ virtuoso when I was 10, back in the early 70s
The long legs were an option. Not all of them had them. You're right about the music rack. Just a flat bit of plastic, maybe 1/8" thick that went into a slot in the top. It was the same brown color as the organ.
Would love to know if you're still playing this and how you might be experimenting with it. I'm buying one tomorrow and kinda excited to try new things
Did you notice if the motor had a part number or power specs on it? I have a smaller Emenee Audion Organ that the motor runs but it won’t make any sound. I’m wondering if my motor isn’t running fast enough to provide the right pressure.
I have one of these I found at a antique store it sounds awesome my main problem is that the notes play out of tune so I can really play it worh anything else if anybody knows anything I’d appreciate any tips
🤦♀️I just bought a used one, arrived yesterday.. At first it didn’t work… Than…. It started playing decent.. Now, a few keys stick..A few cords stick… It probably got shook during transport.. I need you to come take mine apart and do this exact same thing..
I have similar one, from Bontempi (electric chord piano). Brown and plastic, made in Italy. Got it for free.. and it's extremely untuned. So If I press down all the C:s simultaniously it sounds aweful. The fan is part of the sound, no mather what you do (so if you record with it you have to deal with it, want it or get rid of it in a noise reduction thing/mix). But the tuning.. I suppose it's something about the reeds. But could it be dirty, and untuned because of that, or more advanced? Maybe the air pressure is uneven? I don't dare to open it yet, so for now I'm loving the lofi untuned and noisy sound...
your missing the screw in legs they came loose on loads of these so were removed also a music stand slotted in the top groove I had one in 1974 now 50 years later I am a professional keyboard player
Congrats I was expecting you will damage the reeds never spray any liquid on just brash only one direction with real hair brush . Convert it to play midi . Some cheap servo quiet engines from china and Arduino Macro as a start point . Just finish converting a 20 note pipe organ to play midi the result is unreal .
I am from the UK and 65 years of age.
I have just stumbled upon yhis video, and, as an 11 year old in 1969 my parents got me this one christmas.
Being from the uk, mine was branded Rosedale, with a big square sticker on the front.
I think they paid around 30 pounds for it.
It didnt come with legs.
I watched this as i was keen to know what was inside.
Where the electric cable goes into yours has started me thinking, as that was where there was a black toggle switch for the on / off.
So I reckon that at some point the switch must have broken and iy was bypassed.
My cable came in at the rear not the side, and when you are cleaning the cabinet towards the end, I can see a tiny slot at the bottom rear as seen looking over from the top.
This is where I think the cable originally came in.
Finally, nearly 50 years on, I have upgraded multiple times, finally to a Roland digital piano, and i play boogie woogie and blues.
But it all started off with that Rosedale, key numberings and one finger....!
Happy memories.
Nice to see a youngster so interested in seeing how things work. Reminds me of me. When I was young I didn't play with toys, I took them apart and put them back together
this man is a gift and must be protected at all costs
His sister could benefit from some protection, too.
Thank you for showing this, you did a good Job. I had one of these in 89 as a teenager, so let me help a bit. The Hole at the side where you pulled the Cable through once held an On/off switch, black Plastic lever Switch with a Brass fitting. The metal Parts on the underside are for round Legs, brown in Color as the Organ and equipped with brass endcaps.The Organ I had had also an Airflow regulator disc mounted to the bottom opening. That small slit on the Top held once the Backrest for a Songbook. It was made from Plastic, slightly curved Top and two large Cutouts to make it more lightweight. Magnus even offered Songbooks with Notes and Numbers, you can also make your own.This way i learned a few notes and Church songs. Play it on a table, it can take in the air better and the gaskets won't rip. Hope this helps a bit.
Outstanding! Dude; my 97 year old mother finally matriculated from her home to an assisted living facility. While sorting out her 61 years of accumulated stuff, I found our Magnus 306 nearly identical to the one you restored here. Ours doesn't generate tones, but the fan still hums so there is hope. Your video shows how easy it is to disassemble one, so I now have the courage to open it up and see where the problem lies. Hopefully I can fix it so that the little Magnus can make it through our future generations. Much Gratitude to You for Working on Yours and Sharing This Video!!! (BTW: I'm 71 now; but ever since I was a kid, I couldn't resist taking stuff apart to see what makes it ti. Keep it up! We need more like you!)
I will keep my story about my experience with a similar Magnus chord organ to myself. Let's just say that gift from Christmas '66 spawned a life-long association with music for me.
This channel's content is very good and a refreshing break from much of the vapid stupidity that pervades the internet.
THIS IS REFRESHING! A YOUNG MAN SO INTERESTED IN THIS MUSEUM PIECE. Bless your heart!
I am a... 73 year old man ....from South Africa .......Last weekend Saturday 15 June ........my wife and i went to a church basaar in our town ....and ..browsing through the.....yard sale table...... i came across this little organ ..i was hooked ...!!.....and i said sternly ..!!...This little organ is going home with me ...!!!!...South African rands converted to Dollars ...it..worked out to ....$4.00.......Which i think was a bargain ...!!!!...Everything works hundred percent ...I have a large Casio Keyboard .......but this Rosedale Electric organ is now .....my museum piece !......Mine is a 1960 model with the side switch... ......only 15 keys and only 6 chords ....so it is still smaller than yours .....But i love playing it ...and in my opinion a great bargain....!!.........Greetings ....
got one yesterday at goodwill i just took the shell off and cleaned i might actually go at it now after seeing this
In the 60's and 70's these were a LOT of people's first keyboard. They were no Hammond or Kimball for sure But, They were inexpensive enough that Mom and Dad weren't going to lose sleep letting a 6 year old bang on it (OK, they would lose sleep if you fired it up at 6am..LOL) There were cool "play by number" music books for them. These little boxes got a lot of kids in to music in the pre digital KB age! Nice to see that there is interest in these old beasts! For what they were they were cool. Although I drove my mother nuts playing the "Marine Corps Hymn" for a solid half-hour! 👍😜👍
Well done Sir! My wife just found a similar Organ at a second had shop and just had to have it. Thanks for the preview of the cleaning process.
I'm sure by now Jack, that you have found out that this is a small electric version of a reed organ. Reed organs were very popular in the late 19th century and early 20th. They are now considered antiques even though they were manufactured by the hundreds of thousands in their heyday. Most of those organs were foot pumped and required no electricity. The reeds in your organ are made of plastic but in the original organs they were made of brass. I have 3 reed organs in my house and I play one in my church. The one you have is representative of a basic organ which could be used to introduce children to playing a keyboard instrument and which was rather inexpensive. I bought one for my son many years ago and my cousin and best friend also each had one. If you are interested in finding out more about reed organs, you might want to check out the Reed Organ Society. I enjoyed your video and I hope you will keep up the good work.
Thank you so much for this teardown/restoration. I think you'll love this organ - I played one a long time ago when I was a kid at my grandparents' house. I received a similar organ yesterday in the mail from an online auction at Goodwill. The.gaskets must be leaking because the fan turns on but air is escaping and not allowing pressure to build up behind the keys. Your video gives me the confidence to take it apart and add new gasket material and tape to make it airtight and give it a good cleaning. Cheers!
Update: it's now working perfectly just 2 hours later! Such an easy, cool mechanism to work on. It's basically a big harmonica with a fan. Thanks again.
Nice job!! I’m impressed with how well you did the leg hardware!!
I actually had one of these in the 60’s
Well done kiddo You should get yourself a nice small fold down table to sit at and work on , be nicer for your legs etc. I had one of these when I was small child , mine stood on four tapering legs . Nice clean up !! from Ipswich Suffolk Great Britain
Very nice video. This is an example of a Reed organ using an electric suction blower instead of pumping bellows by foot pedals.
I'm pretty sure the Magnus 391 is the first instrument I actually played instead of just pressing keys. If not it was the second. In either case, is great to see one cleaned up rather than left to fall apart like so many of them!
Great video. Hit the Goodwill and make some videos like this!
Nice work. Glad to see someone else not afraid of tedium. I just dismantled an electric chord organ to clean it. I haven't been able to find an exact model but it's similar to many other Magnus organs. Mine is called a 'Monet' and has the legs and detachable sheet music prop on the top. A small stage type light sits in front of that to illuminate your sheet music. There's also a lever on the bottom of the chassis that slides left or right which acts as a baffle type volume control. The left hand 'chord buttons' are actually black and white keyboard keys.
Found a very similar organ from the same brand on the street last week! Currently in the middle of my own restoration work on it, including improving some pretty poor component fitment and some escaping air pressure caused by bowed particleboard. Glad to be seeing someone else's experience with these weird little doohickeys on here too!
I had a newer version of this when I was a kid, and I always wondered how it works! Thank you!
I really want to hear you play this more!
Dude, I just got one made in September, 1971. I love it!
Great video!
wait how have i never seen this before. ur literally the funniest what right does this video have to be so good
I remember playing that little organ in some Woolworths stores many years ago basic but unique in sounds
Good job!! Thanks for the video! Loved your TLC treatment on the organ!! I bought a Magnus model 500, I gave a lot of TLC on the outside, it is a wooden case, not plastic. I noticed one of the keys intermittently gets stuck down. I’ll have to take it apart and operate!! 😊
I have a full size model. Just one thing. Do not keep it on the rug like that. The fane underneath will OVERHEAT Keep it up and way from the floor. PS those things you took off underneath, the organ came with legs and a bench that had hinges on it. So you could store your Cord Organ " Paly by Number" books when sold new. It also had a piece on top to hold the books in front of you. Whale you were playing it. ( Hope this help? ) :-)
Awesome device, awesome video, presented by an awesome gorgeous guy.
i just bought one of these and was wondering how it looked inside, just in case i had to take it apart myself. thanks!!
Excelente trabajo
I bought this one too. And I'ma restore it with you
The inside of that organ has reeds like an accordion so cool I never knew that plus the way it works it’s amazing
FABULOUS! I learned to play on one of these!
had one in the '60's loved it wish i could find one today
Check eBay.
I love that instrument, definitely gonna try to find one for sale. Thanks for posting.
Seems to be like a melodica with a vacuum cleaner motor fitted.
That's basically what it is!
I just bought a bontempi B4 for $20, took it apart and cleaned it, interesting to see the differences and similarities. I've seen people add piezo pickups to these so you can plug it into an amp, may do that with mine later.
Your video has inspired me to tear one of these apart and try to restore it
Oh wow I haven’t seen one of these since I was a kid. My great grandmother had one of these and it was actually passed on to me and my mother. It’s in my basement somewhere...I should probably go find it. I bet it still works. They’re a relatively simple machine.
I'm not sure if you are aware, but in certain remote regions of Ubekistan, American Samoa, and West Virginia, there's a diabolical curse that says anyone playing a goodwill chord organ in their bare feet are doomed to 7 years and 37 days of horrible luck with either women, or ferrets!!! (I can never remember which?) So don't say you haven't been warned, and I hope you are prepared for the outcome! We'll be prayin' for ya' (and will also be sacrificing a goat, just to be on the safe side).
Not the ferrets :(
SO STOKED to find this video, man! I just acquired one not too long ago! (In about the same manner “I didn’t know what it was, but I saw it && I had to have it.” - mine set me back $10 && turned out to be a belonging of a distant relative haha) It’s a different brand, but super excited to see a tear down of something similar!
Great job on the cleaning, that model actually came with long legs that screwed into the bottom. you can still buy them at any hardware store. it's also missing the music rack, and if you decide to set it on the table try to keep it off the table at least a half an inch so you can get your flow to the unit, it will make it sound a whole lot better. By the way thanks for the blast from the past I was a chord organ virtuoso when I was 10, back in the early 70s
The long legs were an option. Not all of them had them. You're right about the music rack. Just a flat bit of plastic, maybe 1/8" thick that went into a slot in the top. It was the same brown color as the organ.
nice video
It did indeed look delicious in there.
Would love to know if you're still playing this and how you might be experimenting with it. I'm buying one tomorrow and kinda excited to try new things
chega de saudade!
My parents had the same model when I was a little kid.
THANK YOU🥰🥰
You can also "play by number". There is some "Magnus notes" available on internet. Please use google. Regards Stig Österberg from Dalsbruk in Finland
Did you notice if the motor had a part number or power specs on it? I have a smaller Emenee Audion Organ that the motor runs but it won’t make any sound. I’m wondering if my motor isn’t running fast enough to provide the right pressure.
I have one of these I found at a antique store it sounds awesome my main problem is that the notes play out of tune so I can really play it worh anything else if anybody knows anything I’d appreciate any tips
Hi, soon any new projects in mind like the organ project?
🤦♀️I just bought a used one, arrived yesterday.. At first it didn’t work… Than…. It started playing decent.. Now, a few keys stick..A few cords stick… It probably got shook during transport.. I need you to come take mine apart and do this exact same thing..
Wow the keys are much quieter.
🔥🔥🔥
I have similar one, from Bontempi (electric chord piano). Brown and plastic, made in Italy. Got it for free.. and it's extremely untuned. So If I press down all the C:s simultaniously it sounds aweful. The fan is part of the sound, no mather what you do (so if you record with it you have to deal with it, want it or get rid of it in a noise reduction thing/mix). But the tuning.. I suppose it's something about the reeds. But could it be dirty, and untuned because of that, or more advanced? Maybe the air pressure is uneven? I don't dare to open it yet, so for now I'm loving the lofi untuned and noisy sound...
Hi Jack, I see you cleaning the case and the keys with a cloth and a toothbrush. Do you do that with soap and water? Or a special cleaning agent?
I found mine for 40$ is that great?
I have one just got it but it makes a loud hum like keys stuck, any ideas how to fix? Thanks in advance
I'd open and inspect. Either a part of the key broke off, or the gasket isn't sealing. It should be obvious once you get the cover off to look at it.
your missing the screw in legs they came loose on loads of these so were removed also a music stand slotted in the top groove I had one in 1974 now 50 years later I am a professional keyboard player
11:23 LMFAO
Those little tabs are reeds, In a sense, It's kind of a harmonica or steroids.
Congrats I was expecting you will damage the reeds never spray any liquid on just brash only one direction with real hair brush . Convert it to play midi . Some cheap servo quiet engines from china and Arduino Macro as a start point . Just finish converting a 20 note pipe organ to play midi the result is unreal .
speak up mate dont whisper