harmonium or melodium or something

[antichef]

My mom has been asking me to come and get this old pump organ thing that we always had when I was growing up - I'll post pics the next time I go out to see her, but it looks quite a bit like this one that was on wikipedia:

It doesn't have the mirror on top, I guess. Anyway, when I was very young I learned to play it some (along with piano) - you had to push those pedals repeatedly with your feet to make it work. Later, my parents paid someone to get it motorized so that you could flip a switch and make it work. I have no idea whether it still works.

My wife and I are kind of disputing whether to bring it into our home or not - we don't *really* have a place for it, but I'm lobbying to go get it anyway.

Has anyone worked with and/or recorded one of these? I think I remember that I like the way it sounds (it has stops like those in the picture that you can pull out to change the sound), but anyone else's experience, particularly with recording, would help. Should I keep up the good fight?

 

[moresound]

Where do you plug the amp into it?
If it's been in the family ~ keep it.
And if you don't end up keeping it there should be a pretty penny made selling it.
You know who to ask would be Lt. Bob.

 

[grimtraveller]

I think it's a harmonium. It's worth keeping for a little retro, but only if it's actually going to be used {I'm funky, that way}. Over here in England, you see them in museums and country stately homes and they get used in Indian music alot although they're kind of different ones. They always look so medieval. Actually, Richard Munro might also be a guy to ask about it. He knows more about that side of things than probably most English people.
In the Beatle song "We can work it out", there's a very prominent harmonium. George Martin once said that he was recording for four hours on one and had to do so much foot pumping, he fainted at the end !
I'd love to record one, even if it was just once.

 

[stevieb]

My folks have one, and I see them all over the freakin' place. They tend to be deterioriating, now, and becoming more and more expensive to maintain or repair. Nothing particularly exciting about their tone- Booker T used a Hammond B3 instead of one of these for a reason, y' know.

If it's in a very good state of repair, it might be worth the trouble to cart it home, but if not, get rid of it- and I really don't think it will fetch too much. You will get bored with it pretty quickly, too- just not that much you can do with a white elephant like that.

 

[moresound]

An elephant in the room! where? I don't see it.

 

[antichef]

ya, this one's been in her garage for a few years now - it prolly has deteriorated a bit. It's pretty heavy, too, if I recall correctly.

Still... I'll post updates.