On Nov 16, 2:42 pm, "Don White" wrote:
wrote in message

...



Man, yous old guys are sure easily amused... If it's old music you
want, I got a basement full of leather bound 33's with a lot of stuff
from "your" dad's era...

Tom might be interested in your 78s!

Hey, let's not get personal

"Wayne.B" wrote in message
...
On Fri, 16 Nov 2007 08:22:23 -0500, "Eisboch"
wrote:

Just noticed it's occasionally snowing out there. Cold rain, then a short
blast of the white junk.
Hard to believe .... or accept.

=======================

Time to head south, way south.

Yes it is.

Mrs.E finally gave the thumbs up for a cruise south ..... next year.
Something to look forward to anyway.

Have a safe voyage for the remainder of your trip. Your trip report brought
back a lot of good memories.

Eisboch

On Mon, 19 Nov 2007 02:31:40 -0500, "Eisboch"
wrote:

Have a safe voyage for the remainder of your trip. Your trip report brought
back a lot of good memories.

So far so good, thanks. We pulled into Fernandina Beach just before
sunrise Tuesday morning just as planned. The last 300 miles offshore
were a walk in the park, big contrast with the first night south of
Beaufort. We rented a car in Fernandina to spend a few days with
family over the holiday but we'll be finishing up the rest of the trip
next week.

One of the good things about our extended stay in northern NC was that
we were an easy drive from Coinjock Marina, so I got to score a few
more of their world famous prime ribs this year. :-)

Wayne.B wrote in
news
so I got to score a few
more of their world famous prime ribs this year. :-)

More ballast??....(c;

Larry
--
Xterm IS the ultimate video game...(c;

On Nov 16, 5:39�am, "Eisboch" wrote:
wrote in message

...

On Nov 16, 8:22 am, "Eisboch" wrote:
Just noticed it's occasionally snowing out there. �Cold rain, then a
short
blast of the white junk.
Hard to believe .... or accept.

Eisboch

Mr. Welk is ****ed you dissed my Lowrey...

I didn't diss your Lowrey. �I just don't want the Champaign Music Hour
sound.

Actually, I think they used a Thomas on the Lawrence Welk Show.

Eisboch

It was indeed a Thomas, a 3-keyboard model called the "Trianon".
They sold for about $3500 back in the mid-70's, and sold very well.
1000's of hopeful beginners bought this model because it was "the same
as they use on Lawrence Welk" and the "color-glo" music system would
shine a flourescent light through the translucent plastic keys to show
the names of the notes on the keyboard and supposedly make it easier
to play. The top-of-the-line model at that time was the Celebrity, and
the Trianon was actually the second model down.

I was a piano/organ hustler back then. My favorite "road lead" story
involves a Trianon. Somewhat long in the telling, but it has an
amusing end and a happy aftermath.

The company I used to work for ran ads in all of the small town
newspapers in the Pacific NW, stating that they needed a "responsible
party to make payments on a piano or organ available in your area
soon. Please call credit/collection manager at xxx-xxx-xxxx." Most
people calling in assumed that they were calling on a repo....but they
weren't and we were very careful never to use the word "repo" when
running a road lead.

One day it was my turn to play collection manager, and I got a call
from a fellow down in Olympia. He wanted to know about the instrument
in the paper, and I took the standard approach and told him I'd take
his name, address, and phone number and get back to him when we had
more information. While he was supplying me all of the pertinent
details he said, "I've always wanted to learn to play the organ. I
really admire that three keyboard instrument on the Lawrence Welk
Show."

It was one of those rare hot summer afternoons in this area, and a
time of year when it stays light until about 10 PM. About 6PM I backed
the
big delivery van up to the loading dock, dollied in a cheapie and a
mid range organ, and then loaded up a Trianon just for grins. I took
off down the freeway to Olympia, gambling that I'd find the prospect
home.....(I never called to tell him I was coming).

Sure enough, the guy was home.

"You must be Mr. X. The store manager told me to stop by this address
and show you this instrument. Come on out and take a look, it will
only take a minute."

We had a pretty bright light system, but no AC current in the back of
the truck. We rode up the liftgate and stepped into the cargo box.
When I undid the strap and slid away the protective pad, the guy
smiled for just a second- and then got defensive.

"That's nice," he said. "But it's pretty coincidental that you would
show up here with the one model I'm interested in. Tell you what, I'll
think about it and if I'm interested I'll come see it in your store."

"Sure, no problem. Lot's of people do that. The only thing is they
miss out on one of the most important opportunities there is."

"Really, what's that?"

"Acoustics are going to be a lot different in your living room than
they are at the store. I can guarantee that an organ won't sound
exactly the same in your house as it does somewhere else. Wouldn't you
like to hear how this sounds?"

He began nibbling the bait:

"Yeah, I'd like to hear how it sounds in real life. I've only heard it
on TV, where it sounds pretty good."

But he began to suspect a hook:

"But as much as I'd lke to hear what this can do, I know better than
to let you into my house with it. You'll camp out all night until I
finally agree to buy this thing....so, no, that's not a good idea."

I wiggled the bait again:

"Suppose we just fire it up right here in the truck?"

His resolve began to crumble:

"Well that would be all right. Then I'll think about it and come see
it at the store if I'm interested."

I reached for the extension cord. Oh, darn! (no surprise). The
extension cord was a 25-footer, and it was probably 40 or 50 feet from
the truck to the nearest outlet.

I assesed the situation. It was still ridiculously hot. Every door and
window on the street was open and a lot of people were sitting on
their front porches or laying out in lawn chairs on the shady side of
the street. Perfect.

"Look, I know you don't want me to take this into yor house, and I'm
happy to respect your wishes. But the extension cord is only 25 feet
long. Lets do this, I'll wheel the organ about halfway up your front
sidewalk, just far enough so we can stretch the cord into the house
and get a connection. Is that fair? You know I'm not going to camp out
on your front sidewalk all night, under any circumstance."

He bit:

"OK, but no way does that organ go into my house, do we agree on
that?"

"You bet."

I set the hook:

Several of the neighbors were already rubber necking to see what was
going on. Why was a piano moving truck in their neighborhood so late
in the evening.? I wheeled the Trianon to the agreed spot on the front
walk, the prospect plugged the cord into his house, and the show was
on. Did the standard demo where we start off with the automatic
"walking bass" working on a one-finger "memo-chord", then cut in the
drums and the automated rhythm guitar background. One heck of a lot of
music happening, and nobody was even playing anything yet.......
(exactly the message we used to try to send). The neighbors began
streaming across the street and down the sidewalk to see what all the
racket was about. Puuurrrrfect!!!

I grabbed a handful of Tibia stops, fired up the Leslie speaker, and
let 'er wail. By the time I got to the second verse of "Roll Out the
Barrel"
every one of his neighbors and the family dogs were crowded around the
Trianon on the front walk. Finished with a grand flouish, using the
third keyboard for some electric piano lead against the organ
bachground and then dropping back to the tibia chorus. All the while,
I was using every highly practiced technique to make it look easy to
play.

Finished to a round of applause and reeled him in:

One of the neighbors said, "Wow! You've been talking about getting one
of these electronic organs, but that's really first class! It sounds
great!"

Another neighbor said, "That's got to be something the pros use. I
think it's the same model they use on Lawrence Welk!"

On neighbor clinched the deal completely, "That last raise you got
must have been really something! I sure wish I could afford something
as nice as that. Congratulations, it's a beauty!"

Put him in the net:

I looked at the prospect and raised my brows as if asking a question,
pointing at the truck with one hand and at his front porch with the
other.
I was sure he wouldn't ask me to put it back into the truck and be
humbled in front of the whole neighborhood, and I was right

"You SOB," he smiled and chuckled. "Just don't scratch my new organ
getting up the steps. I assume you'll take a check?"

You betcha we'll take a check.

**************************

Happy aftermath: he learned to play, and play very well. (Lots of
people we sold organs to never learned at all, maybe even the majority
in spite of the fact that we offered free lessons). About two years
later he came to see me and bought a very nice piano as well.

Seldom hear about a Trianon that I don't thank back fondly to one of
the more memorable sales of my piano and organ hustling career. :-)

Chuck Gould wrote:
On Nov 16, 5:39�am, "Eisboch" wrote:
wrote in message

...

On Nov 16, 8:22 am, "Eisboch" wrote:
Just noticed it's occasionally snowing out there. �Cold rain, then a
short
blast of the white junk.
Hard to believe .... or accept.
Eisboch
Mr. Welk is ****ed you dissed my Lowrey...
I didn't diss your Lowrey. �I just don't want the Champaign Music Hour
sound.

Actually, I think they used a Thomas on the Lawrence Welk Show.

Eisboch

It was indeed a Thomas, a 3-keyboard model called the "Trianon".
They sold for about $3500 back in the mid-70's, and sold very well.
1000's of hopeful beginners bought this model because it was "the same
as they use on Lawrence Welk" and the "color-glo" music system would
shine a flourescent light through the translucent plastic keys to show
the names of the notes on the keyboard and supposedly make it easier
to play. The top-of-the-line model at that time was the Celebrity, and
the Trianon was actually the second model down.

I was a piano/organ hustler back then. My favorite "road lead" story
involves a Trianon. Somewhat long in the telling, but it has an
amusing end and a happy aftermath.

The company I used to work for ran ads in all of the small town
newspapers in the Pacific NW, stating that they needed a "responsible
party to make payments on a piano or organ available in your area
soon. Please call credit/collection manager at xxx-xxx-xxxx." Most
people calling in assumed that they were calling on a repo....but they
weren't and we were very careful never to use the word "repo" when
running a road lead.

One day it was my turn to play collection manager, and I got a call
from a fellow down in Olympia. He wanted to know about the instrument
in the paper, and I took the standard approach and told him I'd take
his name, address, and phone number and get back to him when we had
more information. While he was supplying me all of the pertinent
details he said, "I've always wanted to learn to play the organ. I
really admire that three keyboard instrument on the Lawrence Welk
Show."

It was one of those rare hot summer afternoons in this area, and a
time of year when it stays light until about 10 PM. About 6PM I backed
the
big delivery van up to the loading dock, dollied in a cheapie and a
mid range organ, and then loaded up a Trianon just for grins. I took
off down the freeway to Olympia, gambling that I'd find the prospect
home.....(I never called to tell him I was coming).

Sure enough, the guy was home.

"You must be Mr. X. The store manager told me to stop by this address
and show you this instrument. Come on out and take a look, it will
only take a minute."

We had a pretty bright light system, but no AC current in the back of
the truck. We rode up the liftgate and stepped into the cargo box.
When I undid the strap and slid away the protective pad, the guy
smiled for just a second- and then got defensive.

"That's nice," he said. "But it's pretty coincidental that you would
show up here with the one model I'm interested in. Tell you what, I'll
think about it and if I'm interested I'll come see it in your store."

"Sure, no problem. Lot's of people do that. The only thing is they
miss out on one of the most important opportunities there is."

"Really, what's that?"

"Acoustics are going to be a lot different in your living room than
they are at the store. I can guarantee that an organ won't sound
exactly the same in your house as it does somewhere else. Wouldn't you
like to hear how this sounds?"

He began nibbling the bait:

"Yeah, I'd like to hear how it sounds in real life. I've only heard it
on TV, where it sounds pretty good."

But he began to suspect a hook:

"But as much as I'd lke to hear what this can do, I know better than
to let you into my house with it. You'll camp out all night until I
finally agree to buy this thing....so, no, that's not a good idea."

I wiggled the bait again:

"Suppose we just fire it up right here in the truck?"

His resolve began to crumble:

"Well that would be all right. Then I'll think about it and come see
it at the store if I'm interested."

I reached for the extension cord. Oh, darn! (no surprise). The
extension cord was a 25-footer, and it was probably 40 or 50 feet from
the truck to the nearest outlet.

I assesed the situation. It was still ridiculously hot. Every door and
window on the street was open and a lot of people were sitting on
their front porches or laying out in lawn chairs on the shady side of
the street. Perfect.

"Look, I know you don't want me to take this into yor house, and I'm
happy to respect your wishes. But the extension cord is only 25 feet
long. Lets do this, I'll wheel the organ about halfway up your front
sidewalk, just far enough so we can stretch the cord into the house
and get a connection. Is that fair? You know I'm not going to camp out
on your front sidewalk all night, under any circumstance."

He bit:

"OK, but no way does that organ go into my house, do we agree on
that?"

"You bet."

I set the hook:

Several of the neighbors were already rubber necking to see what was
going on. Why was a piano moving truck in their neighborhood so late
in the evening.? I wheeled the Trianon to the agreed spot on the front
walk, the prospect plugged the cord into his house, and the show was
on. Did the standard demo where we start off with the automatic
"walking bass" working on a one-finger "memo-chord", then cut in the
drums and the automated rhythm guitar background. One heck of a lot of
music happening, and nobody was even playing anything yet.......
(exactly the message we used to try to send). The neighbors began
streaming across the street and down the sidewalk to see what all the
racket was about. Puuurrrrfect!!!

I grabbed a handful of Tibia stops, fired up the Leslie speaker, and
let 'er wail. By the time I got to the second verse of "Roll Out the
Barrel"
every one of his neighbors and the family dogs were crowded around the
Trianon on the front walk. Finished with a grand flouish, using the
third keyboard for some electric piano lead against the organ
bachground and then dropping back to the tibia chorus. All the while,
I was using every highly practiced technique to make it look easy to
play.

Finished to a round of applause and reeled him in:

One of the neighbors said, "Wow! You've been talking about getting one
of these electronic organs, but that's really first class! It sounds
great!"

Another neighbor said, "That's got to be something the pros use. I
think it's the same model they use on Lawrence Welk!"

On neighbor clinched the deal completely, "That last raise you got
must have been really something! I sure wish I could afford something
as nice as that. Congratulations, it's a beauty!"

Put him in the net:

I looked at the prospect and raised my brows as if asking a question,
pointing at the truck with one hand and at his front porch with the
other.
I was sure he wouldn't ask me to put it back into the truck and be
humbled in front of the whole neighborhood, and I was right

"You SOB," he smiled and chuckled. "Just don't scratch my new organ
getting up the steps. I assume you'll take a check?"

You betcha we'll take a check.

**************************

Happy aftermath: he learned to play, and play very well. (Lots of
people we sold organs to never learned at all, maybe even the majority
in spite of the fact that we offered free lessons). About two years
later he came to see me and bought a very nice piano as well.

Seldom hear about a Trianon that I don't thank back fondly to one of
the more memorable sales of my piano and organ hustling career. :-)


Real men play Flentrops.

On Nov 22, 7:31�pm, HK wrote:


Real men play Flentrops.- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

Real men don't have to rely on an electric "organ". :-)

"Chuck Gould" wrote in message
...

Actually, I think they used a Thomas on the Lawrence Welk Show.

Eisboch

It was indeed a Thomas, a 3-keyboard model called the "Trianon".

Not to be "picky" but, as a former organ hustler, you should remember that
the lower, upper and "upper-upper" (usually the "solo") keys are referred
to as "manuals", not keyboards.

We had a three-manual Yamaha "Electone" at one time. It's main speaker was
a huge, polysomething creation shaped like the top view of a grand piano.
Yamaha claimed great sound fidelity due to the speaker shape. It had a
smaller secondary speaker, rectangular in shape, that spun on a shaft to
create a Leslie type effect.

Going back to Hammond though .... the tone generator in the originals was a
weird and often problematic mechanical device. It, combined with a rotating
horn Leslie, produced the distinctive Hammond "sound" that most of the
other organ manufacturers tried to emulate. It's really only been since the
maturing of digital sound sampling technology that the organ and keyboard
manufacturers have been able to faithfully reproduce the original Hammond
sound although there are perfectionists that claim it still falls short. To
my non-professional ear, the new Hammond/Suzuki XK3 is about as close as
you can get.

Eisboch

On Nov 22, 9:48�pm, "Eisboch" wrote:
"Chuck Gould" wrote in message

...



Actually, I think they used a Thomas on the Lawrence Welk Show.

Eisboch

It was indeed a Thomas, a 3-keyboard model called the "Trianon".

Not to be "picky" but, as a former organ hustler, you should remember that
the lower, upper and "upper-upper" �(usually the "solo") keys are referred
to as "manuals", not keyboards.

We had a three-manual Yamaha "Electone" at one time. �It's main speaker was
a huge, polysomething creation shaped like the top view of a grand piano.
Yamaha claimed great sound fidelity due to the speaker shape. �It had a
smaller secondary speaker, �rectangular in shape, that spun on a shaft to
create a Leslie type effect.

Going back to Hammond though .... the tone generator in the originals was a
weird and often problematic mechanical device. It, combined with a rotating
horn Leslie, produced the distinctive Hammond "sound" �that most of the
other organ manufacturers tried to emulate. �It's really only been since the
maturing of digital sound sampling technology that the organ and keyboard
manufacturers have been able to faithfully reproduce the original Hammond
sound although there are perfectionists that claim it still falls short. �To
my non-professional ear, the new Hammond/Suzuki �XK3 is about as close as
you can get.

Eisboch

The newer keyboards are incredibly versatile.

Showing my age here; when I played on a semi-regular basis my rig was
a Farfisa Compact Duo. Weighed about 75 pounds, was as awkward as a
matress to move and couldn't do half of what something that weighs 10
pounds and is only 4 inches thick can do today. Ran a VOX bass guitar
amp that came in handy -on the nights the bass player was too stoned
to show up I'd fake in with keyboard bass. I blew the speaker once,
however, with a bit too much percussion on the keyboard bass. That
bass speaker enjoyed a nice, soft attack. The other half of the
amplification was through a Fender Bandmaster, and a leslie when I
could borrow it from a friend.

I still remember the "reverb box". What a trip. There was a physical
spring in that thing! Iron Butterfly used the same reverb box for some
memorable special effects.

Always felt sorry for the guys who insisted on packing a B-3
everywhere. One of the few area clubs that regularly hired second-
string local talent (a category that would have included my band) back
in the late 60's was called Apricot Orange, and the only way in was up
a very long and very steep flight of stairs. About halfway up the
stairs that B-3 seems to weigh about 1000 pounds, even with end-
movers. People would start looking for suckers to help out, and I was
the sucker a couple of times. :-)

The M-3 was a better choice, at least from a logistical standpoint.

I always enjoyed starting one of the old tone-wheel models, however.
it was sort of like starting an airplane. You held up one "start"
switch unil the tone wheel got up sufficient rpm, and then it was
necessary to flip the "run" switch right next to it.

To this day, I don't think there's a better blues organ than the B3-
and that would include even the finest of the digital products
currently offered. Sort of like a tube amplifier produces a warmer
sound, they can't quite duplicate the electro-mechanical tone wheel
sound with a digital approach.

On Thu, 22 Nov 2007 22:29:21 -0800 (PST), Chuck Gould
wrote:

Sort of like a tube amplifier produces a warmer
sound, they can't quite duplicate the electro-mechanical tone wheel
sound with a digital approach.

Well, we agree on something. :)