Hi zstardust!
I have interesting info for you:
Your organ was made by Elgam probably around 1970, because I have the same organ in slightly different cosmetics.
It's a Falcon mod. 440/G, and it's actually a re-badge of an Elgam Beat 44 (hence the 44 note keyboard)
I included lots of pictures of it, so you can see the similarities:
Here it is with the lid closed:
i586.photobucket.com/albums/ss304/combonautfreak/Falcon%20440%20G%20combo%20organ/DSC00184.jpg?t=1300353588Top view:
i586.photobucket.com/albums/ss304/combonautfreak/Falcon%20440%20G%20combo%20organ/DSC00192.jpg?t=1300353588Front:
i586.photobucket.com/albums/ss304/combonautfreak/Falcon%20440%20G%20combo%20organ/DSC00185.jpg?t=13003535433/4 view, same speaker cover as on your Harleem:
i586.photobucket.com/albums/ss304/combonautfreak/Falcon%20440%20G%20combo%20organ/DSC00204.jpg?t=1300353543Back :
i586.photobucket.com/albums/ss304/combonautfreak/Falcon%20440%20G%20combo%20organ/DSC00203.jpg?t=1300353543ID badge:
i586.photobucket.com/albums/ss304/combonautfreak/Falcon%20440%20G%20combo%20organ/DSC00202.jpg?t=1300353543Control panel:
i586.photobucket.com/albums/ss304/combonautfreak/Falcon%20440%20G%20combo%20organ/DSC00198.jpg?t=1300353543 It seems the only difference is that the SHARP tab is marked SPINET on the Harleem and that you also have a vibrato speed control (lucky you!)
Logos:
i586.photobucket.com/albums/ss304/combonautfreak/Falcon%20440%20G%20combo%20organ/DSC00197.jpg?t=1300353543i586.photobucket.com/albums/ss304/combonautfreak/Falcon%20440%20G%20combo%20organ/DSC00196.jpg?t=1300353543Underside panel:
i586.photobucket.com/albums/ss304/combonautfreak/Falcon%20440%20G%20combo%20organ/DSC00188.jpg?t=1300353543 I don't know what the BOX input hole is meant to be. It's factory sealed here. Note the voltage selector (can be set to either 115V or 230V, as I live in France, it's set on the latter).
The slide-in top cover is also the storage space for the tapered screw-on legs and (missing) music rack:
i586.photobucket.com/albums/ss304/combonautfreak/Falcon%20440%20G%20combo%20organ/DSC00194.jpg?t=1300353588The legs are fastened by screwing on the bottom of the organ:
i586.photobucket.com/albums/ss304/combonautfreak/Falcon%20440%20G%20combo%20organ/DSC00189.jpg?t=1300353543Here are pictures of the innards:
i586.photobucket.com/albums/ss304/combonautfreak/Falcon%20440%20G%20combo%20organ/DSC00206.jpg?t=1300353543The 14 tuning pots are for the 14 oscillators, I'll explain this below. The 2-pin cord hanging there is for the speaker, thus disconnecting is required when removing the top. The board has a date mark on it: 8 MAG 1970, wich stands for May 8th, 1970 (in Italian, may is Maggio).
And here's the internal amp and power supply:
i586.photobucket.com/albums/ss304/combonautfreak/Falcon%20440%20G%20combo%20organ/DSC00207.jpg?t=1300353543Here's the kind of volume pedal you can use:
i586.photobucket.com/albums/ss304/combonautfreak/Falcon%20440%20G%20combo%20organ/DSC00190.jpg?t=1300353588It's a 2-pin regular mono jack plug
And Finally, a picture of the Elgam Beat 44 from a brochure:
i586.photobucket.com/albums/ss304/combonautfreak/Falcon%20440%20G%20combo%20organ/ElgamBeat44.jpg?t=1300353543It also came in red, and woodgrain color. This one is green like mine. Only differences are the slanted sides top and tiltable tubular stand (and obviously the volume pedal: mine's not original)
So there! Case cleared!
Apparently Elgam marketed their organs under different brand names, I've seen Harleems for sale here in france, so they were also distributed in Europe.
About the 14 tuning pots:
This organ is weird in it's circuitry: Instead of the usual 12 oscillators (one for each note in the chromatic scale) followed by subsequent divider circuits (to provide the lower octaves) system, such as used by Vox, Farfisa, Ace-Tone, GEM and probably 95% of all the other organ manufacturers, this organ has 14 oscillators, and no divider whatsoever.
Explanation:
Each oscillator provides the notes for 3 successive keys. Example: oscillator number 14 provides the highest 3 keys on the keyboard: Bb4, B4 and C4, osc 13 provides G4, G#4 and A4, etc. etc.
So the 3 consecutive keys fed by a common oscillator are actually "monophonic in-between themselves", so it's a PARAPHONIC keyboard. Unfortunately, this system has the flaw of suppressing some chord combinations, as it is cheaper to manufacture, but it's not that much of a big problem (i.e some 6th or 2nth chords are not possible, unless you
remove a quint note, maybe that's a little too technical I don't know)
BUT, this organ has some good filters (the REED, CLARINET, FLUTE etc. namings), so the sound is pretty nice and fat analog goodness, allthough only 8' footage. It reminds me of an Ace-Tone TOP 5 kind of sound.
To make a long thread shorter, I'll tell you how to tune your beast:
GENTLY remove the top cover (after unscrewing the fastening screws), mind the speaker cord, look how it's wired before you disconnect the plugs. Take a cross-shaped screw driver, and tune the notes, by gently turning the screw holes on the pots, following the chart below, using a CHROMATIC guitar tuner. (note: go for the highest note in each group of keys)
-1st pot is F1 to G#1 (4 keys)
-2nd pot is A1 to C1 (4keys)
-3rd pot is C#1 to D#1 (3 keys)
-4th pot is E1 to F#2 (3 keys)
-5th pot is G2 to A2 (3 keys and all the rest are a 3 key sets)
-6th pot is Bb2 to C2
-7th pot is C#2 to D#2
-8th pot is E2 to F#3
-9th pot is G3 to A3
-10th pot is Bb3 to C3
-11th pot is C#3 to D#3
-12th pot is E3 to F#4
-13th pot is G4 to A4
-14th pot is Bb4 to C4 (highest note)
Whew! Hope that helps.
I'm currently in the process of drawing the schematics for this organ (what is called reverse-engineering) as there is no schematic to be found for these units anywhere I know. I'll let you know.
i also want to add divider circuits in order to have 16', 8' and 4' footages to make it sound better (like a Farfisa), again stay tuned because I'll be documenting this mod.
If you have ANY further questions, or issues to solve, I'll be answering.
All the Best,
Charles
P.S: After tuning, try it with all kinds of effect pedals, phaser, tremolo, delay. And it sounds GREAT in an amp with a dash of overdrive and some reverb! ;D
