Never in the history of digital organs has it become more important to purchase an American made organ than right now. With the economy struggling, many people and churches are looking for cheap alternatives. Brands that are manufactured over seas are very cheap right now. There is a reason for this!
Organs that are made over seas are not built--even remotely--the same as organs that are built in the USA. Why is that important you ask? Organs built overseas will not last the same as an American made organ, nor will they hold there value like and American made organ. Therefore you are loosing on two fronts. While it may be more difficult for you to afford an organ built in the USA, you will be making a very smart stewardship decision by doing so. American made organs i.e. Rodgers and Allen are held to much higher standards than those built overseas. American made organs have far better components in them such as power supplies, cages, expression shoes, casework, and much more. I know that Rodgers organs go through incredible testing to make sure that they receive every major safety certification available so that these organs can be installed anywhere in the world. Each Rodgers organ is ROHS complient. Which means that there is no lead anywhere in the organ.
When it comes to choosing an organ for your congregation make a wise and responsible choice and choose American. You will get what you pay for!
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I never thought of it this way before. There really is a big difference in quality between the organs that are manufactured here in the states vs. those that are not. Pay for quality. It is always worth the investment.
ReplyDeleteDavid you are only fooling yourself in saying to only buy American. Rodgers is hardly an American company. Why don’t you disclaim the truth that Rodgers is essentially owned by the Japanese through Roland as of 1988. Yes, the organs are assembled in Oregon but the parts and the guts are made in China and Japan. Roland by the way doesn’t even disclaim that Rodgers is part of the company in their annual report even though Rodgers touts the financial stability of it.
ReplyDeleteWhere is your empirical evidence that American organs last longer and hold their value better? I doubt Heritage could be unbiased on the matter. Since when do Europeans produce bad quality organs or product?
Saying that you may not be able to get parts for a brand new organ who’s company has been around for decades is ridiculous and an obvious church committee scare-tactic and really a non-issue in a non-vacuum tube world. European organs are “Safe” lead free compliant otherwise they wouldn’t get through customs.
Cost vs. Quality and the “You get what you pay for” tactic. Remember how much computers cost in the late 70’s? They were $100,000 and filled an entire room. Now they can fit in the palm of your hand for $299 in the form of an I-Phone. Its called bringing prices down to where they should be. Much like the $900 VCR’s of 1980’s you can get one now at Walmart for $39. The market commands it.
With Allen you get a $200k 4 manual with technology that essentially hasn’t changed in 20 years due to a homogenous family owned business model. They are literally surviving on the name. The Allen family is not obliged to demand better product from other family. Whereas, having suppliers at the mercy of the market and company demands high quality with low price produces just that….lower pricing. Rodgers offers $150k high end 3 manual organs with 15 y.o. flawed technology that manipulates pipe sound waves to reproduce wavering ensemble. The high price is inflated with way too many national dealers, too much staff, too much over head, too much inventory and flying company executives (Dan Miller, Hector, VP of sales to name a few…) all over creation.
Recently a “European” competitor has started offering a complete 4 manual 84 rank organ for $26,995 incl 9 speakers + Shipping and tax. The technology was developed over the past 5 years and essentially plays back each note of a pipe that has been recorded providing 5 samples selectable for each stop which can be voiced with complete flexibility. The console is solid wood, no MDF board etc. like the Allegiant models.
Now, there is even Hauptwerk a personal program for PC’s through MIDI and you can get that base program for free! Obviously, these innovations are FORCING the organ market to adjust prices where they should be.
Sadly, most organ committees fall victim to scare tactics of the “oh no we wont be able to get parts for that European Organ, and the You get what you pay for” tactic. This negativity looks desperate, counterproductive and frankly unprofessional. However, its really hard to justify to a committee spending $150-200k on a comparable organ.
The big 3 have all been around for about 40 years. The question is, who will be up to the challenge to change, trim and innovate to be around the next 40?