The original models have reliable germanium transistor circuitry, a coil-capacitor master oscillator & a chain of discrete binary dividers. One such set-up for each note family. This arrangement soon became the standard, adapted & successively cheapened by others.

On these early machines each 'generator' is built into a metal chassis. Twelve of these mounted in a rack & coupled by octal plugs. The 4 octave keyboard is wooden & good quality. The contact assembly is adapted from the valve ogans. Including removal of the conductive polymer bussbar strip, intended for a slow noise-free attack.

This gave a sharp attack, with a distinct click. Six drawbars are used for tone setting, obviously inspired by the Hammond organ. Four white ones for 16', 8', 4' & Mixture. Two maroon ones are marked with a sine & sawtooth wave. These give a soft flute like tone & a sharp reed tone.

The four tone harmonic mixture, together with the reed timbre, enables this instrument to cut through a mix. Even a screaming, distorted guitar can't drown it out. Definitely the ultimate group organ. Only the Farfisa Compact comes close (also germanium).

The drawbar assembly uses printed circuit switches standing vertically. This adds a couple of inches or so to the height of the trademark orange top. During production I had the idea of building this assembly upside down. Cutting a hole to drop it through the key-frame.

This worked well, allowed a sleek lower top & looked good. However, after building a few, it became obvious that the extra work was slowing production. It was reluctantly decided to revert to standard. So these versions are rare, effectively a limited edition.

This picture is one for the archives. It is the first slimline top VOX Continental, hand built by Ron Lebar in mid 1964.

Camera was a Kodak Retinette, probably 'wide open' at f2.8 using 'available light'. Film was Ilford 800 ASA "pushed".

Taken, developed & printed by Ron Lebar. Using a dye transfer technique.

The organ is shown, together with its distinctive wooden music rest, just before being packed for sale. The crepe paper protective wrapping on the legs can be clearly seen.

It was the only one built quite like this, all before it were what is now known as 'square top'. With the high rectangular lid housing the upward facing printed circuit switches of the drawbar assembly. Nothing else was in that lid, which is what prompted me to make this version.

The few made after this used a sloped rectangular form, easier to make than the curve. This still slowed production, so the style reverted back for the remainder of that run. All sub-assemblies were produced in batches by sub-contractors & many were in stock.

So the dates quoted for models in 'Combo Organ Heaven' (an excellent site) may in some cases be the date when batches of parts were made, not when the finished organs were built. These were made in quantity & may have remained in stock for a year or so. A similar discrepancy occurs with other classic instruments. During my time building Continentals, we never date stamped them.

Location is the Jennings Organ Company factory at West Hill, Dartford. This occupied part of a building, the remainder being a petrol filling station. Next door was a field, in the field was a shed housing the Service Department. To the right of that was a small row of semi derelict shops. One of these, a former fishmongers, was used for organ parts storage, upstairs housing the Design & Research Department.

Later, the metal chassis generators were replaced by bare printed circuits, firstly angled, with direct edge connectors. Later still the boards became smaller, enabling them to be placed in line, with pin type edge connectors. These changes cut production costs & time. The pin connector resulted in a tendency to intermittent connections.

The contact assembly was by then a purpose made unit, no longer an adaptation, with round silver plated busbars instead of flat nickel. My earlier inverted drawbar modification was later adopted at the sub-contract stage & became standard.

Later still a draconian design change took place. The highly reliable germanium master oscillators became silicon & the divider chains were replaced by integrated circuits. These are non-standard parts, used only in the music industry. Less reliable & more expensive than standard computer logic types. They also have deliberately different pin connections & are no longer available.

The almost indestructible wooden keyboard is replaced by an Italian plastic type. Due to the reversed colours the fragile keys are not available as spares. A dual manual model came out at the same time. This included percussion, as did later models.

Models after this were made in Italy, these use the standard keyboard for Italian organs of the period. Steel shafted keys, with thin, fragile plastic shells glued on. They often fall off or break. The reliable switched drawbars are replaced by slider potentiometers, altogether less desirable.