Hello, All,
I know nothing about organs, but the kids have been asking about it and have fiddled with one at their piano teachers. I think it could be fun to have one in the house, but don't want to spend much on one. I found an old Allen that a guy is willing to give me if I move it. It belonged to his mother, who was a church organist. It has two manuals, but the lower appears not to work. I am inclined to think that I don't want this even for free, but thought I might ask before I move on to the next.

thanks,
Andy

Well organs are not cheap to fix.

Allen is a huuuuuge brand. It still may be (or was at one point) the largest builder of organs in the world.

Depending on how old it is, Allen can probably still repair it. Is it a digital instrument? (Post 1971) or analogue/tube? (pre 1970)

I don't know whether it is tubes or not. It took some time to get it up and going and had a nice sound--pedals and the upper manual--I'd rather not fix it, to be honest, unless I have the chance of having a quite nice organ. I know nothing about them. Sitting at it was kinda fun though--felt stately even though the house was dark and cold.

I would get the model # and serial # and call around to local organ techs. If possible, call from where the organ is located. If you're lucky, the tech could ask you to try different things so he can get an idea of what is wrong over the phone. Then he might be able to give you a rough estimate on repair. If he has any distance to travel he would appreciate this approach I'm sure. Just let him know your situation.

Another thought, organs are not a lot of money. You can often find them for less than $500 on craigslist, possibly even free.

If a person has an organ they do not want and cannot find a home for it, it would cost them in the neighborhood of $200 to dispose of it.

i bought a working 2 manual Allen (circa early 80s) with pedalboard and 2 speakers, installed, warrantied and delivered for 600.

If you contact organ techs - they could steer you toward a good one.

and btw.. organ jobs are very steady and pretty lucrative with certification (which really isn't all that difficult for accomplished pianists)