Hammond Aurora model 8212 spinet organ c. '75/76 in walnut finish w/bench, music; mostly functional!

Up for sale is a Hammond Aurora home spinet organ model 8212, circa 1975/1976. It is in pretty good shape considering its age: just a few little nicks/marks/scratches here and there, but you really have to look for them; overall it really looks great. I'm listing it as only being in "good" condition due to the functional issues (see next paragraph for more details). This sale includes the original matching bench, which is full of organ sheet music and instructional books (see below for more details on the included music, etc.).

As far as functionality of this instrument: it seems like most of the unit works alright, with a few known issues (some of which seem to be intermittent). The upper keyboard doesn't seem as loud as the lower keyboard; the F# keys on the lower keyboard don't seem to work (although the F# keys do usually work on the upper keyboard); the C#, D#, and F# bass pedals don't work; the arpeggiator feature doesn't seem to work; the upper keyboard's tone drawbars don't seem to affect the sound of the upper keyboard (but the pedal's tone drawbars, while scratchy, and the lower keyboard's tone drawbars, do seem to function as they should); the unit has some ambient noise in the signal, and it's most pronounced when the animation switches (for tremolo and vibrato) and/or the "brilliant" switch is/are activated--although it's not so much noise that you can't enjoy playing the unit with animation and/or brilliance activated, but you may want to have it fixed before you go using this instrument to record with or something like that.

This unit has an output for a Leslie speaker cabinet, but I have not used it and so I can't vouch for it (but how often do Leslie outputs fail?); there are "Leslie-type" effects already on the unit--the "animation" effects, tremolo and vibrato--and they do sound pretty good, but I imagine this unit would sound pretty awesome through a nice Leslie, especially when the handful of issues noted above are addressed. I think the internal effects in this model Hammond are either licensed by or made by Leslie, actually, but I can't confirm that.

As far as I know all the Vari-64 rhythm features work properly, if you care about that, but I haven't exhaustively tested those. The volume pedal seems to work fine, with some occasional scratchiness. The internal speaker works and sounds fine to me, but I haven't exhaustively tested it either. The headphone output seems to work fine.

It seems like some of the polysynthesis switches (on the left-hand side, above the tone drawbars) don't affect the sound, but it could be that my lack of familiarity with their proper usage is more to blam--I'm not a keyboard player at all, and I'm not really all that familiar with vintage organs--but I just wanted to point that out, in case it is in fact indicative of a problem.

A little history on this unit: I bought it from the original owner, about maybe 2-3 years ago or so. It was at an estate sale in my neighborhood here in Marietta. The functionality issues were known at the time, and I intended to get it repaired and back to better working condition, but I have yet to find the time or resources to devote to this project. It does come with the original warranty paperwork, including the original manufacturer's computer punch cards, and there is a nice instructional manual for the 8200 series Hammonds that gives a lot of good info about the various effects and features on this unit and how to use them.

I'm also including a s#!*-ton of sheet music for this instrument--enough to just about fill the seat! All of the included paperwork and sheet music are in very good to excellent condition.

I think this is a great deal at $50, but if you think it would need to be less than that in order to make it more appealing to you...then make me an offer, I just may accept it!

PLEASE NOTE that this unit is VERY HEAVY, and not easy to manage while moving! I will help as much as I can with getting it out of my home and into your vehicle (you'll probably want the vehicle to be a truck...and you'll want some ratchet straps), but I imagine you'll need to at least bring one able-bodied person with you--if not two--when you come to pick the unit up.

Due to the age of the unit, the fact that it needs work already, and also the fact that transporting it will be a chore: this item will be sold AS-IS, but you can turn it on and verify that I have described it correctly before we start to schlep it out the door.

The unit featured in the YouTube video is a newer model of the Hammond Aurora series (probably about 5-6 years newer than mine), but you'll get a good idea of what this unit sounds like from the linked video.

CASH ONLY, no trades/checks/etc. I can't bring this unit anywhere, so you'll want to plan to come to Marietta to pick it up.

Thanks for looking!