Thomas Organ Company
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| Industry | Musical instrument manufacturer |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1875 |
| Products | Digital keyboards; originally a manufacturer of electronic organs for the home |
The Thomas Organ Company is an American manufacturer of electronic keyboards and a one-time holder of the manufacturing rights to the Moog synthesizer. The Company was a force behind early electronic organs for the home. It went out of business in 1979 but reopened in 1996.
Founded by Canadian Edward G. Thomas as the "Thomas Organ & Piano Co." in in 1875, the company's first instruments were pipe organs, moving later to pump organs. In the early 1950s, Thomas George invented the Thomas electronic organ with its single manual and ten stops. Thomas reorganized the company in 1956 into the Thomas Organ Company of Sepulveda, California.
Unlike later electronic organs with conventional tab stops, early Thomas electronic organs utilized a dial control for their stops, presumably to add a certain familiarity to its users since the dials worked much like those on a radio or television. This may be evidenced by the introduction of the Talking Organ with its "Built-In Teacher," a phonograph intended for use with instructional recordings.
The 1960s had the Thomas Organ Company at the height of its popularity. The company became the importer of the English-made Vox combo, the electronics of which would turn up in Thomas models. Thomas also took over manufacturing rights of the Moog synthesizer and enjoyed heavy celebrity endorsement from the likes of Lawrence Welk, whose organist Bob Ralston both played a Thomas on The Lawrence Welk Show and on tour at organ and piano shops to demonstrate the greatly improved tonal quality of the new models, and Lucille Ball, who featured a Thomas on at least one episode of The Lucy Show. Welk had a high-end model named after him in 1968, the aforementioned Lawrence Welk spinet model.
Joe Benaron was President of Thomas during its heyday. Ennio Unchini was the Italian importer.
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