Bontempi Chord Organs!
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- čas přidán 5. 09. 2024
- Steve Christie demonstrates the Bontempi HIT 1 and Bontempi 13 chord organs.
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Filmed and Edited by Louisa Revolta
Recorded and Mixed by Steve Christie at Vintage Keys Studio
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Count Bontempi - Phantom of the Chord Organ
Yessss!!!
You never cease to amaze me with your ability to find and restore these keyboards as well as your serious musical chops. I really enjoy your playing.
Wow, thank you!
Hi!
I had an electric reed organ like this, but it was Antonelli not Bontempi.
And it brought a great joy to a little boy like me back in 1978...
Nice Yes-Roundabout at the end!!! 😁👍
Thank you!
Excellent - enjoyed Rick Capeman (or was that Greg Lakeman?). Y'know, these old Bontempis actually have key click! When I was little, I used to wait with my Dad to pick up Bontempis that needed repair out on the truck dock behind a local Woolco store. I think that Dad took this on to supplement his piano tuning at the time. I remember his little shop being filled to the brim with those little air fans that needed replacing.
Lovely memories.
It would be cool if Bontempi re-releases such organs.
Good Lord. My early 80's school friend had one of the brown jobs. We recorded a project for history, switched off the organ to simulate a U.F.O. landing. It's even possible I still have the tape somewhere, which I shall not be uploading anywhere anytime soon.
Good times! That cape suits you.
wow !! completely forgot about this machine, childhood memories return !! The orange one we used to have !!
Brilliant! I love everything about them - even the motor sounds
@@VintageKeysStudio I remember the breathy motor sound most !! thanks man :)
Saw this posted just in tempi to watch right away
“Rick Capeman”. made me spill my tea....
sounds a bit like Gryphon one of their 3 albums or 4 albums from mid 1970's. excellent!
haha lost it at "I'm very extravagant" :)
Never had one, but I remember the ads. A very specific sound, great fun.
You're the Matt Berry of vintage keyboards :)
The little Bontempi B101 (orange) was my first keyboard too. It was battery powered. It used to be my only friend in 1977.
Thank you Steve, you're a real time travel machine.
Very cool! Thank you - yes these keyboards remind me of when I had no responsibilities and endless time to play
@@VintageKeysStudio Time is endless because it doesn't exists.
And your parents didn't divorce you?
Makes you nostalgic for Woolworths.
I miss them
My niece had one. The orange monster was the first keyboard I played. The fan was not as loud in my memory. And that is X-ing today, birds do like to go with the time. The minimoog has left the building.
The cape, in the end, was brave and curiously, appropriate
Those "Bon Tempi" organs for Italian "Good Times", are realy nice instruments, and of course played by Virtuoso Multi Instrumentalist Steve Christie, they sound !Absolutely Great !! 🔌🔔
Thank you! :)
Here's a tune = Randy's all stars, BATMAN....
Your going to like it and it goes with the outfit.
Cheers I will check it out
I had something like this when I was about 4 (1969) it was like a black tolex suitcase. The only controller it had was an on and off switch. If you mashed all the keys with your forearms the fan would get the hump and barely put enough air over the reeds to make a noise. I used to make a wonderful cacophony with it 😁
Cheers ✌️
Fantastic - yes I think I almost got one of those black case ones once
Yes record more but only wearing the cape. In fact the cape is now mandatory for all videos! Need to upgrade to a sequin cape ala Wakeman tho!
I bought one from eBay, it’s a Bontempi just not the same as your models. I love organs so much. I just had to get it! I don’t like to play anything that requires a computer.
Reminds me of an ivor cutler song
I had a selmer
Wow - for a moment, I thought that Mick Lakeman was in my living room with a melodica...
I had a Bontempi 13 when I was a small bat too!
No friends but two fans - a decent enough trade off 🙂
Italian only had a Crumar Performer String Synthesizer. Sounded very spacey JMJ kinda.
Yesterday was having a blast with KingKorg (arpeggio) & Jupiter 50 (phased strings) and CR-78 (TR-8s & clock to Korg).
Very cool! Thanks for your channel! I love the Yes at the end!!
Thank you!!
The volume lever is not actually covering the reeds. It can work in two ways: On the bottom one of yours there is a small plate that more or less blocks the wind supply from the pump. The other way was used on another Bontempi that I had for some years in the late 1980s - it looked like the top one of yours but had the keyboard range of the bottom one. That model had a volume lever that simply opened a hole to the wind supply and let most of the wind out. So the first one reduced the air flow and the second the air pressure. Both ways are pretty crappy though as reeds works best at a certain pressure. It would have worked better if they actually covered the reeds like on an antique harmonium. But Bontempi is a toy instrument company so everything is build to a low price point. That was also the tragedy of Farfisa when they were bought by Bontempi in 1984: Their electronic organs went from top of the line to rock bottom within a couple of years.
my sister hade one (the 13 i think). strange thing but actually really quite nice too. whirring fan and warbly sound but its distinctive and very folky sounding
Even a pair of Bontempi organs sounds great when wearing this cape! Is it the one to see in the music video "Petals in the Shadows" you've made for Louisa's song, two years ago? Thanks for sharing, all the best :-)!
Thank you Curtis! It is a different cape - my cape is a quality cape, the ‘petals’ one was a cheap fancy dress one with added stitching from Louisa
How cool…👍🏻🎹 great Video…👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻
In the 60s when I was in junior high , my grandmother had a Magnus Chord Organ…❤️ She played it perpetually…👍🏻 I think my parents finally got her a small Lowry electric Organ… She gave her little Magnus Organ to me. I remember in seventh grade taking my., Tesco DelRay Guitar and the Magnus Organ to the 7th grade party which had a dance…🎵
The Little Organ was not loud , and if you were to put a microphone on it, you would pick up the little blower fan for the Reeds, so much more louder than the music itself…😹. I just ordered a small 1970’s Magnus. Huff and Puff Chord Organ off of EBay, to play “ Accordion “ parts on my recordings for Zico Cajun music…! These things sound just like an accordion…, I guess that is because they both work off of the same principal…! Have a Great week and Weekend…
Friend Jeff , In Sweet Home Alabama..🇺🇸🎵❤️🇺🇸🎵❤️🇺🇸
Thank you Jeff! Lovely memories! :)
Great for sea shanties. You look surprisingly magnificent. I didn't have cape expectations. 🦇🧛
Thank you very much! Sea shanties in a cape - now you’re talking! :)
Electric melodica
Elecodica
I owened 2 bontempis 1 was a 1973 hit organ like in the vid just in red with a rare stand then the second one was a hf222 which had 3 sounds but a few rhythms and sliders they where great fun to be honest
Wonderful! I should look for an hf222!
@@VintageKeysStudio incredibly rare I bought mine just out if curiosity from all the way in serbia was a 3 month wait but definitely worth it
Sweet!!!
One of my friends had the bigger one and didn't learnt how to play it. I once tried this but this sound was so creepy that we both were simply afraid of it
🙂😀😄😃😆😂..........You realise Rick W. would laugh his nuts off if he saw this, don't you, Steve?! 👍........might just have to send it to him in a Roundabout way! Thanks for giving such an amusing demo that seems to have taken many of us on a nostalgia trip back to when we were unwittingly starting out on our musical futures and hadn't really meant to but our curiosity about "how do you make that sound?" got the better of us and the rest, as they say, is mystery!!! ...By the way, can you recommend a reasonably priced source for new (?) or unused quarter-inch reels? ALL THE BEST 👍👍👍🍻🙏
Haha thank you! I wouldn’t risk unused quarter inch tape - sometimes it’s sold as new and unsealed, but then when you open it the glue holding the oxide on has failed and you are left with nothing but mess and misery. I use RTM tape - available everywhere these days :)
…but if you did want to try some dodgy ‘’might be ok’ old tapes, Ampex tape is the worst ageing tape in my experience - EMI, Maxell and BASF are usually ok
Who else thinks the original Mr. Capeman would be like a kid in a candy store at VKS?
pretty sure thats an instant "cardiacs" instrument. its also very 60s psych too
OK. Typed the first message when the video had just started. Still like Bat Wakeman more though. 😁
Does the small one have threading for sling mounts? I feel like they should've put the chord buttons towards the back if it's gonna be used like a keytar.
Basically they ripped the keyboard half off an Italian Accordion and stuck an electric fan in it. Genius.
Of you're going to wear a cape while playing you obviously need to play more Yes or Wakeman
Rick Capeman....HAHAHA!!
I really thought you would have tuned them. A bit tedious but it would make them so much lovelier.
But if they were tuned (if it were possible) they would lose all their character and not sound like Bontempi chord organs anymore
Very Mr.Waits
I have a similar 1970s chord organ/reed organ like the one in the video on top as well in a nice 1970s Orange! I like the sound but the mechanic and motor are too noisy in my opinion.
And damn I like the second song you play there at 6:40
Yes... so that's why the cape.lol
I was expecting a Nico cover but that might have alienated some subscribers
Haha
Either of these would be great to play the “Heironymus Bosch bum music” on, or any ancient music really...
ah great, def nostalgic it was my upgrade from a xylophone as a kid no idea what happened to it though booo
Nice tune but does this thing get one’s hair dry properly?
Polyphony only limited by the puff available?
Yes that’s about right
Electric harmonium.
I have a b4 covered in dust
count dischordia
Yoi should play the Jurassic Park theme on it.
Those are funny looking typewriters Mr Steve.... sound much better though..Aaaah!! Roundabout...
I guess it wasn't easy learning to play while hanging upside down. I feel sorry for you, my master.
Man can you tell me the name of this song at 7:14?
Thank you @Quentiny_ both of those tunes are improvised on the spot jobs - glad you enjoyed them! :)
@@VintageKeysStudio of course I do 😁
Failed to bring back disco.....
So you from now on you want to be known as Bat Wakeman? 🤣
Sounds like a accordion junk😅