During the course of 1964, production of console organs at Dartford Road slowed further. Three factors played a part in this. First, time had moved on. Jennings Musical Industries had grown exponentially, and the business of designing, producing and selling Vox amplifiers and guitars required a greater and greater amount of time and labour. Second, the market for consoles was not a particularly lucrative one for the Jennings Organ Company in the early 1960s - prestigious perhaps, but little more than that in terms of the order books. "Organs" in any case for JMI had largely come to mean the Continental. Third, the deal struck with the Thomas Organ Company in August 1963 resulted in Jennings distributing and advertising Thomas's consoles (transistor rather than valve) in preference to its own. Select models were included in the catalogue of early to mid 1964, below. Thomas for its part later took on - in the late summer of 1964 - the distribution of Vox equipment in the States, placing a number of multi-million dollar orders through to 1966 - the fruits of the "beat boom".

The last catalogue in which Dartford-made console organs appeared was the dealer catalogue of 1964 - distributed at the Russell Hotel Trade Fair of August 1964. See the pages illustrated below. The "Precision in Sound" newspaper format catalogue that superceded it only has transistorised Thomas Organ consoles.

Thomas organs were also advertised in 1965 - full pages in trade magazines issued to coincide with the major trade fairs, and a series of dedicated brochures.

Music trade journal, March 1964. It is not clear at present where this "new" church is. The "old" church (dedicated to St Joan of Arc) survives, though clearly renovated.

Still the Univox

JMI pricelist of November 1964. By September 1965 the organs listed were the Model A and Model C, the Continental in one and two-manual format, and T119.

Below, the Thomas models distributed by Jennings in mid 1964, presumably displayed at 100 Charing Cross Road. All were fully transistorised.

Below, a small rough-print picture (trade press, July 1964) of a consignment of Thomas organs being loaded for transport to Jennings in the UK. The text accompanying the pic is:

"Jennings Musical Industries Ltd report a daily increasing demand for the exciting and versatile THOMAS transistor organ."

"To cope extra efficiently with this rush of trade, J.M.I. (who are British Distributors for this American-made Organ) are setting up a special THOMAS division with headquarters at Dartford."

"Consignments of THOMAS Organs are now being sent direct from California to ensure speedy delivery to dealers in Britain and our picture shows: Roy Winger - Thomas Organ Co's Export Manager, Jerry Grindinger - Advertisement Manager, and Mark Jeffries of Trans-Air System, giving a V.I.P. send-off to another valuable consignment."

Russell Hotel Trade Fair, late August 1964

Thomas organs were an important part of the Jennings display in 1964, one suspects, in part, a requirement communicated by Thomas. But other factors were at work. At the end of the fair, the "Million Dollar deal" was announced - Thomas to be sole JMI distributor in the States, an initial order $1 million dollar's worth of equipment (£532,000 at the time) having been placed. The main lines of the deal had probably been worked out at the NAMM show in July though. At any rate, it served Jennings well to show enthusiasm for Thomas organs.

For more on JMI at trade fairs in the period 1958-1968 see the pages gathered together here.

Preview of the JMI display, music trade press August 1964.

The JMI advert for Thomas issued to accompany the fair. The organs illustrated are: Symphonette VL-5; Fiesta AR-2; Avalon AL-3; Coronado BL-3; and Celebrity OH-3.

Back to Jennings Organs, 1963.

Documents relating to Jennings (Vox) guitar amplifiers, 1964.