Saville Organ

Saville Organ
Saville Organ

My organ is an electronic Saville from the 1970’s. The model is Sovereign. The repair man who worked on the organ in August 2017 said the model number is 7216.  The organ manaul that came with it, listed 7216 and 7218, so it’s nice to know which one it is!

It is in good condition considering its age. I became the owner of it in October 1999. The organ was originally used in a church and had been donated to Adrian College. After I started taking lessons, Michael arranged for me to have the organ. All I had to do was arrange for pickup and take it home. The case is very heavy!

I have not found much information about the Saville Organ Company. They are no longer in business and may have been located in Kansas. A few organists have indicated that they were well built organs.

The organ has two manuals called Great and Swell. The pedal board is AGO standard which means it has 32 pedals. There are several speakers which are about 4′ high. They were likely mounted to the walls at the church they were in. Now, they line a wall in my living room. The bench also came with the organ. There are a few more pictures following the stop list below.

 

Stop List

GreatSwellPedal
8' Principal8' Hohlflote16' Violone
8' Bourdon8' Salicional 16' Bourdon
8' Gemshorn8' Voix Celeste16' Lieblich Gedeckt
4' Octave
4' Spitzflote8' Octave
2 2/3' Twelfth2 2/3' Nazard16' Fagot
2' Fifteenth2' Piccolo
1 1/3' Nineteenth8' Trompette
8' Krummhorn
Tremlo
Chimes

Couplers:

  • Great to Pedal 8′
  • Great to Pedal 4′
  • Swell to Pedal 8′
  • Swell to Swell 4′
  • Great to Great 4′
  • Swell to Great 16′
  • Swell to Great 8′
  • Swell to Great 4′

There are 4 general pistons that can only be set by an organ technician.

I do not have schematics for the organ.

Saville Organ
Saville Organ
Saville Organ
Saville Organ with bass Speaker
Saville Organ Speakers
Saville Organ Speakers

 

51 thoughts on “Saville Organ”

  1. Hi Heidi! Your site came up in a good le search for Seville. My dad and I are sitting here talking about it… he worked for Seville in the late 60s! The company was in Northbrook Illinois but my dad trained techs in Kansas and other areas because he couldn’t cover all the territory himself. I was trying to look up info as he’s reminiscing. If you want me to pick his brain and give you more info feel free to email me at stefanierobertson17 at gmail

    Reply
  2. John Bruffy, this is Connie Dawson First Baptist Church in Your old home town of Hurricane, Wv. Our Saville is having a small problem, When you play B or Bb both keys play at the same time. Can’t find a repair in the area. any suggestions. Shoot me an email if you will.

    Connie@fbcoh.com or my Home Muziclady1@frontier.com

    Reply
  3. Heidi – Your site came up in an internet search for Sabille organs. I see you have a Saville 0rgan from the1970, but do not have the schematics. I have what I believe are an almost full set of schematics from the 1969-1972 time frame, but I do not have the organ.

    Would you like the schematics? They are in good condition as they have been sitting in my file cabinet since 1975 or so when I was working on a church organ that has since been replaced. Send me an e-mail if you are interested. I will part with them very inexpensively. I would rather them go to a good home rather than the dump.

    Reply
    • I’m Don Sharp and a member of Central Community Church which has a Sovereign. I’m looking for schematics and service manuals. Do you still have the schematics?

      Reply
  4. Hello Heidi! My Dad (Rollin Lester Gray) was one of the founders of Saville Organ Company, which was located in Northbrook, IL. The other founder was Robert Saville, both of Glenview, IL. I’m not sure of the exact date of inception because I was small, but I believe it was around 1963-65. They were built as a new concept for pipe organs with out the pipes. I remember going into the plant where they were built and seeing them blow into actual pipes to match up the electronic sounds. They replaced many church and theatre organs because plus smaller electronic organs because of their close sound to pipe organ sound without having to deal with the actual pipes. My dad left the company around 1968 or 69, I believe because the sales weren’t high enough to support his family (us) of 5 kids. I’m not sure how long the company lasted after that. I do believe the company then began make regular electronic organs. If you want more information I might be able to get it from my brother, who may know more precise dates, etc. I had no idea that there were any still around! I’m glad to see you have one of the few!!
    Sincerely, Pamela (Gray) Burns
    K9haus2@gmail.com
    208-206-9652
    2175 Pend Oreille Cir
    Idaho Falls, ID 83303

    Reply
    • My father, Clifford Bockhop, was the plant manager in Northbrook. In 1969 the main plant was relocated to Sturgeon Bay, WI, and our family made the move also. Mr. Saville had a home on the water in Sturgeon Bay, and a yacht which he loved sailing, which I think was the main reason for the relocation. My dad left the company in the mid 70s, and it went under shortly after that. As a kid I remember my dad traveling all over the world to install organs.

      Reply
    • Hello Pamela, my name is Nelson Clark and I live in Philadelphia. I came across this and thought of my dad who used to tell me how great the Saville Organ was. I’m now 80 years old. My dad passed away in 1977.
      I still play for our church twice each week–using a Roland AT300
      I have a smaller one at home for practice and also a Yamaha MODX7 that I am learning to program and love.
      Anything you wish to share with me on the above, please do.
      Nelson A Clark
      http://www.fcgchurch.org
      Philadelphia PA

      Reply
  5. My church used to have a Saville, then traded it for a new Allen in about 2004. While the Saville was getting older and
    more problematic as time marched on, it’s my opinion the Allen they chose is no match. Most notably, the Saville had amazing bass and low end. The Allen they chose to replace it with simply doesn’t compete.

    Reply
    • that is very interesting! So, newer isn’t always better. The technician that has worked on my Saville. told me that Saville was ahead of its time. I feel fortunate to have received this organ for free.

      Reply
  6. Hi, I,m still looking for the filter diagrams for the Savikke organ. I have solved the stability issues with the oscillators.
    Paul Isham
    619 990-4085

    Reply
  7. I have a Saville organ, model # unknown… I believe it was built in the early 70s. It is a 3-manual with plexiglas music rack, full AGO pedalboard. 15 speaker cabinets with (2) 12″speakers each, plus 2 cabinets with (8) 12″ speakers each. Also a large cabinet full of circuit boards. I bought this organ from a church in Toledo, Ohio in 1983 and want to sell it! It is in my home in Upper Sandusky. It does need some work.
    Please feel free to call or email me.
    email: nccc02@reagan.com
    cell: (419) 310 – 1196

    Reply
        • James,

          Any good electronic repairman can install a decoupling headphone jack for you that automatically decouples the speakers whenever your headphones are inserted in the jack. The repairman will also have to install a power-dropping resistor inline with the headphones so that you don’t blow out the headphones (or your ears!) when the headphones intercept the power from to the audio amplifiers. Choose your electronics technician carefully, hopefully someone with previous experience in matching loads with audio amps. The electronics tech should also be able to install a rotary-knob rheostat next to the headphone jack so you can adjust volume to the headphones in addition to the expression pedals.

          Reply
          • One word regarding a headphone jack on a Saville organ would be, difficult. This is not an organ with ‘normal’ amplifiers nor normal inputs to the amplifiers. These amplifiers are not common grounded and each speaker requires a HOT and a MINUS connection. Any connection to these terminals would cause catastrophic damage to the amplifiers. They were designed for ONE speaker per channel also. They are designed with ‘impedance feedback’ from the speakers. The inputs to these amplifiers uses more inputs than the amount of amplifiers in the organ console. This instrument has 6 channels, as I remember. That’s 12 speaker wires. These cannot be lifted off to shut them down, as you would in a headphone situation without damage resulting. The inputs are fed from the “Rank Boards” inside the organ. Those 6 amplifiers could have as many as 15-25 separate inputs to them due to mixing the rank boards to them. It makes a very complicated procedure to make any headphone system work on it without a serious expense. This Saville is a very good organ, and was built to get close to how pipes generate tones. It is not a new organ, but the technology was ahead of its time when it was built.

            Bottom line is, headphones on this console is virtually impossible without extensive work done on it.

            Reply
  8. It’s great to see these beautiful instruments taking on a new life in people’s homes. Wish I had one of my own… I used to work for the original Saville Organ Company and traveled the country installing, tuning and repairing them. The original corporate headquarters were located in Northbrook, Illinois. A northern suburb of Chicago.

    Reply
    • I just attempted servicing one I have never seen one before we have dividers out and the amplifiers are very noisy what would be the suggested repair the organ was installed in 1977 are there schematic still available

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        • I was a Saville dealer and presently have a 7337 in my front room. I have been repairing these instruments for more than 50 years. I am located in Denver. Look at the website it has a lot of memories for me . . .

          I am in the process of restoring a Custom Saville in Neb.

          The number is on the website.
          JB

          Reply
      • Change the CAPs in the power supply and amp cards, if it is still playing they have gone more than the design distance. The Saville’s didn’t use dividers, most likely R/C oscillators are down, but they are easily fixed.

        Reply
    • If you are still looking for a Saville organ, there is one available at Sacred Heart church in Racine, WI. I would be happy to answer any questions you might have as I have been servicing this instrument for the last 30 years.

      Reply
    • k9haus2@gmail.com
      Hello James,
      I don’t see your last name so I don’t know if you might be someone I remember working at Saville, but if you look at the 07/23/2019 email above, my dad was a co-founder of Saville.
      Just curious!
      Sincerely, Pamela (Gray) Burns

      Reply
  9. If anyone is interested there is a Saville Mod#7228 listed on Columbus Ohio craigslist, as of Oct. 19, 2014. It’s in a church and price is free!! No pictures on the craigslist, that’s why I came to this site to get a visual. Thanks.

    Reply
  10. The only difference between the 7216 and the 7218 is the number of audio channels. The 7216 has 6 channels and the 7218 has 12 channels. I have the sales brochures for both models. Send me your email address and I will scan it and send it to you. There is one other difference, the 7216 has a wood music rack where the 7218 has a Plexiglas music rack. Looks like your organ is a 7216. Great instrument in its day. Britson Organ Works in Washington State can provide parts for this instrument and can provide assistance to your service tech when necessary.

    Reply
  11. Looks like you have a 7218 Saville, I have one that I am replacing the manuals and will more than likely install MIDI on the instrument. I also have a 7337 in my living room. During its time it was the finest electronic instrument on the market. Its construction features permit many things to be done to them, unlike Rodgers and Allen.

    JB

    Reply
    • Hi John,

      Thanks for looking at the photos. The organ manual is for models 7216 – 7218 and I had wondered which model I had. I didn’t realize MIDI could be installed on these older instruments!

      Heidi

      Reply

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