The Fender Contempo Organ is a

combo organ A combo organ, so-named and classified by popular culture due to its original intended use by small, touring jazz, pop and dance groups known as "combo bands", as well as some models having "Combo" as part of their brand or model names, is an ele ...

made by Fender during the late 1960s. It was designed to compete with similar instruments such as the

Vox Continental The Vox Continental is a transistorised combo organ that was manufactured between 1962 and 1971 by the British musical equipment manufacturer Vox. It was designed for touring musicians and as an alternative to the heavy Hammond organ. It supp ...

and Farfisa Compact, and had additional

stops Stop may refer to: Places *Stop, Kentucky, an unincorporated community in the United States * Stop (Rogatica), a village in Rogatica, Republika Srpska, Bosnia and Herzegovina Facilities * Bus stop * Truck stop, a type of rest stop for truck dri ...

, features and controllers not found on the other models. However, it was only in production for a few years as it struggled to compete with the more popular

Hammond organ The Hammond organ is an electric organ invented by Laurens Hammond and John M. Hanert and first manufactured in 1935. Multiple models have been produced, most of which use sliding drawbars to vary sounds. Until 1975, Hammond organs generated s ...

and

Rhodes piano The Rhodes piano (also known as the Fender Rhodes piano) is an electric piano invented by Harold Rhodes, which became popular in the 1970s. Like a conventional piano, the Rhodes generates sound with keys and hammers, but instead of strings, t ...

History

In the early to mid-1960s, there was an influx of inexpensive portable

s introduced by companies such as Vox,

Gibson Gibson may refer to: People * Gibson (surname) Businesses * Gibson Brands, Inc., an American manufacturer of guitars, other musical instruments, and audio equipment * Gibson Technology, and English automotive and motorsport company based * Gi ...

and

Farfisa Farfisa (Fabbriche Riunite di Fisarmoniche) is a manufacturer of electronics based in Osimo, Italy, founded in 1946. The company manufactured a series of compact electronic organs in the 1960s and 1970s, including the Compact, FAST, Professiona ...

. Fender wanted to diversify from their established guitar and amplifier market and create a wider product range, and noticed this demand for keyboard instruments. The

Fender Rhodes The Rhodes piano (also known as the Fender Rhodes piano) is an electric piano invented by Harold Rhodes, which became popular in the 1970s. Like a conventional piano, the Rhodes generates sound with keys and hammers, but instead of strings, th ...

was already entering production, so a combo organ seemed the next logical step. The Contempo Organ was announced in 1967; the

Fender Vibratone {{unreferenced, article, date=February 2021 The Fender Vibratone was a Leslie speaker designed for use with electric guitars, manufactured by Fender from 1967-1972. Named after the first Leslie speaker made for the Hammond Organ in 1941, the Vib ...

, a copy of the

Leslie speaker The Leslie speaker is a combined amplifier and loudspeaker that projects the signal from an electric or electronic instrument and modifies the sound by rotating a baffle chamber ("drum") in front of the loudspeakers. A similar effect is provided ...

, was introduced at the same time. The instrument's list price in 1968 was $795 ($ in ). By the time the instrument was introduced on the market, combo organs were on the wane and the

and

electric piano An electric piano is a musical instrument which produces sounds when a performer presses the keys of a piano-style musical keyboard. Pressing keys causes mechanical hammers to strike metal strings, metal reeds or wire tines, leading to vibrations ...

s were becoming more popular. There was a limited amount of trade interest, and consequently production ended in 1969. Bill Carson, who designed the

Fender Stratocaster The Fender Stratocaster, colloquially known as the Strat, is a model of electric guitar designed from 1952 into 1954 by Leo Fender, Bill Carson, George Fullerton, and Freddie Tavares. The Fender Musical Instruments Corporation has continuously ...

, was particularly scathing about the instrument, calling it "the Contemptuous" and "a pile of junk". He attributed the problems to

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainmen ...

' acquisition of Fender in 1965, which reduced the quality of the company's product range.

Features

The Contempo featured a keyboard built by Pratt-Read, who also helped construction with the Rhodes, and was enclosed in a similarly styled black vinyl cabinet. It was single-manual instrument with 61 keys. The bottom octave's keys were reverse-colored as on a

Harpsichord A harpsichord ( it, clavicembalo; french: clavecin; german: Cembalo; es, clavecín; pt, cravo; nl, klavecimbel; pl, klawesyn) is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. This activates a row of levers that turn a trigger mechanism ...

which could be used as a separate bass section or act as an additional octave to the main tones. A series of rocker switches allowed selection of 16', 8', 5⅓' and 4' tones, and

vibrato Vibrato (Italian language, Italian, from past participle of "wikt:vibrare, vibrare", to vibrate) is a musical effect consisting of a regular, pulsating change of pitch (music), pitch. It is used to add expression to vocal and instrumental music. ...

and

tremolo In music, ''tremolo'' (), or ''tremolando'' (), is a trembling effect. There are two types of tremolo. The first is a rapid reiteration: * Of a single Musical note, note, particularly used on String instrument#Bowing, bowed string instrument ...

options. The 5⅓' stop was designed to allow the Contempo to sound closer to a Hammond than similar combo organs. The vibrato and tremolo options are driven off the same circuitry, and consequently are in sync with each other. Each voice had an additional "boost" switch that changed its volume. Sonically, the instrument lay somewhere between the thick weedy "buzz" of a

Combo Compact, and the breathy, piercing flutey tones of the

. The Contempo had a unique 5-1⅓' stop tab (often not included on combo organs, though seen on a Hammond), a tremolo effect and a triple axis

volume Volume is a measure of occupied three-dimensional space. It is often quantified numerically using SI derived units (such as the cubic metre and litre) or by various imperial or US customary units (such as the gallon, quart, cubic inch). The de ...

pedal, which controlled both volume on the up and down motion, and tone on the left to right motion. This pedal was adapted from the triple axis tone and volume pedals sold with Fender

Pedal Steel The pedal steel guitar is a console-type of steel guitar with pedals and knee levers that change the pitch of certain strings to enable playing more varied and complex music than any previous steel guitar design. Like all steel guitars, it can p ...

guitars at the time. Two different cases were available for the Contempo. The more common version had handles on both the case lid and bottom, while the other had tapered edges and both handles on the lid.

Controls

The Contempo has a number of different voices. Each one has different switches to select volume (f/ff/fff)) by activating certain

resistor A resistor is a passive two-terminal electrical component that implements electrical resistance as a circuit element. In electronic circuits, resistors are used to reduce current flow, adjust signal levels, to divide voltages, bias active el ...

s. This is conceptually similar to the drawbars on a Hammond organ. * Bass Voices:

Diaphone The diaphone is a noisemaking device best known for its use as a foghorn: It can produce deep, powerful tones, able to carry a long distance. Although they have fallen out of favor, diaphones were also used at some fire stations and in other situ ...

16', Boost 16' f/ff/fff, String Bass 8', Boost 8' f/ff/fff, Horn 4', Boost 4' f/ff/fff * Normal/Solo Switch: Switches the bass section between Bass and Solo voices * Treble Voices: Cello 16, Diaphone 16, Boost 16 f/ff/fff, Diaphone 8, String 8, Clarinet 8', Boost 8' f/ff/fff, Quint 5-1⅓', Boost 5-1⅓' f/ff/fff, String 4', Principal 4', Boost 4' f/ff/fff, * Effects: Solo Timbre, Vibrato Slow/Fast, Vibrato On, Solo Tremolo

Users

The Contempo was commercially unsuccessful and few models were manufactured, and was not used by many professional musicians.

Keith Jarrett Keith Jarrett (born May 8, 1945) is an American jazz and classical music pianist and composer. Jarrett started his career with Art Blakey and later moved on to play with Charles Lloyd and Miles Davis. Since the early 1970s, he has also been a ...

played a Contempo in

Miles Davis Miles Dewey Davis III (May 26, 1926September 28, 1991) was an American trumpeter, bandleader, and composer. He is among the most influential and acclaimed figures in the history of jazz and 20th-century music. Davis adopted a variety of music ...

' group, after Fender had given Davis the instrument. It can be heard together with the

on the album '' Live-Evil'' and by itself on some live recordings with Davis, when

Chick Corea Armando Anthony "Chick" Corea (June 12, 1941 – February 9, 2021) was an American jazz composer, pianist, keyboardist, bandleader, and occasional percussionist. His compositions "Spain", " 500 Miles High", "La Fiesta", "Armando's Rhumba", and ...

took over the Rhodes and Jarrett only played the Contempo.

References

Citations Sources * * *

External links

The Fender Contempo Organ
- Chicago Electric Piano Company
Fender Contempo Organ demo
{{Electronic organs Electronic organs