G UITARTRASHORTREASURE
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The Guitorgan
Hey Zach!
I have an oldie but goodie for you: the
way-cool Guitorgan. I’ve owned it for several years and I’m not as much interested
in the value as I’m interested in some overall history of the device. Any help you can
provide would be appreciated!
Harold in Austin, TX
are truly interested in playing this instrument.
Since that doesn’t really exist and I can’t
seem to locate any catalogs or owner’s manuals, I’ll try to explain how this contraption
works. The organ circuitry was developed by
Murrell and he used Baldwin tones to voice
the organ. Several different guitars were
used in construction; at first, Murrell used
any guitar that would simply house the electronics. The M-300 was the first Guitorgan
and it was a Barney Kessel-style guitar built
by Ventura; later M-300 models were built
in an ES-335 Univox copy. Other semi-hol-
switches, and buttons (all the bells and
whistles you tinkerers love!) that allowed
the guitarist to alter the sounds of the guitar and organ. The giant footswitch in the
picture was used to fade the organ in and
out when the guitarist was playing. It’s quite
a concept, although thousands of organists
were fearful of losing their jobs when this
instrument was released!
Hi Harold,
This guitar is perfect for this month’s issue of
Premier Guitar since this is our unique gear
issue. When it comes to unique
guitars, the Guitorgan is about
as individualistic as it gets. While
the Guitorgan wasn’t overly
popular, it does serve its place
in guitar history as being innovative and I view it as a frontrunner
to the synthesizer craze of the
early eighties. I’ll give you a little
history on the Guitorgan, how it
works and what these guitars are
selling for today.
I mentioned that Murrell kept modifying
and updating the Guitorgan throughout
time. Later models employed a “master
oscillator circuit” that featured
digital note dividers. The model
you have is an early 1980s B- 35
featuring this newer “digital”
technology. Murrell also experi-
mented with MIDI technology in
the mid to late 1980s. Murrell
would also install his organ elec-
tronics in a customer supplied
guitar for $1200.
The Guitorgan was created when
inventor Bob Murrell wanted a
guitar that could also produce
Hammond organ-type sounds.
He started a company called
Murrell Electronics to produce
this guitar, which later evolved
into Musiconics International
(MCI). Murrell began working
with Baldwin to develop the
organ circuitry for his guitar;
Baldwin in turn used Murrell’s
knowledge of the industry to
learn guitar marketing concepts when they
began importing Burns guitars into the U.S.
during the late 1960s. The first Guitorgan
was introduced at the 1967 Chicago NAMM
show and early production began in the
same year. By 1968, a production factory was
opened for the Guitorgan. Commercially, it
wasn’t very popular, but Murrell sold enough
instruments to remain interested in the concept and he continued to modify and release
updated versions of his guitar/organ through
the eighties.
Murrell estimates that he built
3000 Guitorgans between 1967
and 1984, but he also filled
custom orders after 1984. For
an instrument as odd as it is,
there were quite a few of them
produced and they don’t bring
as much money as one would
think. Most Guitorgans can be
found priced between $900 and
$1200. But where else can you
get a guitar that can also play
Hammond organ-style sounds for
a thousand bucks? This falls into
the treasure category for me!
lowbody guitars were supplied by companies
such as Ibanez and Yamaha. The headstocks
read “Guitorgan” and the backs have a rather large chunk cut out and covered in order
to install the extensive electronics.
Source: Teisco Del Ray, Guitar Player
I recommend visiting your local community
college and enrolling in Guitorgan 101 if you
The fingerboard featured segmented frets
(six segments – one per string) that were
wired to the internal controls. When a note
or series of notes were fretted, the circuit
would be closed and it would trigger the
organ. The organ would stay on as long as
the circuit was closed, or in other words as
long as the guitarist kept the string against
the fret. The body featured several knobs,
Zachary R. Fjestad
is the author of the Blue Book of Acoustic Guitars, Blue
Book of Electric Guitars, and the Blue Book of Guitar
Amplifiers.
Questions can be submitted to:
Blue Book Publications
Attn: Guitar Trash or Treasure
8009 34th Ave. S. Ste #175
Minneapolis, MN 55425
800-877-4867
bluebookinc.com
guitars@bluebookinc.com
