It is great that Tom McAuley was able to find his copy of the
Pell Harmonette Instruction Manual, and scan it as a PDF document
[250417 MMD].  I also want to thank our hosts for putting in on MMD
"for perpetuity."

I have seen quite a number of these instruments, but never had
charge of one. I have seen operators enter the PIN security code.
The manual says that if you loose the code, the software must be
factory replaced. I think this option is long gone with Alan's death,
and would involve a lot of costly shipping if someone else can do it.

Surviving organs offered for sale are likely to be in the hands of
estate executors who have no knowledge of the PIN code system. If
purchasing one, carefully examine every inch of the organ, and the
cartridge collection, for a set of 4 numbers; this is likely to be
"the secret code."

The manual indicates that several different batteries and chargers
were used, and that all were 12 volts DC. It would be nice if someone
could post whether the center pin of the charging cable was positive
or negative; I didn't see that in the manual. Any common 12-volt
charger can be used if the polarity is correct. The battery itself
is probably still available, typically as one for an alarm system.

A Harmonette without a security code is still valuable. It can
relatively easily be adapted to an open MIDI system, which opens up
the access to a huge amount of great music. Of course that means
that many of the surprising collection of special options described
in the manual will not work.

Wallace Venable
Morgantown, West Virginia