Donated by the descendants of Louis Boffard, founder of the Toccata Museum in Tarare (France).

We are preparing a room for these instruments: the Louis Boffard room.

Electrostatic organ DEREUX, year 1950, organ literature model, 2 manuals, 1 pedalboard, 5 octaves.

Electrostatic organ DEREUX, phonic wheel, year 1950 "parish" model, 1 manual, 5 octaves.

The oldest system used reeds as a generator, similar to those of the harmonium, each reed giving a frequency, entering into the composition of a timbre.

In 1952, Dereux replaced the reeds with "phonic wheels", one per semitone, each comprising 7 discs, one for the fundamental, and 6 discs of harmonics. Two models are on display: the "parish" model with one transposing manual, and the "organ literature" model with two manuals and pedalboard.

Both are in working order. Perfect tuning stability, but no transients or differentials, the number of harmonics being limited to the number of discs.

More information on these beautiful instruments and sound samples will follow soon!